Posted by barbaracat on March 25, 2005, at 18:21:36
In reply to Re: cymbalta, posted by Minnie-Haha on March 25, 2005, at 15:14:52
Have you ever tried good old lithium? It's the one I keep coming back to, the only one that provides real mood stabilizing. I've been on it for about 3 years and it's been the single most effective med for me.
I too tend towards depression and not nearly enough lovely hypomanias. Without lithium I reel into mixed states no matter what other MS I'm on. At any rate, I appear to need whatever it does and 600mg is not so high a dose that I'm all that concerned about long term.
It has worsened my hypothyroidism, however, but that's under control with increasing my thyroid meds.
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> My first MS was Depakote. I was on it a couple years and it worked well (in conjunction with Effexor) but I gained 30 pounds, so I switched to Trileptal. I slowly started losing weight, but I started having menstrual problems, which I think were at least partially a result of all the weight gain. I think I may have been on the verge of that Metabolic X thing, or whatever it's called. Anyway, after a while, the Effexor lost it's ability to keep away depression, so I switched to Wellbutrin. That worked OK for a while, but I eventually went on a drug holiday.
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> When I needed to get back on therapy, I tried Lamictal, which seemed to be working for me though I wasn't yet up to a therapeutic dose, but I too got a rash. Back to Trileptal.
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> Depression is more a problem for me than mania. Trileptal alone does nothing for depression, for me anyway, except for keeping me from feeling absolutely suicidal. Once I added the Cymbalta, that was the key. Since I had to lower it, because of a slightly elevated blood pressure, I am now augmenting with 150mg Wellbutrin XL in the a.m., and it seems to be doing the job so far.
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poster:barbaracat
thread:475449
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20050322/msgs/475592.html