Posted by yesac on June 29, 2005, at 12:12:21
In reply to Lithium - is Seroquel necessary? » yesac, posted by barbaracat on June 27, 2005, at 16:07:35
> Have you tried to go without Seroquel and just stick with Lithium?
Well, I had been on Seroquel for about 6 months before starting lithium. It helped me sleep, maybe helped calm me down a little. But when the lithium started kicking in, I had the same thoughts as you---- I didn't think I needed Seroquel anymore. I thought all it was doing was helping me sleep, and yeah, I figured I could take something else for that. So I went off Seroquel for 4 days. I took trazodone to help me sleep. After about 2 days, I started to completely fall apart, and it got worse and worse. I pretty much slipped right back down into an agitated despairing suicidal depression.
So, lesson learned, I went back on Seroquel, and things got better after a couple more days. So as much as I would like to go off of it because I do think it's probably more responsible for my lethargy and tiredness, basically I'm afraid to. I already tried once and it was a disaster. The thing is, it seems like I need both of them together, because when I was on S alone, it didn't seem to do that much, and when I was on Lithium alone, it didn't seem to do much.
In many ways, drugs really suck.
I suppose I could try something else instead of the Seroquel, but at this point, I feel like I've just barely reached some kind of stability and feeling somewhat okay, so maybe I should just stay put for the meantime. I've switched regimens so much over the past few years that it might be time to just stay where I am and try to tweak that. Honestly, I just don't know what to do.
> If I were looking to conduct a controlled trial and wondering which med to tweak first it would be Seroquel, not Lithium.I might try to take less Seroquel instead of less lithium. I need to talk to my psychiatrist to help me decide. One thing is that I think lithium augments Seroquel for me, and so it's like I need less Seroquel to get the same or even better benefits than when I was on it alone.
> On a good mood stabilizing regimen you could try a low dose AD. Maybe not Prozac cause it's so activating, but there are plenty out there to choose from
I'm thinking about it. Maybe Zoloft? I had a really bad experience with Prozac even when I was on lithium, so I doubt that I'd ever try that again.... plus, it makes me worry about any antidepressant, even though they're not all so activating.
poster:yesac
thread:509665
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20050627/msgs/521085.html