Posted by med_empowered on July 6, 2006, at 21:30:39
In reply to Re: stimulants for depression?, posted by nickguy on July 6, 2006, at 21:21:14
before the antidepressants gained popularity, stimulants were pretty much the treatment of choice for many types of depression. Until the 70s, the RX market was flooded with all kinds of stimulant combos--from your basic amphetamine, ritalin, and methamphetamine, to your sedative+stimulant or stimulant+stimulant combos...one pill I read about even had vitamins mixed with an amphetamine for weight loss ( I guess the tablet was supposed to be breakfast?)
Anyway, the results were sometimes good, sometimes not so good--addiction was a problem, but it doesn't seem to have caused too much concern until the 60s, when "speed freaks" started getting media attention and commiting acts of violence high on methedrine.
So...I'd say go for it, unless it really bothers you a whole lot. With amphetamines (adderall, dexedrine, desoxyn) and ritalin there will probably be some degree of dependence, but that's not the same as addiction--basically, if you're dependent, you need to keep taking the medication to continue benefits, and discontinuing the medication will cause some form of withdrawal.
From what I understand, these days docs usually use the stimulant with another drug or a couple other drugs for maximum benefit--for example, you might be RX'd and anti-depressant plus a stimulant, or a mood stabilizer plus a stimulant, so on and so forth. But...stimulants alone can help depression; in people who are old and/or sick and therefore unable to tolerate the side effects of ADs (and probably suffering fatigue, too), stimulants are used without any other meds to help with their depression.
So...there you go. Personally, I'd say that if you're struggling and you think this might help, go for it--the great thing about stimulants for depression is that they work fast, so after a couple "test doses," you should be able to see if you'll get any benefit. If so, you and your doc can work on the dosage--if not, you can move on to something else.
Good luck!
poster:med_empowered
thread:664625
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20060701/msgs/664670.html