Posted by polarbear206 on January 31, 2007, at 8:49:43
In reply to Do you have to get a lot worse before better?, posted by blueberry1 on January 30, 2007, at 16:54:45
> I swear anything norepinephrine is bad for me. Same pattern always happens. Initial rapid mood boost. Fades away. Turns into really unbearably severe depression at about day 4, MUCH worse than where I started. And I thought I started out pretty bad. With anything noradrenergic I end up saying stuff like, "more depressed than I've been in a very long time".
>
> Why is that? I'm going to call my doctor. But I know what she'll say...I'm not yet on a therapeutic dose and you need to be on one for at least a month. But there is no way in hell I can survive this.
>
> This time the pattern repeated with cymbalta. I am only at a ridiculous 8mg. Today was the absolute worst day in longer than I can remember. I was NOT this bad before I started.
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> Before my doctor chose cymbalta I told her I do respond to ssris. At least they get rid of the depression mostly. But I am left very blah with no interest or motivation in life. I told her let's get me to that point of safety and then work on the blah symptoms after that. She said cymbalta would do it all. She gave me samples. I wonder what kind of under-the-table kickback they get for giving out samples?
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> Looking back, nothing I ever tried worked without 5mg zyprexa along with it. Damn. I hate to think about that. I guess I shouldn't argue with results though.
>
> Anyway, is it normal to go from very bad to reallly really really bad? Is it normal to go through that stage before you start feeling better? Is that the stage where people commit suicide shortly after starting an antidepressant or changing a dose? I don't recall ever going through that with paxil or prozac or zoloft or lexapro. Only dl-phenylalanine, adderall, tyrosine, milnacipran, cymbalta, and I'm sure I forgot a few.
>
> What do you think? What should I do?
Blueberry,As you stated above that you had an initial rapid mood boost that faded. Believe me that this type of response is very indicative of an underlying bipolar spectrum disorder. I told you about how I ended up in the psyche ward and diagnosed with severe PPD. Well, they initially started me on imipramine and my response was a rapid mood boost within the first 2 days. My pdoc couldn't believe how fast I responded. It ended up to be short-lived. Trials of various antidepressants did the same thing, only to plunge me into deeper depressions. It wasn't until after I was on a mood stabilizer that my life was normal again. I know that you have tried some MS and zyprexa seemed to work for you. I had the same problem on the SSRI's as far as apathy goes. This was not me at all. Have you tried a low dose of lithium with an AD? The reason I ask is that when I go back to my p-doc appt, I'm goning to ask him to put me on a low of Lithium dose with the lamictal and lower the effexor. The reason for this is that Effexor works great for me, but if I can lower it, It would relieve some of the sexual side effects I have encountered. I have been researching the combo of low dose lithium in conjunction with Lamictal and it appears to be very successful.
poster:polarbear206
thread:728186
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20070125/msgs/728397.html