Posted by anonymoose on November 21, 2007, at 1:04:10
In reply to Re: bupropion compared to NRI's, posted by linkadge on November 20, 2007, at 23:37:03
Linkadge,
Thanks for the info/tips.
> Possibly. The best remedy in your case would probably be a minimization of stimulant use, coupled with stress reduction and a high protein diet. You could pop some sort of dopamine mimicking drug, or mess with metabolism but the system will work a lot better if you have the dopamine stores to make it work.
> Dopamine by itself isn't the magic pleasure chemical. It interacts with opiates, serotonin, norepinephrine etc. Stress can throw the whole thing out of whack, as can excessive drug use.Got that. But I think the original cause of my problems is endogenous in nature. Looking back in my case, my symptoms started 3 years before I began to realize I was suffering from some sort of dysthymic depression, and I hadn't taken any sort of drugs before then. I'm not a regular smoker or drinker, and I limit my caffeine intake to 100mg/day, on average.
For a while I thought I had a sleep disorder, because I started falling asleep in class with increasing regularity (had a sleep test done, which turned up no sleep irregularities). Then I started falling asleep every time I tried to read something. I'd been a straight-A student, but my grades tanked and I think this precipitated full-blown depression.
It was only then that I was put on Zoloft (my first psychiatric med). The first day gave me an incredible, almost euphoric response - I felt emotion, energy, and motivation again. But this quickly wore off by the 2nd week. I tried augmenting with adderall 10-20mg/day, but the therapeutic effect pooped out after a few months.
Over the next five years, I tried numerous antidepressants, none of which worked. Also, I'd go a few months on ritalin/adderall (10-20mg/day) until it pooped out and then go off a few months before trying again.
My symptoms had been getting worse and worse over the past few months despite being off regular ritalin/adderall. And it wasn't until starting Selegiline yesterday that I got any sort of relief. So I'm pretty sure that I need something, either the Selegiline or the Mirapex, to keep my depressive symptoms at bay.
So yeah, I'm pretty sure I've got some endogenous problem that normal measures (stress reduction, good nutrition, etc.) can't fix by itself.
> Start from the bottom up. Build a strong base with stress reduction, good nutrition and drug minimization, then use drugs as necessary to go from there.
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> I know I am not astounder, sorry for replying. If he wants to reply too that's cool.
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> Linkadge
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poster:anonymoose
thread:794699
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20071115/msgs/796271.html