Posted by yxibow on August 16, 2008, at 1:23:36
In reply to Re: i feel retarded, sick » yxibow, posted by bleauberry on August 15, 2008, at 19:28:06
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> > remember -- that's a case study, as in 1 person.
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> True. Keep in mind, this poor sufferer is long past improving on anything studied in clinical trials. Clozapine is about as good as it gets. The suffering is desperate, not to be taken lightly. This is not an ordinary case.
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> > I can't think of adding more than the recommended 20mg of Namenda to a drug regime, but then again I suppose it worked for this person.
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> There is no recommended dose or purpose of Memantine for anything other than Alzheimers. But 40mg proved equal to Lexapro for depression. A couple people right here found it a miracle. 20mg has been shown clinically to be rather useless. So for a tough case that has failed heavy hitting firstline meds, case studies become extremely important to focus on.
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> >
> > As before I said, one really has to stay on an agent even if it doesn't seem like it is working initially -- haphazardly jumping from one agent to another may actually make it harder to fight things, but that's just a theoretical projection.
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> With meds like Clozapine, they work fairly rapid if they are to work. Same with Solian or Zyprexa. Heck, they put the stuff in your veins and it works in minutes or hours. No need to wait weeks or months. You are thinking of other meds that do indeed take longer time. Jereon did not wait forever for Seroquel to work and didn't feel like crap waiting for it to do so.
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> But when these things don't work, well, you gotta look elsewhere. Something else is going on. Excess glutamate activity? Excess noradrenergic activity? It sure aint excess dopamine activity. Case studies are posted so other doctors having a rough go can see what has worked for other doctors.
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> > And while we all know you're miserable, telling yourself that you're "retarded" isn't going to help your psychological esteem. Also its kind of down putting to those who are mentally challenged, but that's another story.
> >
> > -- Jay
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> In the current situation, the above kind of rationalization is something to dream of and hope for, but not readily achievable in the current state of mind. It fails to understand the seriousness of the illness at this very point in time. I have no doubt Jereon's self esteem would be just fine if something worked as well as Seroquel once did. Agreed though, we should all zip our mouths when we are about to speak negative of ourselves. Satan loves it. Don't give him the pleasure of hearing it.
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>I quite know that this isn't an "ordinary case" -- we have heard about many drug trials that Jeroen has gone through.
Schizophreniform disorders cost more than $2 billion to the system in the US each year and that's an old figure. So I don't take them or the people who are suffering from them lightly.
As for the comment on Abilify's suicidal properties, I'm not sure. Can you balance that against the overwhelmingly high suicide rate among schizophrenics compared to other equally devastating biochemical imbalance disorders? What is worst and when is the benefit worse than any possible outcome.
As Jeroen himself said he felt pity towards people with life affecting and life limiting disorders.
Untreated schizophreniform -- especially ones with positive symptoms, I believe, as Jeroen's may have (paranoia) -- disorders can limit one's feelings, create limitations and ultimately can, I'm not going to go there, but you can get the gist.
Please don't harm yourself, there are enough people here who you must babble to. I know I don't know you enough but I do know you're suffering.
Yes, as to your other theories there could be many things contributing, and alternative and complementary medicine may also have thoughts but a tough disorder sometimes requires fairly powerful medications --- it can seem punitive, I don't like the panoply of medications I take, including Seroquel -- and by the way I do take Memantine as a trial for my cognitive problems caused by Valium and psychological issues (I can't say its harming but I dont know what its doing yet).
So, okay I'm doing a bit of transference --- I think we all do when we examine other people's disorders.
But what I still say, even through the muck and the side effects, is sticking to a set of medications for long enough will prove better than going through drug trials that last weeks, discounting of course for unwanted life threatening reactions.
This all is not to be punitive and I think I am done talking about Jeroen in the third person because he is a contributor and a human being like all of us and we shouldn't talk about people in this manner.
Jeroen -- I hear you and I think we all hear you.
There are limitations in my life -- I am nearing ages in my 30s I don't like and I should be productive like my acquaintances --- when I see (yes, I'm gay, but its irrelevant) college age students out with their girlfriends and all, I feel pity for myself because I don't have the life that surrounds me.
But diving into pity only increases depression and decompensation (diminished mental status) -- its tough lifting yourself out of things, I still say, even for schizophrenia, there are psychological issues going on, I can tell -- because you want to be the person you imagine in your dreams.
I'm not being Pollyanna -- but why not build upon those dreams by sticking to a set of medications, leaving that in the background and get some therapeutic (psychological) help, which I think is lacking in a lot of treatment plans. I don't know, maybe I'm doing transference again.
The activation you're feeling from Abilify might be akathisia, but I can't say -- I'm sure you've felt it through other drug trials so only you would know. Its somewhat potent on the scale of atypicals, depending on the person of course.
-- best wishesJay
poster:yxibow
thread:846097
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20080814/msgs/846573.html