Posted by hansi555 on March 4, 2009, at 0:41:05
In reply to Re: Depressed from ADs - how likely is it?, posted by NewQuestions on March 3, 2009, at 16:12:57
> Need more information. What were your symptoms before medication? What is your diagnosis? How long did you experience them? What is the nature of the AD side effects? How are you depressed? What ADs are you on? Do you consider crying outbursts to be depression?
I had been stressed for 1 year or so, so 20th nov 2007 I stayed home feeling dizzy, and confused. During december I went through different kinds of psysical symptoms like nausea, headaches, loss of appetite.
Then on the 25th of december I had a major nightmare so bad that within 5 days I went into total insomnia. Tried different normal sleeping meds but after fighting this f 3 weeks I gave up and begen the Remeron 30 mg, at this time also my appetite was pretty low. And had also been taking more depression tests, but I was not depressed at the time.
After starting Remeron, I could sleep again and eat for the first 2 weeks, everything seemd on track and back to normal.
Out of nothing I began crying and again I could not sleep wtihout sleeping pills and appetite was less again. After 2 weeks I went to 45 mg, now diagnosed w. depression. Over the next 2 months I went up to 60 mg but I was never in a good mood for more than 2-3 weeks, then I felt depressed again, had problems w. eating, nausea´, crying. In the meantime I had been able to stop taking the sleeping pills.
At around mid May my PD thought we should add Lexapro and cut a bit of the Remeron. During the next 5 months it was more or less the same, good/normal mood for 1-2 weeks, then a simlilar period of not-so-good 80-90% of normal.
In october I asked my PD if we could make a switch to something more powerful and I started Nortriptyline, first at a low dosage and since dec 85 mg/day. Since then ALL psysical symptoms has disappeared completely, it is only this mood thing troubeling me.I have now been on 85 mg Nortriptyline (and 15 mg Remeron at bed time) for the past 2½ months and I have had a fairly good time, I have felt more and more my old me, also been able to slowly increase my working time. Dont know if this is because of the nortrip or just because of the time passing along.
From the 20th of december and 7 weeks forward I have gone from 20 mg Lex to 0 mg as planned by my PD and I: We should go for the Nortrip only (and also remove the Remeron later on). I have had no real psysical withdrawel symptoms during this proces.
I have now been on NO Lexapro for 15 days but for the last 2-3 weeks the number of not-so-good days have become more and more again. Also my sleep has become more unstable, I wake up early, fall asleep again etc..
Again I have this feeling of just being 90% of normal happy. Also crying spells once a week or so when the feeling of-not-normal or depressed gets too much.
Is this type of setback typical when you stop taking a med like Lexapro - even when it has not been working very well / at all?
How long does it take for Lexapro to completely wash out of the system?
Should I go for more Nortrip or just "wait it out"?The blood screening of my Nortrip concentration has shown 292 (the therapeutic interval is 190 - 570), so there is room for a higher dose than my current 85 mg
I (and my PD) consider crying outburts and this 80-90% feeling symptoms of depression, dont know if this is correct.
Sorry for the rather long post.
poster:hansi555
thread:883520
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20090223/msgs/883645.html