Posted by bleauberry on November 14, 2009, at 15:02:14
In reply to Stimulants for TRD, posted by tensor on November 13, 2009, at 4:31:35
My experiences with stimulants.
Ritalin, immediate mood and energy boost. I always carry tiny chunks of it around with for an emergency. I rarely use them, but they are kind of like my security blanket. I'v never taken Ritalin long enough to see if I would develop tolerance issues. I have used it in combination with SSRIs or as monotherapy.
I have read of several accounts on pubmed when frail senior citizens experience depression, Ritalin works rapidly. It was generally chosen over antidepressants due to fast action, more reliable performance, less side effects, easy for even a frail system to tolerate, and less toxic.
Adderall, gives me immediate profound worsening of depression and a sort-of fearful panicy short circuit feeling. I do not like Adderall at all. Some of my friends or neighbors have had good results combining it with prozac.
I used Adrafinil 300mg for several years in combination with prozac and zyprexa. It kicked in over about a 6 week period. While prozac and zypexa had brought me up to about 60% from a starting low of 20%, adrafinil raised it to about 95%. Eventually other problems unknown at the time (Lyme and related complications) made my psych meds not work well anymore, make me worse, or give me intense side effects. But before that, Adrafinil was a good friend. Today it makes me more depressed, so something definitely changed over time.
Today my favorite stimulant is Olive Leaf extract. It is not thought of as a stimulant or antidepressant, but frequently is found helpful for chronic fatigue, chronic pain, chronic depression, and brain fog. That's why I tried it. I suspected the reported internet benefits were hype, but from my own experience I guess I was wrong. Not a single bullet miracle, but definitely fills a hole that nothing else has been able to. It seems to be a smooth invisible stimulant and mood improver. Though I felt some benefits almost right away, they were soon drowned out by a Herx reaction. By the end of the bottle things were looking a lot better. I think this is a keeper.
poster:bleauberry
thread:925568
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20091107/msgs/925721.html