Posted by SLS on September 29, 2011, at 22:12:47
In reply to Re: Effexor...is there hope » SLS, posted by mellow on September 29, 2011, at 21:36:11
> Thank you all for the comments and suggestions.
>
> Scott,
> Per your question of how I ended up Cyclothymic. I was dxed depression/anxiety at 18. Tried zoloft. Got at least hypomanic from what I recall. I was seeing a GP not a pdoc. I did paxil when I was 23 and ended up going completely psychotic.The only times when I became manic were in association with antidepressant treatment. That I became psychotic led William Z. Potter MD at the NIMH to place my diagnosis closer to bipolar I than to bipolar II. Lithium is more effecive in bipolar I than in bipolar II.
> He started me on two anticonvulsants at her request because she said lithium was too old school and would make me a zombie.
That is far from being a certainty. It is inaccurate and counterproductive to view lithium this way. Some of the old ways are only now being appreciated as effective therapeutic tools that have a place in the modern psychiatic armamentarium. I am currently taking 300mg of lithium without the slightest hint of zombification. I have taken higher dosages in the past which resulted in some flat affect, but hardly a zombie state. I'm sure some people do react badly to lithium, but to deny yourself lithium treatment might prevent you from ever getting well. If it is not the right drug for you, it will become obvious very quickly. If so, then discontinue it and move on.
- Scott
Some see things as they are and ask why.
I dream of things that never were and ask why not.- George Bernard Shaw
poster:SLS
thread:998197
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20110925/msgs/998318.html