Posted by Christ_empowered on January 25, 2014, at 4:22:23
In reply to Re: Tofranil-PM » Christ_empowered, posted by phidippus on January 24, 2014, at 16:43:20
My current diagnosis is Bipolar I, I think with psychotic features (I mean, I have psychotic features, just not sure if its in the official diagnosis).
That said, I've never really been manic on ADs before. When I took Tofranil-PM and high dose Adderall I was angry...pissed off, but not so lethargic...
...no more amphetamines for me :-(
If I could make my own diagnosis (I think a lot of us wish we could), it'd be recurrent psychotic depression with fits of hypomania and very, very rare trips into mania (even then, my 1 major, 6 month manic crack up started out with dysphoric mania before leading into euphoric psychotic mania, so I'm not classically bipolar).
Touch of dissociative disorder, worse during mood episodes. Anxiety and agitation, but that could just be the recurrent psychotic depression.
Its been years since I took Tofrnail and I kind of suspect my brain and personality are both a lot different now, so...we'll see.
I actually respond to SRI drugs--that's not the issue--but they cause more flattening and amotivation over the long haul. I'm hoping that Tofranil will: even out my sleep, reduce agitation, reduce anxiety, and put a little pep in my step. That's asking a lot, but...
...when you read about MAOIs and TCAs, its worth noting that, back then, depression was SERIOUS. I mean, they'd lobotomize people for depression. Tofranil in particular worked well with people with old school depression, which is what I seem to get.
Personally, based on my experiences and reading, I think TCAs and MAOIs are antidepressants, but the SRIs are more like non-addictive tranquilizers. Good for OCD, anxiety, etc., but they don't do a whole lot for depression when there's agitation, slowing down of movement (somehow, I get both--slowed down and agitated,plus weight issues, voices, anxiety, cognitive probs, etc.)
From what I read, a lot of what is today diagnosed as "depression" used to be diagnosed as "anxiety" of some persuasion, which may explain why low dose neuroleptics work so well for many "depressed" people. Apparently, Prozac and its ilk were trying to take over some the market once dominated by Valium and Friends.
poster:Christ_empowered
thread:1059254
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20140123/msgs/1059475.html