Posted by Tomatheus on February 15, 2015, at 14:50:28
In reply to Re: Depression vs. 'negative' psychotic symptoms » Tomatheus, posted by ed_uk2010 on February 15, 2015, at 13:09:26
Hi Ed,
Thank you for responding to what I've written again and for offering your thoughts on my responses to your questions. As I've said before, I very much appreciate the fact that you've taken the time that you have to respond and to assess my case.
Now, for my responses to what you've written...
> >I was initially wary of taking vitamin D3 because I had noticed what seemed to be a worsening of my psychotic symptoms when I tried taking it previously when I wasn't taking any antipsychotics.
>
> Do you think it was related? Side effects seem possible if you were taking doses which were grossly in excess of normal physiological requirements over a prolonged period of time, but that doesn't appear to be the case. The body can manufacture thousands of units of D3 per day when adequate areas of skin are exposed to the summer sun... or at other times of year near the equator.I don't know for sure. I would say that I also noticed some worsening of psychotic symptoms when I spent more time in the sun than usual during unmedicated periods that I went through prior to starting Abilify. It also seems that vitamin D may boost tyrosine hydroxylase activity, leading to increased dopamine synthesis, which offers a possible explanation as to why vitamin D might have influenced my psychotic symptoms in the way that it seemed to. The worsening of psychosis that I noticed that time I tried vitamin D3 without any antipsychotic symptoms was somewhat mild, so again, I suppose it can be difficult to say for sure whether the vitamin had anything to do with it.
> Although it's impossible to be certain without a blood test, your regimen is consistent with what is likely to be an adequate replacement dose for the treatment of proven deficiency. Do you know how severe your deficiency was?
I was at the low end of the "insufficiency" range: 21.9 ng/mL.
> So, if you can get a blood test from your doctor, I would definitely do so and adjust your dose accordingly.
I will see if I can do that.
> Are you seropositive for toxoplasma antibodies? And have you had a cat? Mind you, a very high percentage of the US population show serological evidence of past infection, so such tests may not be very revealing.
I haven't been tested for Toxoplasma gondii antibodies. I just think that a T. gondii infection might be one possible explanation for my psychosis, given the degree to which being seropositive for T. gondii antibodies has been found to be correlated with schizophrenia, and also given the fact that my white blood cells always come back as being elevated. But I might not be infected with T. gondii, and even if I am, I don't think that there would be enough evidence to say for sure that it's a cause of my psychosis. I'm merely saying that a T. gondii infection represents a possible explanation for my psychosis.
I have not had any cats as pets, but can't T. gondii also be caught by eating undercooked meat? I think that most people, myself included, can probably say that they've eaten undercooked meat at some point in their lives.
> Was Cymbalta very different to the SSRIs for you? How long did you take it for?
Well, I stopped taking Cymbalta after the agitation and irritability surfaced about three to four days in, so I didn't stay on it for very long. But I haven't noticed any significant agitation or irritability during my SSRI trials.
> Was your response to Anafranil very similar to your response to Cymbalta, or different?
There were some differences between my responses to Anafranil and Cymbalta, the main one being that the agitation and irritability was stronger on Anafranil and surfaced on the first (and only) day I took the medication. But I would say that the "feel" of the two medications was almost the same. Mind you, I didn't stay on either one for very long. Agitation and irritability (and the rage and aggression I experienced on Remeron) probably get me into more trouble with other people than any other symptom, psychotic symptoms included, so I tend to have a low tolerance for agitation and irritability.
Tomatheus
Has long-standing difficulties with energy and concentration, as well as psychotic and cognitive symptoms
Taking Abilify & supplements including vitamins B3 & D3
poster:Tomatheus
thread:1076218
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20150129/msgs/1076676.html