Posted by Pfinstegg on December 20, 2002, at 10:29:44
In reply to Re: next steps - Anna Laura, posted by Anna Laura on December 20, 2002, at 4:38:09
It's much clearer to me now what your situation is- sorry for the irrelevant stuff about psychoanalysis! It sounds to me as if some of those analysts are out of the dark ages, anyway- especially the one who talked about penis envy- what an ancient, useless concept. The psychoanalytic psychotherapy which helped me so much was nothing like what you are describing, but the main point for you is- it's not what you need anyway.
If I understand you correctly, you are bipolar, with a long hyperthymic period in your teens, followed by a long bout with depression lasting until now. You've had both AD's and mood stabilizers, didn't tolerate the mood stabilizers very well, didn't get relief from the AD's, and are also afraid that they may have contributed to your present anhedonia. Is this more or less correct? One of the reasons I stopped taking Prozac and Paxil was that, although they took away some of the pain of the depression; after a few years, the anhedonia became very noticeable and I felt that I wasn't myself at all. After 5 months off all of them, the anhedonia is almost completely reversed. How long have you been off of them?
It sounds like you are entering a drug study in February- is that right? Is it for a new mood stabilizer? I guess that if you are doing that, you can't begin adding on thyroid supplements right now. But you probably could take fish oil- at least between now and February. If you decide to do that, just be sure you take enough so that you get at least one gram of EPA per day. It will help your brain's metabolism on a lot of different levels. The parts of your brain which are hypo-perfused have an extremely sluggish, underactive metabolism, and while fish oil won't bring up the blood circulation, it will make the metabolism in those areas more active- more neurotransmitter secretion and uptake.
I would also wonder about your cortisol status, given the intensity of your depression. Do you know what your 24-hour cortisol is, and whether you are a DST suppressor or not?
Pfinstegg
poster:Pfinstegg
thread:33204
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20021218/msgs/33691.html