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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 10 of 10. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by SLS on May 4, 2003, at 17:08:35
Hi.
This is the second time I have tried Provigil. My depression got worse the first time and it is starting to getting worse now. I don't know if I should stay with it or not. Has anyone else had this experience?
- Scott
Posted by Snoozy on May 4, 2003, at 18:08:27
In reply to Does anyone feel worse on Provigil ?, posted by SLS on May 4, 2003, at 17:08:35
Scott -
I'm glad you posted this. I started Provigil last Wednesday (100 Mg). Since Friday, I have been slipping into despair, I feel as if I am heading into a Depressive episode.
Can I ask how much/how long you've been on it now and with your previous try?
I thought my mood could be attributed to external events, but now I'm wondering if maybe the Provigil has something to do with it as well. Now that I look at the side effects, depression is listed there.
I'm very curious to see if anyone else has had an experience similar to yours. I'm seeing my pdoc later this week.
(I'm also on Wellbutrin 400mg, over 3 years)
> Hi.
>
> This is the second time I have tried Provigil. My depression got worse the first time and it is starting to getting worse now. I don't know if I should stay with it or not. Has anyone else had this experience?
>
>
> - Scott
Posted by rod on May 5, 2003, at 15:09:18
In reply to Does anyone feel worse on Provigil ?, posted by SLS on May 4, 2003, at 17:08:35
> Hi.
>
> This is the second time I have tried Provigil. My depression got worse the first time and it is starting to getting worse now. I don't know if I should stay with it or not. Has anyone else had this experience?
>
>
> - Scott
Hi Scott,I cant tell about Provigil, but I tried Adrafinil 2 times. First time with amitriptyline, 2nd with moclobemide. Each time it got worse and I stopped taking it. It took some days to recover from it. This feeling strongly reminds me of Remeron, which also makes me worse, somehow. quite strange
Roland
Posted by SLS on May 5, 2003, at 17:27:19
In reply to Re: Does anyone feel worse on Provigil ?, posted by rod on May 5, 2003, at 15:09:18
> I cant tell about Provigil, but I tried Adrafinil 2 times. First time with amitriptyline, 2nd with moclobemide. Each time it got worse and I stopped taking it. It took some days to recover from it. This feeling strongly reminds me of Remeron, which also makes me worse, somehow. quite strange
Hi Roland.I decided to stop taking Provigil today because of how quickly and severely my depression has worsened since raising the dosage to 200mg a few days ago. This is the second time Provigil has treated me this way. I was also taking Lamictal both times. Perhaps these two drugs' opposing effects on glutamate are somehow responsible. Oddly, I received a noticeable mood-lift that lasted a few hours after taking the very first dose. The first time I tried Provigil, I felt much worse for 10 days after discontinuing it. I'm praying that the same thing doesn't happen this time.
BTW, Remeron also makes me feel much worse. Hmmm.
- Scott
Posted by JrBecker on May 5, 2003, at 17:54:57
In reply to Re: Does anyone feel worse on Provigil ?, posted by SLS on May 5, 2003, at 17:27:19
I took Provigil for less than a week about a year ago. Not sure the dosage, probably less than a 100mg, and I might have doubled it one day. Anyway, I also found that it worsened my depression, creating a sense of dysphoria. And the worse part was that I had a rebound of tiredness in the late afternoon, sort of like when I take a long-acting stimulant, but worse. Just wasn't for me.
Posted by jerrympls on May 5, 2003, at 20:15:39
In reply to Does anyone feel worse on Provigil ?, posted by SLS on May 4, 2003, at 17:08:35
> Hi.
>
> This is the second time I have tried Provigil. My depression got worse the first time and it is starting to getting worse now. I don't know if I should stay with it or not. Has anyone else had this experience?
>
>
> - ScottI was put on Provigil. It succeeded in keeping me awake - but wasn't helpful for depression. I mean, it helped a little for a couple weeks - then nothing.
Posted by Geezer on May 5, 2003, at 21:45:27
In reply to Does anyone feel worse on Provigil ?, posted by SLS on May 4, 2003, at 17:08:35
> Hi.
>
> This is the second time I have tried Provigil. My depression got worse the first time and it is starting to getting worse now. I don't know if I should stay with it or not. Has anyone else had this experience?
>
>
> - ScottHi Scott,
Yes, my experience was much like yours. I took Provigil on several occasions (never more than two days in a row). I took anywhere from 100mg. to 500mg. at one time or in devided doses. No matter what the combination it always lasted 4 hours, then I switched to a very dysphoric depressed state (felt like a bad case of the flu - sudden onset). I also take Lamictal 200mg. and Prozac 15mg. I was an abuser of Dex. years ago. May I ask if you have Bipolar Disorder. My major complaint is atypical depression but the "wiz kids" in psycho-pharm. (pdocs) have hinted at Bipolar, due to the lack of emperical scientific testing I will never know.....just have to treat the symptoms.
Good luck
Geezer
Posted by SLS on May 6, 2003, at 9:35:22
In reply to Re: Does anyone feel worse on Provigil ? » SLS, posted by Geezer on May 5, 2003, at 21:45:27
> May I ask if you have Bipolar Disorder. My major complaint is atypical depression but the "wiz kids" in psycho-pharm. (pdocs) have hinted at Bipolar, due to the lack of emperical scientific testing I will never know.....just have to treat the symptoms.
I was originally diagnosed as having atypical unipolar depression. When I developed severe mania in association with a combination of Parnate + desipramine and also upon discontinuation of Nardil, doctors at the NIMH decided that I was bipolar. Still, there are some doctors who would classify me as atypical unipolar with drug-induced mania. I never had a spontaneous manic episode. I think my condition does involve bipolarity because I was an ultra-rapid cycler for over two years. My cycling was pretty dramatic. I would be severely depressed for 8 days. Then, on day 8, my mood would lift and become normal over the space of an hour. This normal period only lasted 3 days - not 2 and not 4. On day 3, the switch to severe depression occurred, again, over the course of an hour. After recognizing my condition for what was, I was able to keep a social calendar around it.Recently, a doctor described what I have as "deficit syndrome". In the past, this term has been reserved for describing symptomology involved with schizophrenia. However, some doctors are beginning to look at this cluster of negative symptoms in the absence of schizophrenia, melancholia or dysphoria to be a separate diagnostic description.
- Scott
Posted by Geezer on May 6, 2003, at 19:49:19
In reply to Re: Does anyone feel worse on Provigil ?, posted by SLS on May 6, 2003, at 9:35:22
> > May I ask if you have Bipolar Disorder. My major complaint is atypical depression but the "wiz kids" in psycho-pharm. (pdocs) have hinted at Bipolar, due to the lack of emperical scientific testing I will never know.....just have to treat the symptoms.
>
>
> I was originally diagnosed as having atypical unipolar depression. When I developed severe mania in association with a combination of Parnate + desipramine and also upon discontinuation of Nardil, doctors at the NIMH decided that I was bipolar. Still, there are some doctors who would classify me as atypical unipolar with drug-induced mania. I never had a spontaneous manic episode. I think my condition does involve bipolarity because I was an ultra-rapid cycler for over two years. My cycling was pretty dramatic. I would be severely depressed for 8 days. Then, on day 8, my mood would lift and become normal over the space of an hour. This normal period only lasted 3 days - not 2 and not 4. On day 3, the switch to severe depression occurred, again, over the course of an hour. After recognizing my condition for what was, I was able to keep a social calendar around it.
>
> Recently, a doctor described what I have as "deficit syndrome". In the past, this term has been reserved for describing symptomology involved with schizophrenia. However, some doctors are beginning to look at this cluster of negative symptoms in the absence of schizophrenia, melancholia or dysphoria to be a separate diagnostic description.
>
>
> - ScottHi Scott,
First, let me thank you for your response. Your knowledge in these matters is far more indepth than my own. In your comments you have given me a great deal to think about. Although I have mostly given up trying to "label" myself, at least so far as a DX is concerned my mind won't let go of certain questions. For example the term "dysphoric hypomania".....I can't recognize any time in my life when I have had "any" kind of mania (unless it was earlier in life when I worked a 24/7 emergency medical job - I always felt driven to the point of exhaustion followed by acute depression....as one pdoc put it "you made a lot of money on hypomania then spent your vacations in the psyc. ward."). If hypomania was what I had it would last for many months and I defined it as normal. I was fully disabled in 1998 (first try - no lawyer needed).Another confusing point is the change in the etiology of the illness. Earlier in life ADs worked, at least for a time, now the depression is very atypical where it used to be very agitated with anxiety. One thing we do have in common is a rapid mood change with certain psyc. drugs. Any increase in my small Prozac dose or the use of Provigil brings a rapid switch from a moderate level of atypical depression to a sever dysphoric deep depression (still no mania recognized). I can usually come out of such spells with increased Klonopin and slight increase of Lamictal.
In any case thanks for your kind response - it really is helpfull. Pdocs will tell me nothing.
Geezer
Posted by MaxTex on May 7, 2003, at 0:40:30
In reply to Re: Does anyone feel worse on Provigil ? » SLS, posted by Geezer on May 6, 2003, at 19:49:19
Soon after starting on Effexor for depression, I also started on Provigil. I've always had problems with sleepiness. The Provigil often helped a lot. (Oddly, it sometimes had no effect at all.) It seemed to be neutral in regard to my depression.
MaxTex
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