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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 2 of 2. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by 3 Beer Effect on January 30, 2002, at 23:36:02
I was recently taking Neurontin 900 mg/day but it hasn't done anything for my social phobia, only seems to make it worse. I stay in the house all the time, somnolent, drowsy & much more irritable when on the neurontin. Some studies said it might help with social phobia but they only got a 32% response rate with a 14% placebo response rate.
My old psychiatrist thinks I am Bipolar but I think that may be wrong- stimulants, especially Ritalin, work well for me with no mania & I think I have ADD instead (the only time I ever had mania is when I took Zoloft 100 mg/day & also when I got drunk at college I would act like a manic idiot, partying till 7 in the morning. Assuming he is right & I do turn out to be Bipolar, they will probably put me on a different mood stablizer since Neurontin doesn't seem to help me.
Topomax looks very interesting as a mood stablizer but I don't know much about it. On paper, it looks like it would help with social phobia since it potentiates GABA & various other mechanisms that alcohol (which I still think is the best social phobia/anxiolytic drug ever) effects, which the benzos also do but through a different mechanism. Is Topomax the non-benzodiazpine, non-tolerance inducing cure for social phobia that everyone has been looking for? Does it make you "dumb" & drowsy all of the time so you can't get studying or other work done- I found Neurontin to have this effect on me? Is Topomax have dangerous side effects to you liver like Depakote & lithium or is it relatively non-toxic like Neurontin?
Posted by anniebananie on January 31, 2002, at 23:15:41
In reply to Topomax- a dumb drug?, also social phobia?, posted by 3 Beer Effect on January 30, 2002, at 23:36:02
> Does it make you "dumb" & drowsy all of the time so you can't get studying or other work done- I found Neurontin to have this effect on me? Is Topomax have dangerous side effects to you liver like Depakote & lithium or is it relatively non-toxic like Neurontin?
I don't know what it does for social phobia, but topamax seemed to work as a mood stabilizer although it didn't really do much for depression. Neither did it make me sleepy (compared to tegretol, depakote & neurontin). It did make me dumb at 200mg, much dumber than neurontin ever did. But I was so glad not to feel sleepy and to lose weight that it took me a long time to realize how cognitively impaired I had become. I wouldn't discourage you, just be on the lookout for sudden stupidity.
In two years I never had to have any labwork, but I was told to drink lots of water to prevent kidney damage.
Take care,
Annie
This is the end of the thread.
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