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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 13 of 13. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by Rdragon on July 27, 2009, at 17:20:55
Hey guys, I'm 20 years old, about to turn 21, and have had an issue with depression/anxiety since October of 2008. Prior to October, I was doing perfectly fine. Anyways, I've been on about 8 meds so far: Lexapro, Paxil, Zoloft, Prozac, Seroquel, Abilify, Geodon, and Lamictal. Out of all those medicines, the one which does HELP me is the Geodon. The SSRI's make about a 5-10% improvement. My point is, is it worth it to keep trying new meds like Parnate, Cymbalta, Nardil, Emsam, etc... ? I'm fairly confident that no SSRI will work for me; the only way that I see myself getting out of this is through patience and time. This has lasted about 9 months and 27 days now, so I'm worried that it could last another 9 months and 27 days. I'm going to bring up ECT to my pdoc when I see him next.
Posted by floatingbridge on July 27, 2009, at 17:43:26
In reply to Keep Searching for Meds?, posted by Rdragon on July 27, 2009, at 17:20:55
Hi Rdragon,
There are some meds, like the MAO's (nardil, emsam, parnate) that might be what you are looking for--they are different from ssri's& snri's. Many here use TCA's as well. It's discouraging to try and try medications with your body and mind as the laboratory--not to mention destabilizing and exhausting. O.K. I have a friend--many drug trials, therapy, and the only thing that worked for her was parnate. She had a good thirty year run on that. Moral of this story--you haven't exhausted your med options yet. Get some good advice and keep on!
fb
please keep us posted
Posted by Rdragon on July 27, 2009, at 19:15:50
In reply to Re: Keep Searching for Meds? » Rdragon, posted by floatingbridge on July 27, 2009, at 17:43:26
> Hi Rdragon,
>
> There are some meds, like the MAO's (nardil, emsam, parnate) that might be what you are looking for--they are different from ssri's& snri's. Many here use TCA's as well. It's discouraging to try and try medications with your body and mind as the laboratory--not to mention destabilizing and exhausting. O.K. I have a friend--many drug trials, therapy, and the only thing that worked for her was parnate. She had a good thirty year run on that. Moral of this story--you haven't exhausted your med options yet. Get some good advice and keep on!
>
> fb
>
> please keep us posted
>
>Well in the past, I actually DID respond to SSRI's, Paxil completely fixed everything. Probably made me way too happy in fact. =)
This time around, my brain chemistry is different. I simply cannot feel the effects of these medications so I don't have any CLUE as to whether their working or not.
To give you an idea as to how screwed up the chemical balance is, I have problems with blinking now. It's almost like I have to manually blink, and I have an altered eye blink rate. It feels like it's affected my nervous system.
So what I'm getting at is that out of all the 8 drugs I've tried, I haven't actually REALLY tried them because I haven't been able to feel their effects due to the BLUNTING feeling I have in my head. Another example as to how messed up the chemical balance is, is that I couldn't get a headache even if I wanted to. All I would feel would be a slight, dull pressure. The chemicals as they are aligned right now simply don't let me have headaches.
I could describe this even more in depth if you guys want me to.
Posted by floatingbridge on July 27, 2009, at 19:27:56
In reply to Re: Keep Searching for Meds?, posted by Rdragon on July 27, 2009, at 19:15:50
Hi Rdragon,
Listing and/or describing your symptoms would be helpful for others to get an idea of what's happening to you. Is this episode of depression (beginning in October of 2008, right?) your first episode? I thinking that, if I have the timeline correct, you've been through these eight meds since October? That seem to be overwhelming in itself.
Others here with more experience than I will hopefully be weighing in soon.
fb
Posted by Rdragon on July 27, 2009, at 19:54:25
In reply to Re: Keep Searching for Meds? » Rdragon, posted by floatingbridge on July 27, 2009, at 19:27:56
> Hi Rdragon,
>
> Listing and/or describing your symptoms would be helpful for others to get an idea of what's happening to you. Is this episode of depression (beginning in October of 2008, right?) your first episode? I thinking that, if I have the timeline correct, you've been through these eight meds since October? That seem to be overwhelming in itself.
>
> Others here with more experience than I will hopefully be weighing in soon.
>
> fbNo, it's my second episode. In 2007 I went onto Paxil for the depression/anxiety and it worked. I was able to come off of it and still retain the benefits.
Then in October of 2008, all of this started. I don't really want to say exactly what the cause is, people like morganpmiller and others on the M&M forums know about it. It created quite an uproar when I posted what the cause of all of this was. You'll probably think I'm crazy when I tell you what triggered this current episode, but if you really want to know, I'll tell you. Let's just say that it was caused by a supplement. I dunno how, or why, I've pondered over it a thousand times now, and it doesn't make any logical sense. But yet, here I am, living proof that things like this do occur.
Posted by Rdragon on July 27, 2009, at 20:13:22
In reply to Re: Keep Searching for Meds?, posted by Rdragon on July 27, 2009, at 19:54:25
Some of my symptoms are:
-Intense burning sensations throughout body, most felt in feet.
-Anhedonia
-Altered eye blink rate/ blinking with my autonomic nervous system feels different
-Increase in mucuous and spit stickyness
-Increase in skin moisture
Posted by Phillipa on July 28, 2009, at 0:09:46
In reply to Re: Keep Searching for Meds?, posted by Rdragon on July 27, 2009, at 20:13:22
First welcome to babble then important to include the supplement please don't feel silly we're not judgemental need to know all the facts. Love Phillipa
Posted by Rdragon on July 28, 2009, at 5:05:19
In reply to Re: Keep Searching for Meds? » Rdragon, posted by Phillipa on July 28, 2009, at 0:09:46
> First welcome to babble then important to include the supplement please don't feel silly we're not judgemental need to know all the facts. Love Phillipa
Ok fine, you asked for it. The supplement was fish oil.
Posted by ColoradoSnowflake on July 28, 2009, at 10:18:17
In reply to Re: Keep Searching for Meds?, posted by Rdragon on July 28, 2009, at 5:05:19
I don't think that's crazy at all. Our planet is so toxic now, oceans, marine life, etc. I think you easily could have gotten some bad fish oil with who knows what kind of toxic material/poison/chemicals in it...from the fish used, from the processing, etc.
I'm really really sorry this happened to you!! There is probably no way to find those capsules or know what happened or what toxins got into your body.
I think we're seeing the tip of the iceberg in this kind of environmental poisoning. It's scary to think about it. I wouldn't be surprised if many of us on this Forum have had some kind of toxic exposures that we may never know, only suffer from.
I know if I drink diet soda or get any aspartame in my body it gives me a Rheumatoid Arthritis flare and my whole body aches. At least aspartame is usually listed in "ingredients" so I can stay away from it. I could go on and on.
I hope you can find some relief!!Welcome to Psychobabble!
gayle
Posted by Rdragon on July 28, 2009, at 15:15:35
In reply to Re: Keep Searching for Meds?, posted by ColoradoSnowflake on July 28, 2009, at 10:18:17
> I don't think that's crazy at all. Our planet is so toxic now, oceans, marine life, etc. I think you easily could have gotten some bad fish oil with who knows what kind of toxic material/poison/chemicals in it...from the fish used, from the processing, etc.
> I'm really really sorry this happened to you!! There is probably no way to find those capsules or know what happened or what toxins got into your body.
> I think we're seeing the tip of the iceberg in this kind of environmental poisoning. It's scary to think about it. I wouldn't be surprised if many of us on this Forum have had some kind of toxic exposures that we may never know, only suffer from.
> I know if I drink diet soda or get any aspartame in my body it gives me a Rheumatoid Arthritis flare and my whole body aches. At least aspartame is usually listed in "ingredients" so I can stay away from it. I could go on and on.
> I hope you can find some relief!!
>
> Welcome to Psychobabble!
> gayleThanks for the welcome! =) Yeah I have no idea what exactly the fish oil could've done, but it obviously triggered a cataclysmic reaction in me. This has been extremely long lasting (9 months 28 days), but I definitely don't think it's possible for fish oil to have induced PERMANENT chemical changes in my body. PUFA"s have a half-life of up to 2 years in the body, so I wouldn't be surprised if somehow some part of it is still causing this havoc in my body.
Posted by Rdragon on July 28, 2009, at 15:43:59
In reply to Re: Keep Searching for Meds?, posted by Rdragon on July 28, 2009, at 15:15:35
What's also weird is how I'm responding to these drugs. Before the fish oil, all I needed was Paxil for 6 months, and I was FINE after that. If I had tried some of the 8 drugs which haven't worked for me NOW, BACK then when I was taking the Paxil, I would've responded MUCH differently to the drugs.
Posted by Phillipa on July 28, 2009, at 19:18:41
In reply to Re: Keep Searching for Meds?, posted by Rdragon on July 28, 2009, at 15:43:59
The paxil pooped out on you? Fissh oil agree it's strange but we're all different. Body chemistry changes also. Phillipa
Posted by Meltingpot on August 2, 2009, at 14:49:17
In reply to Keep Searching for Meds?, posted by Rdragon on July 27, 2009, at 17:20:55
Hi,
Just wanted to let you know that when I was in my 20s I pretty much responded to any antidepressant that was given to me, first prothaiden, then sertraline and then seroxat. They all worked.
However, when my depression resurfaced when I was 35 none of the antidepressants worked. It took 2 years of trial and error, of putting up with horrible side affects (the same drugs as you have tried) because being off drugs was worse than being on them with the side affects.
Then I responded to 40mg of Seroxat, only to have it stop working for me two years down the line.I must say that the psychiatrist had to put me straight on high dose Seroxat rather than to slowly increase the dose as normally I would start off at a low dose, stay on it for months and then give up on it before I had chance to get on a high dose. As I always get the side affects (anxiety) whether on a small dose or large I'd rather just get straight on high dose.
So this does happen, it's a shame you came off the seroxat because you might have got more milage out of it.
I know what you mean about burning feet and not getting headaches. Burning hands and feet was one of the symptoms I got when I was in my early 20s.
Don't give up though, you've lots of other treatment strategies to try. Maybe a high dose Seroxat straight away would work for you. It took about 4 days for the 40mg to start working.
Are you sure that the fish oil wasn't just coincdence??
Denise
This is the end of the thread.
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