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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 18 of 18. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by Phillipa on November 28, 2010, at 10:57:06
There was a time when we all used to discuss the "Magic Pill" did anyone find one? I haven't. Phillipa
Posted by ed_uk2010 on November 28, 2010, at 13:08:10
In reply to What's Your Magic Pill?, posted by Phillipa on November 28, 2010, at 10:57:06
>There was a time when we all used to discuss the "Magic Pill" did anyone find one?
No, nothing is magic I'm afraid. In some cases, medication can help, but it can also cause adverse effects. I think it's important to have appropriate expectations about what meds can do, and what they can't do.
For me, meds improve certain symptoms at the cost of worsening others and causing some side effects. I think this is the norm. I don't think I will ever find a magic pill - I'm not looking.
Posted by sigismund on November 28, 2010, at 15:31:22
In reply to What's Your Magic Pill?, posted by Phillipa on November 28, 2010, at 10:57:06
They're all banned.
Posted by sigismund on November 28, 2010, at 16:39:05
In reply to What's Your Magic Pill?, posted by Phillipa on November 28, 2010, at 10:57:06
Finding people who know you and love and accept you as you are is as close as it gets.
Posted by ed_uk2010 on November 28, 2010, at 17:20:37
In reply to Re: What's Your Magic Pill? » Phillipa, posted by sigismund on November 28, 2010, at 15:31:22
>They're all banned...
....and no doubt they're only magic for a few hours anyway.
Posted by ed_uk2010 on November 28, 2010, at 17:21:12
In reply to Re: What's Your Magic Pill? » Phillipa, posted by sigismund on November 28, 2010, at 16:39:05
> Finding people who know you and love and accept you as you are is as close as it gets.
(((((SIGI)))))
Posted by morgan miller on November 28, 2010, at 17:24:40
In reply to Re: What's Your Magic Pill?, posted by ed_uk2010 on November 28, 2010, at 13:08:10
Both Prozac and Zoloft worked quite a bit of magic at one point in my life, especially the first time I took Prozac-No side effects, felt great, brand new better person, obliterated OCD, obliterated anxiety, obliterated depression. I was young and Prozac was the first med I had ever been on, I'm sure this is a big reason why I had such a good experience with it.
Posted by merpmerp on November 28, 2010, at 18:23:41
In reply to Re: What's Your Magic Pill?, posted by morgan miller on November 28, 2010, at 17:24:40
I had the same experience as morgan miller had with Prozac, the first time I took it. I miss those days!
Posted by Phillipa on November 28, 2010, at 19:20:18
In reply to Re: What's Your Magic Pill?, posted by merpmerp on November 28, 2010, at 18:23:41
My very first med at age 24 well two Miltown and valium 5mg three times a day cured me in a matter of a day or so. I just cold turkey the miltown as didn't feel needed it and didn't. No withdrawal either. I just felt normal for me Phillipa
Posted by Peter S on November 29, 2010, at 13:20:45
In reply to What's Your Magic Pill?, posted by Phillipa on November 28, 2010, at 10:57:06
Lamictal is the closest I've gotten- but it only works for about 5 hours. It was a key in getting myself a decent job (interviewing). When I'm depressed interviewing is one of the most difficult things to do. When I need to be "up" I have been able to use the Lamictal in a very strategic way.
> There was a time when we all used to discuss the "Magic Pill" did anyone find one? I haven't. Phillipa
Posted by Tomatheus on November 29, 2010, at 14:05:01
In reply to What's Your Magic Pill?, posted by Phillipa on November 28, 2010, at 10:57:06
There was a time when my response to Nardil seemed to be pretty magical. To be specific, I was taking 75 mg of the Australian Nardil in enteric capsules, along with 25 mg of doxylamine succinate. That combination put all of my depressive symptoms (lack of energy, psychomotor retardation, hypersomnia, anhedonia, difficulty concentrating, and circadian-rhythm abnormalities) into full remission and completely wiped out the severe functional impairment that I was experiencing before I took Nardil. A lot of people refuse to believe that medications alone can bring about the kind of dramatic turnaround that I experienced when I was taking Nardil with doxylamine. For example, it is often argued that everybody with depression must have some negative-thought-pattern issues that cause their symptoms and that treating such symptoms with medications alone will only do part of the work needed to bring depressive symptoms into remission. Well, I think that such an argument is based upon a flawed assumption -- the assumption that all depressed individuals are pessimistic and that their negative thoughts are the underlying cause of all that they're suffering from. For me, the only "thought-pattern" issues that I had was a lack of thought patterns. Taking Nardil with doxylamine succinate gave me the energy I needed so I could wake up feeling refreshed each morning and think clearly and quickly enough to meet the challenges that came my way. Considering how much difficulty I had waking up each morning and engaging in everyday tasks before I took Nardil and after I stopped taking it, the fact that I was able to work, socialize, and maintain a normal circadian rhythm while I was responding to my Nardil-doxylamine combo seemed like nothing short of magic.
Unfortunately, after I was in remission for about a month on the enteric-encapsulated Australian Nardil with doxylamine succinate, I experienced a sudden and complete return of all my symptoms, which was accompanied by increased sweating and urinary retention. One possible explanation for these phenomena is that the bottles of the Australian Nardil that put me into remission had silica gel inside of them and that the bottles of Australian Nardil I received later did not have any silica gel in them, but largely, the cause of my sudden relapse remains unknown. As I've explained in previous messages that I've written on this site, I later got the psychiatrist I was seeing at the time to prescribe me Pfizer's Nardil, which I also put into enteric capsules, and I experienced a robust antidepressant response that was short of full remission at 60 mg of this version of Nardil with the doxylamine succinate that I had been taking with the Australian Nardil. This response lasted two months and ended with what I suspect was a bad batch of Pfizer's Nardil.
Now, I have what has been diagnosed as schizoaffective disorder, which includes a less severe version of the depressive symptoms that I previously experienced, as well as positive, negative, and cognitive psychotic symptoms. I suspect that my psychotic symptoms were brought on by taking a medication called aminoguanidine, but that's another story. My depressive symptoms no longer respond to enteric-encapsulated Marplan, the version of tranylcypromine manufactured by Goldshield for the U.K., or SAM-e. I currently take a combination of medications and supplements for my depressive symptoms and other symptoms, and although some of these treatments have helped me, none of them have restored my sense of functioning in the way that Nardil did. So, I really can't say that any of my treatments do anything that seems to be magical anymore, but when Nardil and doxylamine worked, they worked so well that my response could have easily been described as being magical.
Tomatheus
Posted by sigismund on November 29, 2010, at 15:00:11
In reply to Re: What's Your Magic Pill?, posted by Tomatheus on November 29, 2010, at 14:05:01
Tomatheus, what do you think the doxylamine was doing?
That is a sedative antihistamine?
It was an important part of the combo?
Why did you take it to begin with?
Etc
Posted by Tomatheus on November 29, 2010, at 16:46:01
In reply to Re: What's Your Magic Pill? » Tomatheus, posted by sigismund on November 29, 2010, at 15:00:11
> Tomatheus, what do you think the doxylamine was doing?
>
> That is a sedative antihistamine?
>
> It was an important part of the combo?
>
> Why did you take it to begin with?
>
> EtcSigismund,
I originally took the doxylamine succinate to help me fall asleep faster while I was on Nardil because, as you mentioned, it is a sedative antihistamine. There was a night while I was on Nardil when I was feeling quite tired and decided to go without the doxylamine, as I figured it wouldn't be necessary to help me sleep. I fell asleep easily, but the next day I had a complete and total relapse of my depressive symptoms that cost me about a month's worth of income at a temporary job that I was working at at the time (I only missed one day, but it was a training day, and I needed to make every training day in order to continue on with a project that I was supposed to be working on). The next night, I took my doxylamine, and my remission returned the next day. Because of the relapse I experienced on that day after I skipped my nightly dose of doxylamine, I continued to take the doxylamine for as long as I stayed on the Nardil. I have no idea what the doxylamine was doing therapeutically in conjunction with the Nardil that I was taking (the doxylamine does absolutely nothing for my depressive symptoms when I take it alone), but going without the doxylamine turned out to be disastrous for me.
Tomatheus
Posted by Tomatheus on November 29, 2010, at 16:53:00
In reply to Re: What's Your Magic Pill? » sigismund, posted by Tomatheus on November 29, 2010, at 16:46:01
> I originally took the doxylamine succinate to help me fall asleep faster while I was on Nardil because, as you mentioned, it is a sedative antihistamine.
Just to clarify, what I'm saying here is that the doxylamine is a sedative antihistamine. I realized that with the way I worded my sentence that it might seem as though I were saying that Nardil is a sedating antihistamine. That, of course, is not what I was trying to say.
Tomatheus
Posted by Phillipa on November 29, 2010, at 20:17:53
In reply to Re: What's Your Magic Pill? » Tomatheus, posted by Tomatheus on November 29, 2010, at 16:53:00
That is quite a story. I must google the aminoguanidine. Phillipa
Posted by ace on December 5, 2010, at 23:37:26
In reply to What's Your Magic Pill?, posted by Phillipa on November 28, 2010, at 10:57:06
> There was a time when we all used to discuss the "Magic Pill" did anyone find one? I haven't. Phillipa
hmmmm.....Have a guess Phillipa....don't think I need to answer this!
Great to see you still on here.
Posted by Phillipa on December 6, 2010, at 19:22:45
In reply to Re: What's Your Magic Pill? » Phillipa, posted by ace on December 5, 2010, at 23:37:26
Ace where you been still in school? Phillipa
Posted by jjjaspar on December 12, 2010, at 11:39:26
In reply to Re: What's Your Magic Pill? » Phillipa, posted by ace on December 5, 2010, at 23:37:26
Some people do find their own specific "magic pill." One psychiatrist I know called it a person's own "Lorenzo's Oil" because sometimes it isn't even a pill but rather a combination of things, usually based on finding that person's own underlying causes of illness and addressing them all - sleep, trauma, hormones, emotions, diet. Lucky is the person who can have one pill with no side-effects thus works like "magic" but usually it is a combination of things - possibly not even in pill form - and if there are no side-effects the result is simply health. But just about everything other than sleep hygiene, therapy, and diet changes result in side-effects and thus is not in the "magic" category.
I do however know people who found their solution with no side-effects. Usually it is something very simple in the end, like thyroid med switch or an allergy issue. Some a bit more complicated - perhaps nutritionally. Some found it in micronutrients. For the rest. . . ah well.
This is the end of the thread.
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