![[dr. bob]](/dr-bob-sm.gif)
Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 5 of 5. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by Elanor Roosevelt on January 23, 2011, at 17:13:26
I am down to 30mg of Parnate and up to 600mg of Lithium. I am experiencing high anxiety levels. I am staying more active than usual as a result. I think I am afraid to stay home with my own thoughts. Is the anxiety more likely a result of dosing down on the parnate or is it a common early reaction to the Lithium? I am also experiencing lack of appetite, which, with working, out has absolutely no effect on my med-induced extra weight(Life is so not fair). Getting bloodwork done for the Lithium on Tuesday.
Posted by MissThang on January 23, 2011, at 21:12:59
In reply to Lithium, posted by Elanor Roosevelt on January 23, 2011, at 17:13:26
Eleanor -- Based on my recent trial with Parnate, I'd say it has more to do with your decrease in Parnate than it does with your change in dose with lithium.
3-4 days after I stopped taking parnate, my anxiety shot through the roof and has yet to return to the level it was prior to taking parnate and I've been off of it a month. It feels like some sort of rebound anxiety. As far as I know (and I've only been on lithium for a 1 week trial), the lithium should be decreasing your anxiety, not adding to it.
Posted by roscopeeco on January 31, 2011, at 4:29:59
In reply to Re: Lithium, posted by MissThang on January 23, 2011, at 21:12:59
How is lithium working out for you miss thang? They say users should know quickly if it is going to help (1 to 2 weeks)?
Posted by MissThang on January 31, 2011, at 4:58:34
In reply to Re: Lithium, posted by roscopeeco on January 31, 2011, at 4:29:59
Rosco,
I had to go off the lithium -- it had the side effect for me of burning a hole in my stomach that felt like the fires of hell coming home to roost. I think it was helping to level off my mood some, but I've started taking nefazodone instead for anxiety/depression (mostly hoping it helps with the anxiety), which I plan to add back to the wellbutrin I was previously on.
I tried going back on wellbutrin 2 weeks after parnate and while I did find it helped to lift my mood after just a few days, the increased anxiety parnate left me with made it impossible to titrate up my dose of wellbutrin to a truly therapeutic level of 300mg because the anxiety got out of control.
The nefazodone so far seems to be helping with the anxiety and doesn't seem to have the side effects that traditional ssri's do (weight gain, sexual dysfunction), so that's encouraging. Taking a stab in the dark, I'm thinking that the primary reason the wellbutrin pooped out on me in the first place is due to an imbalance in serotonin vs the increase in noripenephrine/dopamine the wellbutrin gives me. I'm hoping that if I also have an increase in my serotonin, the increase in noripenephrine/dopamine will remain in balance and help wellbutrin stay effective over the long haul as opposed to pooping out after a couple of years like it did before. I really liked wellbutrin a lot, but I have to admit, even when I was feeling pretty great on it, there was a "softness" about me that was missing that I think was due to lack of serotonin. Problem is, every time I tried to add an ssri, I felt awful. The nefazodone, not being an ssri, seems to be free of the worst of the ssri side effects so I'm hoping it'll be that rare drug that will enable me to have increased serotonin without gaining weight or having inorgasmia.
Are you thinking of trying lithium?
Posted by roscopeeco on February 2, 2011, at 4:41:19
In reply to Re: Lithium, posted by MissThang on January 31, 2011, at 4:58:34
No. I have a friend that is really bad off and she has tried tegretol and didn't like it. She is pretty much antimeds right now. Her mom is a psychologist and says she is bipolar. My friend, on the other hand, doesn't think she is bipolar at all. I know she is a hypochondriac for sure. She called me up desperate saying her mom was going to put her in a day program and start her on lithium. She said they were going to "kill her". She said she has been picking at her face and pulling her hair out. She is doing very bad right now. I told her to give the lithium a try, but she didn't want to hear any of it. According to her she was on amphetamines for ten years and was stable, but moved back to memphis and had a psychotic break and her Dr. and her mother forced her off amphetamines. She is now going to NA and they have her convinced she is a drug addict, which is garbage. I won't go into the definition of a true addict. Part of me wants to tell her to start up the amphetamines for a quick fix until she gets her head on straight, but I don't know if that is the right thing to do. Who knows. I would like to help her more but she kind of wears me out. She is all over the place during a phone conversation. I am so busy these days. Not to mention the fact that talking to her brings me down. To tell you the truth it kind of makes me depressed. I was hoping she would try the lithium because it is the gold standard in bipolar therapy and has a relatively quick onset of action, but she isn't going to do it. When I was at my bottom I could tolerate talking to her, but now that I am feeling a little better I don't want her to bring me down. It sounds selfish I know. I am just too sensitive to what she talks about. It is scary. I know that I was depressed and still am, but she is on another level with very odd behavior. Whenever I talk to her, I think to myself ... "I hope I never get like her". I don't think it passingly like some people would say and never get it another thought. I dwell on it sometimes.
This is the end of the thread.
Psycho-Babble Medication | Extras | FAQ
Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.org
Script revised: February 4, 2008
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/cgi-bin/pb/mget.pl
Copyright 2006-17 Robert Hsiung.
Owned and operated by Dr. Bob LLC and not the University of Chicago.