Posted by Jonathan on June 21, 2000, at 0:38:09
In reply to Medication confusion, help » KarenB, posted by Angela5 on June 20, 2000, at 21:12:44
> From other research that I've been doing, as well as from my drug/no drug experiences, I'm not sure if SSRIs are right for me, either. Basically, my four years of Prozac, although with a bit of increasing "poop-out" (followed by dosage increases), did take the edge off of my depression. I was, at least, functional. I could get things done, basic everyday life. On the other hand, my short term memory went to hell - and I do mean hell. I feel like my IQ has dropped drastically in the past 4 years. All of the ADD symptoms got worse. Part of this is that it became increasingly difficult to arrange my life around them/compensate, I know, but they did just plain "get worse" as well.
> You've seen from my previous posts that Serzone was a disaster, as was Celexa, though for different reasons. I know that serzone is atypical, but it does work on Serotonin mostly, right?
> Currently, on nothing, I'm non-functional. Making phone calls can bring me to tears. Housework seems impossible. Packing is worse. (I'll get to that story in a minute.) So maybe, since I was at least functional on Prozac, an SSRI combo would be the answer - but with all that it made worse, I'm not so sure. Does anyone have any opinions on trying Wellbutrin as an idea? Also, how exactly do MAO inhibitors work/are they effective with this kind of thing/would they be an option?
>
> I'm going to see another pdoc tomorrow morning, but I don't know how that will go. From talking to him on the phone, everything seems to fall under the label of "depression," and while there certainly is that, there's more to it.Angela,
Yes, Wellbutrin (bupropion) sounds to me like a good idea. It's one of the antidepressants that has been used for ADD as well as depression. It's a noradrenaline reuptake inhibitor like reboxetine, which is working well but very slowly for me with very similar symptoms to yours -- it amazes me how you seem to describe more of my problems almost every time you post.
Compared with desipramine, the other possibility I suggested if reboxetine's not an option for you (and also with reboxetine itself), Wellbutrin's onset of action may be faster because it acts on dopamine as well as noradrenaline.
If tomorrow's pdoc insists on treating your problem as atypical depression alone (as they all do here in England), you can safely go to your other doctor when he returns from holiday next week and ask for more Ritalin, which you already know improves your ADD symptoms: it's reasonably common practice to prescribe Wellbutrin and Ritalin together. In fact, Ritalin may even shorten the waiting time before Wellbutrin's antidepressant action kicks in, which is just what you need.
Effexor is something to avoid at all costs, not only because it didn't suit me: it's quite similar in its actions to Serzone, which seems to have been the worst of the three SRIs you've taken. Personally, I wouldn't trust anything that increases serotonin levels not to make the inattention problem worse.Good luck,
Jonathan.
poster:Jonathan
thread:37846
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20000619/msgs/37959.html