Posted by JohnL on January 17, 2001, at 17:28:36
In reply to Re: Mood Stabilizers to combat Depression, no mania, posted by Cath78 on January 17, 2001, at 14:33:42
> John,
>
> Thanks for your opinion and for sharing your experience and ideas regarding these medications. I've been on effexor, wellbutrin, prozac, depakote, lithium, trileptal, and ritalin (not all together at the same time). Prozac did nothing for me. Wellbutrin made me weak and dizzy. Effexor brought me out of being suicidal but it also disrupted my sleep patterns, took away my appetite, made me tired, and generally wasn't what I needed. Depakote didn't lift my blah mood and made me a little more drowsy. I'm not sure what lithium accomplished. Ritalin was nice in that it energized me but it also made me feel on edge all the time. Trileptal made me nauseous and tired. I'm currently on Nuerontin and Zoloft. I have no significant complaints about the zoloft but I'm still kind of blah and I'm not feeling like doing much of anything, but I am doing a lot of things anyway because the zoloft makes that possible. I haven't figured out whether or not I like neurontin yet.
>
> Cath
Cath,
Based on what you've told me, you sound to me like a perfect candidate for Amisulpride+Adrafinil, with low dose Zoloft in the background if you like. Zoloft can itself be kind of numbing to emotions, so maybe just a tad in the background would be fine, while the other meds do the real work.The blahness is likely dopamine and norepinephrine related. Not likely serotonin related. To narrow it down further, it probably doesn't have much to do with low levels of NE or dopamine. Wellbutrin or Effexor would have worked better than they did otherwise. Hypo-dopamine function sounds likely to me. Hypo NE function too. Amisulpride will stimulate dopamine, yet in a different way than stimulants. Much kinder and gentler without the edginess and roller coaster rides. Adrafinil will help the NE along, stimulating existing levels of NE without increasing the levels. Kind of like greasing an engine to run better. Either one alone I feel confident would help you more than any of the other meds you've taken. But both together is so much better. Both are effective--I would guess 85% of the time--at restoring interest, motivation, and energy, while at the same time providing a sense of calm, social comfort, and confidence. In short, they are not friendly at all to dysthymia, depression, or especially the blahs. These drugs hate the blahs and blow the blahs right off the map.
It is a different arena though. One must mailorder one's own meds from a European source, pick it up out of the mailbox about a week or two later, and begin a dosing schedule without ever speaking to a doctor about. It does take some getting used to. It took me years of trials and failures before I finally resorted to some of the wonderful European meds, and I'm now kicking myself in the ass that it took so long. In Europe Adrafanil is considered to be far superior to the Prozacs of the world.
The FDA is so slow. The USA has the slowest most burdensome drug approval program in the entire world. One of the benefits is that safety is the top priority (though even here the FDA makes plenty of mistakes despite its best efforts). The downfall is that millions of people who could benefit from a foreign med must continue to suffer or die instead. But the internet has changed all that. With the internet, there are no borders. International mailorder pharmacies can legally mail you just about anything except stimulants and narcotics. Just something to think about.
I think you are a prime candidate for Amisulpride+Adrafinil. I'll spare you my lengthy reasoning. But just so you know, I believe the wonder drugs you seek already exist and are helping other right here at this board. But they don't come from the USA. They come in the mail. Just something to think about.
John
poster:JohnL
thread:51818
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20010111/msgs/51895.html