Posted by AMenz on May 28, 2001, at 15:22:46
In reply to Please help! latest... adrafinil trial, posted by JonW on March 9, 2001, at 11:28:58
It is not clear from your post over what period of time you have tried all these medications. I've been through a similar medication rigamarole and have concluded that less meds and over a longer period of time is the answer. Multiple chemical agents (I don't mean a steady cocktail, but frequent changes in the cocktail components) altering your brain chemistry can only destabilize you. Perhaps this most recent medication deserves a chance and a trial period.
Social phobia is about anxiety. I suffer from it in a major manner and have found SSRI's helpfuld, but they do promote sexual dysfunction and in my case precipitate mixed mood states so I have had to decrease it to 50mg of Zoloft daily.
I think the socially anxious like us benefit from therapy. Because besides the anxiety mode there are thinking or external stimulus triggers to these situations.
Take a symptom like they're thinking bad about me (my bugaboo was "they don't like me") The answer can be "So What". Or more likey "they are not even aware of my presence" This effort to undo a thought pattern may be of some help in coping with this symptom.
The other thing I think is crucial in social anxiety is that the state of being anxious itself seems to be a great people repellent. Anxiety seems to be catchy, people tend to move away from the anxious. It's nothing the socially anxious persond said or did (I have pretty good social skills from having had to work at them so hard), it's just that the person is uncomfortably anxious and this is upsetting to the other individual. So obviously if the medication helps relieve this feeling of anxiety then this ought to help.
Another thing about social anxiety, on the people skills level. There is nothing people love more than being listened to. Developing the skill of listening and asking people questions about themselves has helped me with social interactions. It provides a "grease" to ease the rough patches of what is a social handicap.
Better people relations will I think ameliorate some of the depression.
I hope this helps although it may not be the kind of medication advice you are looking for. I am not familiar with all of the meds you've been on except the SSRI's and parnate, but I have had a different reaction. Parnate made me seriously anxious, hence socially anxious.
> Hi...
>
> This board has been a great resource, and I'm now at a point where some input from those more knowledgable than me could prove to be invaluable. In any case, any help from *anyone* is greatly appreciated.
>
> I have social phobia and/or atypical depression and have had it my entire life. My most prominent symptoms are sensitivity to rejection and "they're thinking bad things about me...quick, get out of here!", mood reactivity, and low energy/motivation. Other info -- I have essential tremor, I'm very sensitive to food (sugar and caffeine for example), if I drink alcohol I feel very depressed 2-3 days later, and I was orginially misdiagnosed (apparently) as having ADD and being bipolar. Below is a history of response to medication in no particular order, followed by my lastest thinking. Thanks in advance.
>
> PAXIL 20MG/DAY -- good mood brightener, and partially helpful for social phobia but far from a cure and not worth it with near anorgasmia and near impotence. Also made me very tired most of the day. Other SSRIs were all similar experiences, except prozac made me very wired and nervous.
>
> SERZONE -- just made me sleepy. sleepy but edgy, weird feeling.
>
> BUSPAR 30MG/DAY -- made things peaceful, and I could "hear the silence" if that makes any sense. Weak mood brightener, ineffective for SP, and made my essential tremor worse. Somewhat helpful in the sexual department though.
>
> WELLBUTRIN 300MG/DAY -- made me very jittery the first week but then went away. Increased my focus and mental clarity but seemed to be causing disapointing erections but I'm not sure about that because I recently stopped prozac. This gave me the worst headaches I've ever had and I couldn't bear it after two weeks so I stopped. However, I did seem a bit more confident while on it.
>
> PARNATE 20MG/DAY-- nearly asymptomatic (a little aggressive though) during the high after each dose, but very depressed and bad headache as it wore off. The day was like a rollercoaster and not worth it with the restrictions and sexual dysfunction.
>
> MOCLOBEMIDE 600MG/DAY -- Also could "hear the silence". First day I thought this was my miracle drug... the world looked bright, crisper, and it increased sexual desire. It even lowered my blood pressure which was good because I'm usually on the high side (130/90 give or take). It was no good for SP though, so I increased the dose to 450 and 600mg/day and things got progressively worse. I was getting depressed and had headaches that kept getting worse. So I reduced the dose back to 300mg/day and things were a little bit better but still had headaches that didn't seem worth it and so I stopped it cold turkey and started adrafinil.
>
> ADRAFINIL 300MG/DAY -- This reminded me of moclobemide the way things were crisper clearer, and my thinking was sharper. Keeps me up at night though. Still on this, and it too gives me some pretty bad headaches that I'm not sure I'll stick it out, but it's efficacy has not faded yet and gives me some additional confidence I think. I've only been on it for about 4 days, though. Last night I took my bp and it was 147/100 which scared me. I stoped the moclobemide 3 days prior to that, could there still be an interaction? I'm still taking this stuff and monitoring my bp. Would modafinil be better?
>
> ADDERALL -- makes me feel very good be it somewhat "speedy" but I crash when it wears off and feel a bit depressed and it raises my bp and is not so great in the sex department which is not what I expected. When I was driving while on it I noticed that I cared less what the other drivers thought of me and having sp I usually think they're thinking bad things about me. All in all not the best med.
>
> DEPAKOTE -- when I was younger I remembered responding to this the same day so I tried again recently and had no resonse. Not good, not bad, essentially nothing.
>
> OK... if you've read this far I want to thank you just for that. My own interpretation of myself is that I'm confused! No medicine is clearly the best med, but the best have been paxil, moclobemide, adrafinil, wellbutrin, parnate maybe, and adderall was fun but it felt more like I was getting high than curing an illness. I recently ordered bromocriptine. Is there any danger with blood pressure and this? I was actually hoping it would lower my bp like moclobemide did. I might give effexor a try but am anticipating sex. dysfunction and so a effex. + bromo combination might do the trick. First I'd like to try adrafinil + bromo if I can stick out the adrafinil. Does anyone see any problem with any of this?
>
> More importantly... what does all this say about my brain chemistry if anything? What might it indicate for what to try? Please help... I feel like I'm running out of options. I can survive half-assed, but why if I don't have to?
>
> Thanks Again,
> Jon
poster:AMenz
thread:56006
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20010522/msgs/64515.html