Posted by Cindylou on September 17, 2001, at 6:31:19
In reply to Re: Prozac CRASH --pdoc suggests LITHIUM?! » Cindylou, posted by Emme on September 16, 2001, at 22:54:04
Hi Emme,
Thanks for the information. My pdoc and I haven't considered Lamactil yet -- did it make you at all fatigued or foggy-headed? That's my most common side effect.I'll most likely start the Risperdal tonight ... I'll let you know how it goes! Right now, I'm only on 5 mg Prozac (which I don't think is doing much at all for me) and 150 mg. Wellbutrin, which is kind of keeping me afloat. Maybe the Risperdal will help boost the effects of those two -- but I'm learning not to get my hopes up. I have heard Risperdal works the best with Paxil ... but we'll see how it goes with the Prozac and Wellbutrin for now.
I'm also going to an alternative medicine chiropractor Wednesday (I know ... ughhh! But I'll try anything at this point). He has a PhD in Clinical Nutrition and treats illnesses with vitamins. I definitely am not considering replacing meds with vitamins, but I'm hoping that, in addition to meds, the vitamins might help with my overall well-being.
Thanks again -- I'll keep you posted,
cindy
> Hi Cindy,
>
> I can really sympathize about the wasted time. Makes me sad. I suspect many if not most people here feel similarly. The med/drug sensitivity is also hard. I feel as if my doctor and I are trying to walk an impossibly thin tightrope, finding a regimen where I'm calm but not too sedated, have energy but am not jittery.
>
> As for what I'm on now, well, I'm definitely not yet stabilized and not very functional. I had been on Remeron with good success until it lost efficacy. I've been on other ADs. My doctor now believes I'm BPII. I go back and forth on whether I think it's correct or not. But I'm willing to not worry about labels and just try the meds. So now we're marching through the anticonvulsants, trying ones that are supposed to have minimal side effect profiles. Lamictal was definitly helping my depression and I liked it a lot but I got a mild rash. It's still up in the air about whether we try that one again.
>
> At the moment, I'm easing off of Trileptal and Neurontin (I was an unmotivated zombie on that combo) and ramping up on Gabitril. A low dose of Atenolol and some Klonopin really help in keeping some sort of lid on the anxiety. If I have too much trouble sleeping, 25 mg of Seroquel helps, though I only need that occasionally right now. I am sure we'll be playing with things for a while. If the gabitril doesn't help, then maybe I'll try Lithium again. Maybe. At a tiny dose. In combo with something else perhaps. 150 mg of Li was too high. I'm kind of scared of the stuff, though I knkow it helps so many people. With us low-dose folks, it makes sense to start off with a smaller than normal dose, ease it up slowly, and see how it goes. My doctor says she has seen success with patients on extremely tiny doses of drugs. You're trying Risperdal next, right? I'd be interested to hear how that goes for you.
>
> cheers,
> Emme
>
>
>
>
> > Hi Emme,
> > Thanks so much for your response ... it's good to know there's someone else out there like me who is so med-sensitive. It definitely makes things more difficult.
> >
> > I took 150 mg. of Lithium at night, and was supposed to take another 150 mg. the next morning, but I felt too horrible just from that dose I took the night before. I knew it was no use trying to keep it up, just from past experience -- there have been too many wasted days and weeks, even months, waiting for side effects from various meds to subside (when normally they don't subside for me; at least not much.)
> >
> > Do you mind me asking what meds you are on now (if any?) I'm very curious to see what has worked for you.
> >
> > Thanks again,
> > cindy
> >
> >
> > > Hi Cindylou,
> > >
> > > What dose of Lithium did you try? I too am extremely sensitive to meds. At one point my doctor convinced me to try Li. I lasted four days, a couple of days at 150 mg, then up to 300. At the end of that four days I seemed less depressed. But, I was totally knocked out and missed 2 days of work. So I discontinued the Lithium. My thinking is that at some point I may need to try it again, but I will try a much much smaller dose. A "hamster" dose, as my doctor would say, and see what happens. For those of us that are so sensitive, a crumb of medicine might do the trick, or at least titrating up from a tiny speck. I've gotten good at slicing tablets into wee bits with a pill slicer. :) Good luck.
> > > Emme
> > >
> > >
poster:Cindylou
thread:78035
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20010917/msgs/78906.html