Posted by colin wallace on April 26, 2002, at 17:19:21
In reply to Colin, I know how you feel, posted by johnj on April 26, 2002, at 11:48:40
Let's try again!
John, I sympathise with your current predicament, not least because there are more than a few similarities in our circumstances.
My depression is also marked by co-existing anxiety, sleep disturbances, agitation(in the form of occasional, extreme irritability and mood crashes).I have tried a broad range of antidepressants in the last three years, and have found that unfortunately, many of them actually made matters worse- being acutely med. sensitive hasn't helped matters either.
My full complement med regimen at present is: sam-e, 200mg mornings, diazepam (for 'residual' anxiety, 4mg (very low dose), 25 mg zoloft (juvenile dose!)and occasionally, 10 mg amitriptyline(fractional dose) for insomnia.
I unfortunately had to take myself out of the care of a doctor, do my own research, experiment through trial and...more trial,and buy all my own meds before I reached this happy compromise- I was suicidal previously, and could scarcely read or talk.
Well, it seems you have some trial and(hopefully not too much) error to endure yourself.Your doc. will probably balk at the idea of you trialing sam-e (has he even heard of it?), and this is where you reach a personal crossroads.Serzone, effexor, sam-e??
How severe is your depression John?You see, if you're looking for an enlivening, effective AD, then effexor can be very effective (I took it for a good while, but it made me prone to anger, and was pretty difficult to discontinue...
I haven't tried serzone, but I believe it 's more toward the sedative side- more likely than effexor to impair your exercise or to cause daytime fuzziness perhaps.
If you took effexor, then you may well not need the sam-e, but then again, effexor is quite a strong med. by comparison.
I'd guess your doc will steer you towards effexor, but IMHO (stressing here I'm NO doctor), it would seem to make sense to try sam-e, if you intend trying it at all, before moving up to the big-guns like effexor.If it works for you, you may not need to go any farther.It has completely restored my cognition, and is devoid of side -effects (other than good ones, like inreased alertness and energy).
There would be no reason to drop the low dose remeron, if it helps you sleep-Sammy should counteract that daytime grogginess.Also, remeron really helps with anxiety once you get used to it- some would say it's preferable to being on a benzo if it works for you.
How about discussing your options here with your doc.-maybe he'll run with the sam-e trial for a month or so.If your not in a very severe depressive state, and you value your mental clarity, and need to exercise too, it may well be worth a try.Of course, I have a bias toward it, as it pretty much saved my life where all else had failed miserably, but I'm trying to be objective here.It really depends on how much YOU want to try it, and how receptive your doc. is to non- mainstream meds!! (my new doc. is a big sam-e fan).
Many of us here have been in the sam-e boat(groan)-some have ben helped tremendously, others not a great deal-but I've not heard of anyone being made worse by it!
Well, this is an entirely different post from the one I lost, so forgive any rambling-it's late and I'm about to catch some zzz's.
Hope this is some help at least.
Catchya later,Col.
poster:colin wallace
thread:103827
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020425/msgs/104230.html