Posted by McPac on August 29, 2003, at 21:06:44
In reply to Dr. Amen, temp. lobe, SSRIs worse, anticonvulsants, posted by rod on August 28, 2003, at 21:54:02
"He is saying, that people with temporal lobe hypo/hyper perfusion, often get significantly worse on serotonergic drugs like the SSRIs. (I do)"
>>>>>>>>>>> Hi Rod. Rod, when you say that the SSRI's make you worse---worse in what way?
The ssri's (although they work well for me as far as mood-lift, anti-ocd...they have the TERRIBLE effect of causing VERY much anger/agitation/irritability in me......I have little (no) doubt that I have temporal lobe problems which are the reason for this. In Dr. Amen's book (which I read before and was just flipping through today), I could not find what meds he uses to 'counter' that effect, though I'm fairly certain he uses the anti-convulsants (like Depakote, Tegretol) or a mood stabilizer (like lithium) in many cases. (What's ironic about my seeing your post just now is that earlier today I was talking to someone at Dr. Amen's clinic for a while on the phone). The lady I spoke with said that they (Dr. Amen) are the ONLY ones doing the SPECT testing for psychiatric purposes (that seemed odd to me...why couldn't other dr's do it too I thought?). Obviously you are seeing a dr who is having your tests done and evaluating your results....you're not doing that in conjunction w/ Dr. Amen are you? She definitely made it sound like only they could properly evaluate the SPECT results for psychiatric problems. Also, regarding this, "There are 2 case reports with this "subtype". They were helped with Lamictal and Tegretol. huh? Wasnt he talking about the GABAergic drugs like gabapentin or divalproate. Tegretol works a little on GABA, but Lamictal does quite nothing on GABA." Did you ever figure this out? What strikes me is that I tried Lamictal---it made me TERRIBLY angry! Again, no doubt, because of the temporal lobe problem. So I too, like you, am wondering about Lamictal in that scenario. I'd LOVE to get and get this SPECT testing done---if you know of various locations where this is offered, or how I can find SPECT centers to have this done, please let me know. I know Doc Amen can't be the ONLY doc around capable of interpreting the results for psych patients...despite what his co-worker said.
Were you pleased with your doc's findings and evaluation? Have the results helped you? THANKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
poster:McPac
thread:255193
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20030828/msgs/255490.html