Posted by Peter on September 6, 2003, at 11:12:31
My pdoc is having me make 3 sweeping changes to my med regime, all at the same time.
I was taking 25mg adderall IR divided into 3 doses + 3.25mg klonopin, also divided into 3 doses.
The adderall, which I've taken many times before, was giving me too much mood lability this time, and I'm sick of keeping track of what dose to take when.
My general and social anxieties have been acting up rather badly lately.
So, my pdoc is having me do the following 3 things: start lexapro 5mg a day, Discontinue the adderall and switch directly over to Concerta 18mg, and reduce the klonopin by .25mg.
He has a habit of having me do a lot of changes at once, and we usually inevitably end up with me on a mountain of meds feeling like crap, and we have to taper each one so that, by process of elimination, he can figure out which is the 'culprit' med. But he is a great pdoc, so, even though this approach seems illogical to me, he probably has his reasons that go over my head.
Today is the first day I've made these changes, and I feel like the concerta 18mg is doing absolutely nothing; I'm totally lethargic, unmotivated, nauseaous, irritable, and my stomach is upset.
Which of these side-effects are from the lexapro or the Concerta? No idea.
Maybe the concerta 18mg feels like a sugar pill because I'm used to taking immediate release adderall. But, then again, I've taken adderallXR in the past and I felt its effects, though it wasn't as effective as the adderall IR's. My doc said he didn't know if I'd end up taking one or two 18mg concerta caps, and that we'd have to find out. I don't have much experience with ritalin.
But I don't know if these nasty SE's are due to TOO LOW a dose of concerta, or if I just don't respond to ritalin well. And then, of course, there's the question of the lexapro and how many of these SE's are coming from that. I guess I could eliminate any possibility that these feelings are coming from the .25mg klonopin reduction, since I just started the reduction today, and it has such a long half-life that I probably wouldn't feel it, if I feel it at all, until tomorrow. Also, I've only been on this high a dose of klonopin for about 2 weeks; my doc had me almost double my dose (used to take 2mg) to try to manage an acute anxiety episode I was going through back then.
Anyway, this really sucks. Anyone have any ideas?
thanks,
Peter
poster:Peter
thread:257562
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20030902/msgs/257562.html