Posted by scatterbrained on September 10, 2004, at 16:27:40
I suffer from a VERY debilitating case of depression/Bipolar2 w/ severe cognitive problems. I've tried many antidepressants w/ only transient and mild relief.Right now I'm on Lamictal-200, Zoloft-100, Serequel-50 and SAM-E-1600.The cognitve problems I have are very a-typical. One doctor told me it was thought blocking and another thinks it's some sort of memory problem.This is what happens:I start thinking of something in my head like for example "Today I need to..." and then everything goes blank, I'm not sure if I forget my train of thought or if it's thought blocking, or both. Has anybody else experienced this? Ironically, the only time this problem goes away seems to be when I'm manic(But not everytime I'm manic).Unfortunatly the mania only last a day for me.Strangely, it's easier for me to speak than to think in my head. This makes it really hard for me to convince doctors that this is really happening because I'm fairly articulate. I don't really care what it is as long as I can take something to make it go away. I tried geodon and it seemed to help, but I couldn't handle the side effects of the drug and it seemed to only work fully durring strange manic states that I got while on it.Adderal seemed to help as well, but only for two days and then I was worse off than before.Serequel seemed to work mildly and not in a strange mixed way like the geodon had but not in as full a way either. Thw serequel seems to have worn off as well. My doctor has put me on concerta which I haven't taken yet and am a bit hessitant to take because after the other stimulants that I tried wore off, I was worse off than before. It seems to me that if this "thinking problem" IS thought blocking, which is a sort of psychotic symptom(although usually accompanied by many more),the stimulant might make it worse in the long run;studies have shown that this has happened.I need some advice. My doctor wants to put me on an anti-alztiemers drug for memory if the concerta doesn't help. I don't know if I'm going in the right direction;he's going on a stimulant route w/ me now and I don't know if I should go up on the serequel before I do that.
poster:scatterbrained
thread:389302
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040909/msgs/389302.html