Posted by Noa on November 29, 2004, at 18:36:34
In reply to Were You Depressed in the 80s?, posted by cubbybear on November 25, 2004, at 2:23:07
Yep, depressed in the 70's and beyond. First started treatment in early 80's--therapy, not meds. After about 2 years, tried first med--amitryptaline. Took first starting dose, which was only a third of the regular dose and reacted very badly to it (once upon a time, I was very very sensitive to any kind of med!)--had simultaneous experiences of feeling very sedated and jumping out of my skin with hyperactivity--not a good combo. Even had slurred speech.
Got scared off meds for a little while. Then a few months later, doctor suggested Trazadone--tolerated this much better. Was on a relatively low dose for a while and I don't know how much it helped. I hit a kind of bottom, checked myself into the hospital for about a week, and this experience was a watershed for recovery for me. Continued taking the trazodone for a couple more months and then stopped. Continued to be fairly ok for a few years and then had a recurrence of depression around 1990, and started on Prozac, which definitely worked within about a week. At that time, recommendation was to be on Prozac about 6-12 months only (and not need it anymore!). I did this, only to have another relapse a few months after going off of it. Went back on Prozac for another year, went off, was fine for a year or more, relapsed again, went back on Prozac, which worked again but started to poop out after about a year, so had to raise dose, but didn't do so well in terms of SE's. Switched to Paxil around 1994 for about 2 years, needed more but didn't tolerate SE's, tried some combos with some success (thyroid meds) and some lack of success (adding welbutrin gave me tinnitus). Switched to Effexor in 1996, did ok with that for a little while but immediate release med was rather a pain in the neck because doses needed to be very consistently timed to avoid feeling ill. Continued to try augmentation strategies, etc. Very glad when XR came out. Continued augmentation strategies of various kinds, and there you have the entire history, pretty much.
poster:Noa
thread:420022
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20041128/msgs/421981.html