Posted by Mr.Scott on November 30, 2004, at 13:46:36
Any suggestions or sharing would be helpful to me.I have a chronic depressive/anxiety condition, a history that would suggest ADHD and LD or some odd form of non-classical bipolar disorder. The only reason I mention bipolar disorder is because when I report agitation or dysphoria to the docs from SSRIs, (which I think is akathisia) they tell me they suspect something bipolar. I have never in my life had anything that resembled a manic episode without it being chemically induced. And even then anything chemically induced never broke past a welcome hypomania. I had a conduct disordered youth, which eventually led to drug addiction (now in recovery).
I've been on the med merry go round for a long time trying to figure out what is wrong with me and how best to treat it. SSRIs were miraculous at first and a welcome change from Sinequan and Xanax. Over time I developed one hell of an intolerance to SSRIs which now cause me many side effects like muscle spasms and pain and akathisia. It's weird how the SSRIs are so effective for my general state of despair and yet they cause this agitation, restlessness, muscle stiffness, muscle spasms, muscle tension, and consequently pain. Zoloft also caused me to gain 35lbs and increased my cholesterol to 330. I have since reducing the dosage to 25mg lost all the weight and my cholesterol has returned to normal.
So now I have to piece together a cocktail of half measures in order to be functional yet I still remain impaired quite a bit. Any ideas folks?
I've experienced maybe 4 major depressive episodes in 15 years, but mostly have a chronic smoldering depression with lots of anxiety these days. Despite this I have managed to remain successful but with great effort.
So anyways I feel anxious, depressed, and HIGHLY OBSESSIVE, but I can't seem to benefit from the would be cure. I have that ever present feeling of always being on the verge of disater or catastrophy.
My current cocktail for today is:
.5mg clonazepam (more makes me dippy, less leaves me anxious)25mg Zoloft (not enough but doesn't give me terrible side effets)
25mg Lamictal (will try to go up, but it leaves me very tired)
10mg Straterra (just started)
All suggestions/comments are welcome. Thank You for trying to help!
poster:Mr.Scott
thread:422420
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20041128/msgs/422420.html