Posted by KaraS on September 17, 2005, at 22:51:56 [reposted on September 18, 2005, at 16:18:51 | original URL]
In reply to Re: Name change... » KaraS, posted by neuroman on September 16, 2005, at 10:35:47
> Sounds like we're in the same boat. I may need to try a stimulant too but I have the feeling it may just knock me out like the bupropion did. It's interesting that he prescribed beta blockers. How do they make you feel?
I am hoping that eventually the autoreceptors will eventually downregulate in response to an increase in dopamine. When I took 5 mg. of selegiline it used to make me tired. After a few days of this it still made me tired but after several hours I started getting a stimulant response. It ended up keeping me up that night and since I was working at the time, I didn't experiment with it further but I do think there's a good chance that in time I would have ended up with stimulation after I took the selegiline.
The beta blockers are helpful. I don't have huge spikes in pulse rate. I like that. I only need a very small amount in order for them to keep my pulse rate in the 60's so I really don't have any bad side effects. The only thing I don't like about them is that I can no longer get a big kick from caffeine.
> > How about you? Were you able to find a doctor who was willing to do the IV ketamine experiment?
>
> Unfortunately no. But I'm still looking. Been shopping around for a psychiatrist that's willing to try some things. Can't make a decision. I did manage to give myself a rather sloppy lidocaine IV. (Don't ask me how I managed to pull that one off.) Didn't really do much. I've been taking a lot of tyrosine and DLPA. It's helped with pain but isn't a cure. Maybe 20 years ago it would have helped me avoid getting depleted, but I need the hard stuff now.
I don't have the additional problem of pain. That's got to be tough to handle. It's bad enough having depression and no motivation.
> A few months ago a friend of mine gave me some of his lamical. I took 25mg for a week or so then went to 50mg for a few days. Didn't feel much except a slight jaw tightness for the first couple of days. I think it suppresses dopamine initially for a few days after a dose increase than it (the dopamine) moves back to baseline. Anyway, i didn't have too many pills so i came down off the 50mg over a couple of days. Holy cow! Wherever I originally had pain felt a whole lot worse. So i wondered, if stopping a certain med makes all your symptoms worse, than maybe it was working on the right areas. So I went back to Braverman and got a script. Also got some gabapentin to compare with the lamictal. I took 300mg gabapentin in the PM for about a month. Have you ever taken gabapentin? It helped me sleep, helped with nerve pain and for some reason it still makes me horny. I know it's working on dopamine somehow. I think because it antagonizes the NMDA receptor at the glycine site (i think). This is why i would really love to try the ketamine IV. I'll have to throw up a thread about this and get some thoughts from other people who've tried gabapentin. The problem is that it's too sedating for me to take during the day and the short half life caused a daily pain rebound that wasn't too pleasant. Had to taper off because the withdrawal rebound was similar to lamictal. Well now i'm on 50mg of lamictal and plan to go up to 100 or 200mg and see if it helps with pain. Than maybe add a dopamine agonist or maybe try bupropion again. Also gave reboxatine a test run. And yesterday popped one tianeptine. It gave me a slight boost in the feeling of well being and a very slight pain relief. Any way you look at it i won't feel better without a whole lot more dopamine. I saw a post by "Lunesta" last week having to do with glutamate and excitotoxicity. It was an interesting post. Would like to get some of his/her thoughts on some stuff. I guess i'll just keep trying things. But playing with the lamictal and gabapentin like i have been was no picnic. Set me back for a while but I think i'm starting to recover. Back to my usual familiar rotten state that is. Ok i'll stop now so i can give my fingers a rest...
I haven't tried Lamictal yet but I have tried gabapentin. It really knocked me out and created a lot of nausea too. I didn't like it at all. At least you're trying the right things. Did you say you've tried nortriptyline yet? I think I remember that you have. Could you not take it because of the tachycardia? Am I remembering correctly? If so, maybe you could try it again with a beta blocker (preferably a cardio-selective one like atenolol). Tianeptine sounds interesting. I've wanted to try that one for a while now. Have you thought about amantadine at all?
poster:KaraS
thread:556477
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20050914/msgs/556482.html