Posted by kingcolon on March 24, 2006, at 9:07:47
In reply to Re: Requip for Social Phobia/Depression?, posted by Tony P on March 24, 2006, at 0:02:28
> > Besides my depression and dysthymia I also have Social Anxiety (though more avoidant than physicall anxious) with low self-esteem, harm avoidance, lack of novelty seeking, and high rejection sensitivity.
>
> Sounds like you've been reading my diary!!
>
> I am very interested in both your experiences, as I have had little success with the usual ADs since Serzone was taken off the market. I have mixed anxiety/depression, and Effexor just made me more anxious (a _lot_ more). I have thought for some time that dopamine is the poor sister in AD therapy at the moment.
>
> I saw the CJP abstract on biopsychiatry.com, but on checking out the side effects of Requip I was scared off by the possibility of falling asleep unpredictably. Does this occur at the doses you're talking about?
>
> My p/doc is open to alternatives but I won't be seeing him again until the beginning of May. In the mean time I am tapering off the Lamictal I have been on for the past two years, partly to get a new baseline, and partly because I'm not convinced it's doing anything for me. However, if Lamictal and Requip are a good combo, I may want to rethink that.At lower doses, Requip and Mirapex haven't been associated with sudden sleep problems. I don't feel sedated at all on Requip
Effexor used to make me anxious as well. Lexapro dulled me. Cymbalta, which I am now on along with Lamictal (and more recently the Requip)has not been anxiety producting. If anything, it feels more like a pure SSRI, although a little more activating. At therapeutic doses, it has more noradrenergic properties than Effexor, but also the serotonergic properties ("balanced"). Lamictal was added to augment either the Lexapro, or now the Cymbalta, and was quite helpful initially, but lost some effectiveness with time. I began to have an apathetic state, which is why we tried adding a dopamine agonist. The Requip had both a motivating effect (ability to do stuff that was both mundane and pleasurable to me)and a definite antidepressant effect (better self esteem and more confidence in social situations),
I plan to continue all three meds for now and leave things alone that seem to work.
poster:kingcolon
thread:391712
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20060322/msgs/624112.html