Posted by stargazer2 on July 31, 2007, at 12:38:43
In reply to Re: Can ADD mimic depression- stargazer, posted by brooke484 on July 30, 2007, at 20:46:13
Brooke,
I did try Marplan this last year with no success. Bummer, since when I took it in 1992 it worked beautifully until Roche discontinued it fo "business" reasons, aka lack of profits. Perhaps the new version of Marplan was chemically changed when they reformulated it since Nardil and wellbutrin are no longer the same thing as the brand name formula. The generics are supposed to be the same but they're not, they have a soft coating not a hard shell, which causes the medication to be more quickly absorbed. The generic manufacturers stand behind their assertion that the generic is the same thing as the brand meds. I'm not convinced of that and many others are not either.I see an endo nurse practitioner next Monday since the soonest I could have seen the endo was March of 2008!
The meds I currently take are:
Nardil 45 mg at night
Wellbutrin 150 SR, 2X day
Abilify 2.5 mg at night.Yesterday and today I tried generic Amphetamine to see what effect would result and it seems to be helping with motivation and ability to start projects and follow through.
Despite never offically being diagnosed with ADD, I have so many obstacles to normal interest and focus it is well worth trying a stim. I guess I'm not sure if I need both an AD and a stim. Sometimes I don't feel depressed only unfocused and overwhelmed with the demands and responsibilities of life, that I feel this is the cause of my depression.
I'm interested in trying Strattera, but would it make sense to stop all the other meds so as not to risk a side effect with several meds interacting with one another. That is the problems with trying a new drug, it is never given to me by itself, it is always given as an add-on to whatever I am taking at a given time so I never know if one med alone will work well.
My pdoc never takes me off the other meds before trying a new med. Oftentimes I wonder if it is the combination of meds that causes me to never find the med that will work. My pdoc is relatively conservative and will not take me off all my meds as he feels the risk of relapse is too great.
I would like to try a stim or strattera on it's own to see what onedrug alone will do for me. Then I would really know what that med will do on it's own.
The process never gets easier as time goes on. For me, it actually has become more difficult the longer my depression exists and the more meds I try. Med trials are so unpredictable and time consuming that the last 20 years have been wasted on many trials, I feel like the time has all been wasted since with each trial, there has never been a really successful outcome, except with the original Nardil and Marplan, back in the late 80's and early 90's.
I'm not convinced that any of the med trials are actually helpful and that my suggestions at least are trying something new, not continuing to try more AD's that do not help me at all.
How can psychiatists know so little about what meds will work given the symptoms of each patient. Am I that unusual and med resistant that there is no chance of a remission. It seems that way at times...
SG
poster:stargazer2
thread:772762
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20070730/msgs/773099.html