Posted by unbottled on September 10, 2007, at 1:23:40
In reply to Re: social anxiety disorder » flawed, posted by Jay_Bravest_Face on September 9, 2007, at 23:29:54
Hi "flawed". It's taken me a very long time to find out, but I also have S.A.D. as my main disorder and what you describe is very familiar - every one of your symptom matches. Unfortunately I went through years of the wrong treatments / medications, partly because of being treated mainly for bipolar and major depression as well. After some thirty years of self-destruction Wellbutrin was what I ended up on - it's not bad for my other symptoms, and actually does seem to help a bit with the S.A.D. as well. If I have to "back up" with respect to medications I'll go back to Wellbutrin any time.
However. I never understood how disabling S.A.D. itself is until I started taking a MAO inhibitor. In a way I should have known .. my brother has taken Nardil (the main MAO inhibitor available in the US), since the sixties .. he didn't wreck his life as I did. [ I must say, by the way, this possibly is an uncomfortable post to read, since I'm talking about yet another treatment (and God knows => it may be *exactly wrong* for you), but I'm talking about what's real for me, and you may notice if you check out this forum, that *some* people are seemingly cured overnight by starting on Nardil. ]
To give you an example I have been shy/reserved to the point of perceived hostility since kindergarten. Never spoke in my first years at school, my "jolly-give-him-a-camp-name" in cub-camp was "silent". Etc. This summer, the first day I took the Moclobemide (people might describe it as a weak Nardil) ... for some reason I actually stood next to two complete strangers and watched a boat race in the Harbour (Vancouver), quite deliberately, and also spoke the pair of them afterwards, just about the race. Just commonplaces, but I couldn't believe myself - I had initiated the conversation! Never done that before in my life, and this just an hour or so after taking a tablet for the first time. Not only that, but after a while I noticed that my normally continual stream of negative thoughts .. had become optional .. my first reaction to everything was "yes", instead of "no". Unbelievable.
I'm not sure if I'm conveying this correctly, but I believe this stuff can change your life. Anyway I've posted to this forum before, but get the feeling that I'm on a completely different wavelength (quite apart from the fact that I'm a terrible person %^), so perhaps "flawed", you could mail me directly if you've got a question - I'd be glad to talk.
poster:unbottled
thread:781911
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20070831/msgs/781941.html