Posted by Racer on December 13, 2008, at 17:27:07
In reply to Re: Treatment Resistant (Refractory) Depression, posted by CaptainAmerica1967 on December 13, 2008, at 15:33:09
Hello, and welcome.
I've had my share of rides on the Medication-Go-Round, and finally found myself at an acceptable level of partial remission. I think I agree with both SLS and PolarBear, because I'm going to suggest a few things that are pretty similar to some of what you've already tried.
First, I'll add a vote for trying Provigil if you haven't already tried it with what you're on.
I had a less than pleasant response to Lamictal -- it was depressogenic for me, as were BuSpar, Seroquel, EMSAM, and I think Abilify. (I can't remember with Abilify -- it might just have made me too edgy?)
I did have a far better response to Trileptal -- it really made a surprising difference, despite my long standing dx of unipolar depression. (Unfortunately, I also had an electrolyte imbalance from it, so not taking it.)
As far as antidepressants go, Wellbutrin is my good and trusted friend, although it certainly can't be monotherapy. (Honestly, I'm not sure it's really doing much, or if it's just a sort of totem at this point.) Strattera, the ADHD drug, was pretty helpful for me, and might be worth a try if you get to that point.
It sounds as though you already know a lot of the usual suspects, and have tried most of them. There were a few articles a while back about a very short course of low dose dexamethasone to kickstart response -- it's certainly worthwhile to look into that. Although you haven't mentioned it, I'm sure you're on top of your thyroid levels, so I won't mention that.
All I can come up with to suggest, actually, would be trying Provigil -- and looking into a course of steroids. The articles I've read looked very, very promising.
Best luck, and again -- welcome to Babble.
poster:Racer
thread:868231
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20081204/msgs/868561.html