Posted by bleauberry on February 25, 2009, at 18:10:30
In reply to Being Med-Sensitive., posted by SLS on February 22, 2009, at 13:31:50
If you could take the number 100 and divide into two parts...one part efficacy and one part side effect intensity, here is my symbolic description of med sensitivity...
Normal sensitivity = 75 parts efficacy,
25 parts side effectsMed-sensitive = 5 parts efficacy,
95 parts side effectsFor me, 1.25mg Zoloft today feels in terms of side effects the way 50mg used to feel years ago, and the efficacy it now has is only a whimper, if anything at all, of what it used to have. Counting the number of side effects is multitudes higher than the few that used to exist.
In the same category of med-sensitivity, as I believe, is paradoxical reaction. That is, whatever type of mechanisms used to be somewhat helpful and tolerable (ie ssris) now profoundly worsen the baseline symptoms and have completely intolerable side effects, as well as a long list of side effects that never previously existed.
20mg prozac used to feel somewhere between neutral and a good cup of coffee...a pleasant but sligth buzz without much in the way of side effects sexually, appetite, sleep, or anything else. Today it feels like being shot with an elephant dart, total castration, complete loss of ability to eat, and a deep rapid plunge into a serious dark place where all one can think about is the hospital, and body wide inflammation response, and on and on.
1.25mg Zoloft now feels like super powerful poison, where 50mg used to feel like I wasn't sure I was taking anything at all except for the clue that there was some mild anorgasmia. And people say I look so down and ask if everything is ok.
1mg xanax used to feel slightly antidepressive, relaxing, and desirable. Now it feels like an overdose of a barbituate.
I used to take 3 300mg tabs of St Johns Wort without much problem. A bit stimulating, some teeth grinding. Now it is a serious chore to start at 1/4 pill and increase to 150mg, which feels like what taking 20 pills at a time might have felt like years ago.
Wellbutrin used to be tolerable, though not effective, at 300mg, with only ringing in the ears, slight loss of appetite, slightly disturbed sleep, and slight boost in sex drive as side effects. Today a mere 75mg is like total castration and a trip to the coffin.
But it isn't just meds. I suspect if most people who are med sensitive took some detailed labs to test for food intolerances and reactions, they would find a bunch they aren't aware of. For me it is gluten, but there could be others. I used to be able to drink 4 to 5 large cups of coffee a day like it was water. Now I can not handle any more than 2 small half-filled cups in a day or else there is serious overstimulation, irritation, agitation, and general dysphoric nervousness. But it used to be as benign as water and I drank it for the taste since it had no effect.
My LLMD is very familiar with med sensitivity since most Lyme patients display extreme sensitivities and paradoxical reactions. He says when administering psych meds he has developed a better mousetrap, though I don't yet know what that is. I suspect it is probably multiple meds all in extremely tiny doses. He did make a rather bold statement, "I have never had a patient's depression I couldn't fix." Wow.
I do not believe med sensitivity lies in the glutamate circuitry, though that could certainly play a part. I believe it is a body-wide reaction involving multiple systems of immune, digestion, liver, receptor sensitivity, amino acid metabolism...basically, everything. The whole body and all its functions.
One theory I have is that when someone is med senstivite, they are sensitive to the basic mechanism of the med, not the med itself. For example, with a long history of reuptake inhibitors and recently developed med sensitivity, it would suggest to me their reuptake inhibitor days are over and they now must focus on other mechanisms, ie maois.
I hate the whole reuptake inhibitor theory anyway. The more I think about it the more it seems so stupid. Those receptors serve more functions than merely taking up spent serotonin. Go block those things and you're asking for longterm trouble. Better to just increase the neurotransmitters themselves, ie maois or natural precursors, and let all the receptors do what they are supposed to do. Just give them more of what they need without messing with them directly. In this day and age, they're probably already clogged up enough from lead and mercury and who knows what.
All I know for sure is, I have never heard of any longtime maoi user becoming med sensitive. But 100% of the people who have become med sensitive did so with a history of reuptake inhibitors.
I'm just rambling now. Enough.
poster:bleauberry
thread:881677
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20090223/msgs/882483.html