Posted by bulldog2 on November 14, 2009, at 12:10:02
In reply to mood clinic recommended, posted by floatingbridge on November 13, 2009, at 18:27:22
> Well, today, the emsam was a no-go. My doc said it would be unkind to withdraw me from my meds (and basically become non-functional) with out, what he felt was at least 35% optimism rate for success. He's not sure emsam is the ticket for me, and as my caregiver (and therapist), did not want to put me through that. He does want me to go to the Stanford Mood Disorders Clinic (there's, I think, a six week wait). In the meantime, I am trying an add-on of Strattera which I can stop and start as easily as Wellbutrin.
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> He also wants me to take my temp every day--he thinks I might need to see the infectious agent specialist at Stanford as well.
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> My doctor sees no reason to discontinue the dexedrine--he says people take it for years and years w/o deleterious affect. He wants to know what my mental block is about it. I've never wanted to take 'drugs' (meds). I was always mother nature's child. I thought I had embraced 'meds' as a necessity, but still can't wrap my head around the stimulant. I think of it as a 'drug' and not a med.
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> (Of course, my chinese herbalist would like me off of it, though she accepts and treats me as I am.)
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> My pdoc/T has known me for over a year--almost a year and a half. He's worked with other maois back in the day, but not with emsam. I think he's right when he says the withdrawal might be too much for me--he just thinks and feels there is too much at stake for me for him to feel comfortable making this change. So off to the clinic I go.
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> I cried, talked, listened. I think this is the best for now--I can't stop my life, which is what, I'm afraid, would happen. For now, I'll wait and see what the mood clinic will have to say. I have med charts, mood charts, health charts for the past year and a half. Guess they will come in handy.
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> If the Strattera helps (or not), I'll let you know. Maybe then I can taper off pristiq and retry prozac again (which I had taken before the advent of dex to my regime). Wouldn't prozac be easier to taper (though longer) that pristiq in the event that the clinic gives me a green light for an MAOI?
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> Thanks for all the hand-holding. I really appreciate it!
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> fbIt's all semantics. They're all drugs. There's no need for you to stigmatize the dexedrine. If it works stay with it. You might want to look at different meds to prevent tolerance with the dex such as memantine. The more diagnostics the better. The docs have a better chance of prescribing the correct meds with the right diagnostics. As far as maois go parnate and nardil are more effective than emsam. There's also another maoi called marplan that is still made. It's in the same family of meds as nardil but most think the sides are more tolerable.
Good Luck!
poster:bulldog2
thread:925639
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20091107/msgs/925703.html