Posted by bleauberry on April 23, 2011, at 5:09:37
In reply to Nothing Works, posted by cyban on April 22, 2011, at 21:10:34
I'm sorry you have to endure what you do.
When I see stories like yours, I immediately conclude that we are barking up the wrong tree. In other words, when symptoms aren't helped by a wide variety of meds, and the doctor runs into a brick wall, it is simply a way of sayjing, "it's something else, you're focusing on the wrong stuff".
There are some common things that have your symptoms as an earmark. I can name off half a dozen, but Lyme disease is just one example. In a hypothetical example, which is actually a real example repeated daily all over the world, when the Lyme disease is treated, the psychiatric symptoms get better and eventually are gone. Without psych meds.
The psych meds are missing the target. The problem isn't the brain....the problem is something else that is impacting the brain. It just so happens that whatever it is, it is too powerful or too all-encompassing for psych meds to target or to compete with.
That's how I see it anyway. If you were a friend or a neighbor and we were sitting around chatting, I would be strongly nudging you to do some experimentation with the following:
antibacterial meds
antifungal meds
antimicrobial herbs
detox substances (DMSA< ALA< NAC)
diet....hugely important...there are things you should not have in your grocery cart.In terms of med choices, I'm not sure I like the ones you are on. That's a bizarre mix. And they are obviously doing you some physical harm. Since I don't know you and I don't know your history, I can only speculate. My speculation says zyprexa plus prozac have a lot more potential than the current meds.
Bipolar type 1....ADD...these are just names that really don't mean anything. A cluster of symptoms they had to give a name to, a cluster of symptoms that can easily overlap with something else that isn't either of those, a cluster of symptoms with a findable and treatable cause.
Unfortunately psychiatrists are sometimes the worst ones to treat psychiatric symptoms, because their view of treatment has such a narrow vision. They are not usually very knowledgable on the rest of the body, where the symptoms are likely coming from. There are only a handful of pdocs for example who have experience in treating Lyme psych patients....who are distinctly different than your average garden variety psych patient. In those cases, either extremely small doses or extremely high doses are needed, and the number of meds needed is usually only one or two. Entire cocktails are not needed, but instead the right dosing of the right meds.
The Lyme examples here are just that....examples. There are others. Don't count on your pdoc to walk you through it though. Most patients learn their options and take control of their own destiny by doing their own research on the web. But I can save you a lot of time. Look no further than chronic low level pathological chronic infection of some kind (likely not diagnosable for a host of reasons so don't even try to do that), detox issues as in heavy metal accumulation, and careful choice of foods including challenge tests to find out if any of your normal foods are causing problems.
All of the above lead to widespread inflammation including the brain, widepspread immune dysfunction which is closely tied with everything in the nervous system, and widespread bizarre imbalances of neurotransmitters that are not constant, but rather in motion. Kind of hard to hit so many targets, especially when they are constantly in motion not static, with a mere pscyhiatric medicine prescription. I think in cases like yours a much broader more comprehensive plan is needed.
I am not at all saying ditch your meds or your pdoc. I am saying, keep the best, try new ones, throw out the duds, especially throw out the ones making other problems, and broaden the horizons outside of the psychiatric toolbox. There is where healing is.
> I am a Bi Polar type 1, ADD, Alcoholic.
> I am currently on: Lithium Benz, Trileptol, Celexa, Abilify, Ativan, Requip, and Ambien.
> My Psychiatrist is at a loss, we have tried a lot of other medications whose names I forget but nothing has helped the Mania. I twitch so much I have blisters on my feet, I hallucinate visually and audibly, and get very aggressive.
> Any suggestions would be appreciated.
>
> Worry if I double post, I am not sure how to use the site yet.
poster:bleauberry
thread:983569
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20110418/msgs/983580.html