Posted by bleauberry on February 26, 2012, at 7:59:11
In reply to Does it sometimes get worse before it gets better?, posted by Laney on February 23, 2012, at 19:23:27
Well, a cancer patient has to go through hell and get a lot worse as part of their journey to recovery, right?
Same thing with lyme disease or many pathogenic diseases....the healing crisis feels worse than the disease.
I like to think the short term immediate reaction to a med gives clues....if there is something positive, even just a tiny glimpse, that is a good prognosis for that med being a good one two months down the road. On the other hand, a negative reaction is a clue things might get better, worse odds though, and more time will likely be involved if it works at all, but the odds are not that good. I am aware of one clinical study that looked at this topic and the summary is basically....a hint of good reaction early in treatment is generally a positive prognosis, neutral or negative reaction is generally a negative prognosis. Anything is possible, mileage varies.
My experience with nortriptyline. I found it helpful at about 5mg, for sleep and mood a little bit. Higher than that it indeed made me more depressed. I don't know, I guess if we could somehow look in a crystal ball and see that we would be feeling good in a few weeks if we could just somehow endure the worsened depression preceding that, well, we can't. So the question is, can we endure the worsened depression in order to see if the med can work? I think in most cases the answer is probably no. It's just not realistic, especially if the person is trying to maintain being a parent or a worker while doing treatment....there just isn't any elbow room to have a med make that person feel worse....so whether the med might have eventually worked or not is an irrelevant question.
Let's assume for example someone has deficient norepinephrine. They start a med that has NE boosting mechanisms. They immediately feel worse. In this case, did the whole system just freak out?.....feedback sensors accustomed to low amounts....all of a sudden high amounts....they freak out and say "stop!"....firing and transmission temporary comes to a halt prior to adjustments beginning....and during that time it of course feels like worsened depression.
So it's kind of tricky, for me anyway, to weigh the choices when faced with a med that makes me feel worse early in treatment. But the outcome in each case, with me, was the same.....the worsened situation was not bearable and the med had to go. I mean, I do have to punch the clock and work for 8 hours, I have to fake a smile, follow up on important phone calls...etc etc...and I can barely do those things as it is, so make me any worse and forget it, deal is off.
> I'm sure this question has been asked tons of times but I'm now wondering because I started Nort. 3 days ago and feel pretty depressed. Sad like and feel like I could cry? I'm thinking it's the med.
>
> Let me know what your experiences have been.
>
> Thanks!
> Laney
poster:bleauberry
thread:1011329
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20120221/msgs/1011609.html