Posted by med_empowered on July 31, 2005, at 3:49:12 [reposted on July 31, 2005, at 21:01:57 | original URL]
In reply to Re: A small idea, posted by linkadge on July 31, 2005, at 1:11:31
hey! I think the folic acid idea is very good...its cheap, its good for your overall health, and it might make your meds work better. Another thought: sometimes benzos (especially at upper-end doses) can cause agitation/irritability, occasionally to the point of inducing a rage reaction and/or psychosis. Xanax is the biggest offender of all the benzos in terms of causing angry, aggressive reactions; in my experience, though, higher doses of Klonopin can make me really irritable and just generally "down"--oversedated and angry. Dysphoric mania is a kind of understudied, complex concept...I had an episode when I was 17 that a shrink described as either being "dysphoric mania"...another one used the term "mixed episode," which is apparently an off-shoot of the old-school term "agitated depression". Anyway, basically I didnt sleep very much, and over the course of 2 weeks I slept progressively less and less, and became increasingly anxious to the point I wasn't leaving my room. Then, I started having hallucinations--minor auditory ones at first, but later it developed into full blown psychosis, complete with pretty well developed auditory hallucinations and delusions with a hefty dose of paranoia thrown in for good measure. It didn't stop until I finally sedated myself into a long, deep slumber...after that, I took some anxiolytics, antidepressants, and sleeping pills for a little while; the overall "calming" effect dampened the psychosis and I returned to normal w/o any lithium or neuroleptics. SO...that's apparently a pretty good example of dysphoric mania or a mixed episode (for some reason, psychosis is unusually likely to occur in mixed episodes). You might have some sort of lower-level mixed episode--maybe depression with hypomanic features and agitation--but I'm kind of inclined to think you're dealing with something that is either caused by or worsened by your med cocktail. Prozac is known for causing hypomania, anger, agitation, and anxiety; higher-dose Klonopin, on the other hand, can induce depression and the oh-so-fun "paradoxical reactions" of rage, agitation, irritability, etc. in susceptible individuals and/or when used at unusually high doses. The zyprexa...2.5mgs may help you in some respects, but the dose is a bit low to have any full-fledged mood-stabilizing or antipsychotic efficacy. Plus...you could be having some low-level neuroleptic side effects (minor sedation, sub-syndromal akathisia or neuroleptic induced dysphoria, etc.) that are exacerbating your pre-existing condition and any problems you're having with other meds. This is just a theory though. Good luck!
poster:med_empowered
thread:536182
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/alter/20050713/msgs/536183.html