Posted by dmlvt on October 6, 2006, at 7:38:46
In reply to Re: What would the perfect anti-depression diet be, posted by Meri-Tuuli on October 6, 2006, at 6:25:33
It's been about six weeks now since I made the dramatic changes to my diet. I've never had any problems with the exercise side of things, being a devoted long distance runner.
In July of this year, I was taking the following meds:
Ritalin - 20mg
Cymbalta - 40 mg
Wellbutrin - 150 mg (recently down from 300)
Ativan - 2-3 mg per dayI was also still drinking alcohol at times, self-medicating, I assume.
Within three weeks of changing my diet and eliminating all alcohol, I had dropped the Wellbutrin and cut the Cymbalta to 20 mg. Over a period of 10 days or so, starting about 3 weeks ago, all of my anxiety seemed to fade away and I was able to go without any Ativan for the first time in a long time.
The lifting of the anxiety gave me the opportunity to go the next step. A week ago, I dropped the rest of the Cymbalta. I have to say that going cold turkey from 20mg to zero on this drug hasn't been particularly fun. I had read horror stories about withdrawal from it, and while I wouldn't say that I'm seeing severe effects, there are some there. I have felt really fuzzy at times, sort of disconnected from what is going on. I've had some minor anxiety issues as well, but I think it's been related to the discomfort of the Cymalta withdrawal.
I've found that adding some extra Ritalin has helped with the "disconnectedness" and a little bit of Ativan has helped as well.
So, presently, I'm taking about 1 mg of Ativan and 40mg of Ritalin daily. Hopefully, within another week or two, I'll drop those back down to 0 and 20mg.
I have had no depressive symptoms at all. And, while I thought that the lower dose of Cymbalta or at least the augmentation with Wellbutrin had eliminated any sexual side effects, I have discovered that there were still some side effects occurring. It's been nice to notice the changes as those side effects have disappeared.
I've lost 12 pounds since starting this process. My blood pressure has also dropped substantially from 135/85 to 115/75.
So, overall, my brain is much better and my physical health seems much better. I still have to survive the rest of the Cymalta withdrawal and pay attention for the return of any depressive symptoms.
But so far, as an experiment of one, I'm really pleased.
I have an annual physical exam scheduled for January, and I'm hoping to shock my doctor by telling him that I'm med-free, feeling fine, and then have him look at lab results and see a changed person.
Of course, if I have depression or anxiety issues, I will work with my pdoc and go back to using the meds. But so far, I think the dietary changes I've made have made a huge difference, or they've at least created a significant placebo effect.
dml
poster:dmlvt
thread:685328
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/health/20060818/msgs/692337.html