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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 12 of 12. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by BLUED251 on May 31, 2005, at 13:57:46
WOW!! LINKADGE, your story reads exactly like my experience..My life has grinded to a halt since starting meication treatment in univeristy when I was 21. At that time I suffered a concussion which led to all kinds of depressive/obsessive thoughts about potential brain damage. At the time all I wanted to do was sleep. So, like most people here I was given a script for an SSRI.
What I remember most about this time and what strikes me most about your post, is that when I got off of the first SSRI 6 months later there were all of a sudden a whole host of problems I never had before. NONE of these things had anything to do with depression or OCD thoughts. Weeks after treatment I started suffering from increased auditory sensativity, memory problems (which always fade the second I try another SSRI), chronic muscle tension, and the WORST SYMPTOM is an inablility to WALK correctly. Just like you my body just doesn't know how to take those first couple of steps correctly. My balance is off all the time, (CREATING CONSTANT ANXIIETY AND INCREASED PULSE), and only subides slightly when I take an SSRI and more specifically Effexor (arguably the most potent SSNRI/SSRI out there.)
LINKADGE, the symptoms you are describing fit my sitation exactly. For me I am now turning 27 having lost all control over my life and my bodies natural responses since the day I started taking my first SSRI. Memory, balance, constant uneasiness are the symptoms that always leave me calling for another SSRI. Something is very suspect about our young bodies reactions to these meds..I would like to talk to you further about this. If anyone else has any insight it would be greatly appreciated as well.
Thanks guys
Posted by linkadge on May 31, 2005, at 15:50:11
In reply to LINKADGE, WE ARE EXACTLY THE SAME..PLZ READ, posted by BLUED251 on May 31, 2005, at 13:57:46
You want the "**perfect analogy**"??????
Plastic surgery. Taking these mood meds is like having plastic surgery. Oh sure some people can have a good job done, but as for me, I have turned out like Michael Jackson, just one botched up job to try and cover over the previous botched up job, and goodness knows, if the best payed doctors in all of hollywood can take a normal looking guy like him and turn him into a freak of nature, just think of what doctors are capable of doing to an organ that is profoundly and unspeakably more intricate and sophisticated than the face. I mean the face, at least, we can see.
Linkadge
Posted by BLUED251 on May 31, 2005, at 16:24:19
In reply to Re: LINKADGE, WE ARE EXACTLY THE SAME..PLZ READ, posted by linkadge on May 31, 2005, at 15:50:11
What do you make of the walking disorder? Is it helped when you are put on additional medication like the memory problems are? Do you also have any opinions on why getting back on the meds seems to end the memory problems?
I am sorry that this has happened to us and everyone else who feels like they might of picked the wrong treatment many years ago. Thanks in advance for your answers.
Posted by linkadge on May 31, 2005, at 16:45:13
In reply to Re: LINKADGE, WE ARE EXACTLY THE SAME..PLZ READ, posted by BLUED251 on May 31, 2005, at 16:24:19
Serotonin is *highly* involved in memory recall and positive learning. It is very involved in retrieving memories of things you like.
Going back on the medication always helps my memory, and the movement problems usually within a few days.
I don't know what is thought of me. I am kind of the outcast. Nobody wants to give me a straight answer. I'd like to see one of those dual doctors who practice both alternative and conventional medicine. They are, oftentimes much more accepting of the drawbacks of modern medicine.
But seriously, what do you plan on doing. I know for me, waiting it out is fairly intollerable.
Linkadge
Posted by Phillipa on May 31, 2005, at 18:03:27
In reply to Re: LINKADGE, WE ARE EXACTLY THE SAME..PLZ READ, posted by linkadge on May 31, 2005, at 16:45:13
Link, Are you still working? Fondly, Phillipa
Posted by BLUED251 on May 31, 2005, at 18:08:05
In reply to Re: LINKADGE, WE ARE EXACTLY THE SAME..PLZ READ, posted by linkadge on May 31, 2005, at 16:45:13
I am not sure..The most effective way to alleviate most of the symptoms for me is to get on an SSNRI like Effexor or Cymbalta. (SSRI's are worthless) Both of us, however, know this is not the road we want to go down. I have gone almost 8 months now completely med free and during that time I have accomplished nothing. I had been hoping that by staying off the meds for a long peiod of time that my body might slowly go back to the way that it was pre med. I have never been through anything more difficult in my life (I still have 30 Cymbalta trial pills that I got 3 months ago.)
At this point I am not sure what to do. You are at the age I was when I first started in this mess. Now, almost five years later times are getting urgent. I am nowhere in terms of a career and lack a clear enough mind to even begin to set goals towards finding one. My twenties have almost passed me by completely because of all of this and I struggle daily with the fear that I will never get back on track. This is the time in our lives when we should be the most enthusiastic about finding ourselves and planning our futures. For me all of that has been put on an unending hold while I continue to hope things will get better. NOTHING helps and the time keeps slipping away.
Do you have any ideas on what to do??Have u tried giving up the meds for a long period of time in combination with CBT therapy to help put the symptoms in the back of your mind. The drugs I mentioned earlier really work to numb away alot of these symptoms but in mind they are no different than legal ecstacy. Even at this late stage in all of this I am not sure the trade off for taking meds is even worth it???
Posted by Declan on May 31, 2005, at 18:20:40
In reply to Re: LINKADGE, WE ARE EXACTLY THE SAME..PLZ READ, posted by linkadge on May 31, 2005, at 16:45:13
I agree. A neutritional physician would be the thing, I mean I don't know what they are called where you are. I see one and in 4 years my health has improved dramatically, which means I'm about average now. This doctor I see rarely prescribes drugs, and if he does the doses are different.
Declan
Posted by Phillipa on May 31, 2005, at 18:22:54
In reply to Re: LINKADGE, WE ARE EXACTLY THE SAME..PLZ READ, posted by Declan on May 31, 2005, at 18:20:40
What do they call the nutritional doctors over there? Fondly, Phillipa
Posted by Declan on May 31, 2005, at 19:14:51
In reply to Re: LINKADGE, WE ARE EXACTLY THE SAME..PLZ READ » Declan, posted by Phillipa on May 31, 2005, at 18:22:54
Hi Phillipa
They do call them that here, but also holistic medicine is another name. There is a medical body here called the Australian College of Natural and Environmental Medicine. And there are others, I think. Some do traditional chinese medicine.
Declan
Posted by linkadge on May 31, 2005, at 19:41:43
In reply to Re: LINKADGE, WE ARE EXACTLY THE SAME..PLZ READ » Declan, posted by Phillipa on May 31, 2005, at 18:22:54
My life has slipped away too. Its very sad.
Its the utter feeling of hopelessness.This is really why I think about suicide so much is because I have no controll over my mental health.
Oh sure the meds will bring some relief, but at what cost?? They certainly don't help the depression.HEre's another analogy. You have your hand on a hot burner. It hurts. Some doctor comes up to you and says: "the reason you're feelig pain, is because you have an endorphen imballence problem, take some opiates and this will correct the abnormal signalling in your brain and bring relief"
So you get yourself addicted to the pain killers,
and you've convinced yourself that the pain is "all in your mind" and has nothing to do with the fact that your hand is still on a burning plate.As a result, one sustains SIGNIFICANTLY more dammage than if you listened to the pain signals and responded to them properly in the first place. PLUS the rebound pain sensitivity of opiate withdrawl.
I tried their ways, and my problems have come full circle. They want me to ride the rolller coaster once more, but I think I'd rather get off.
But like I said, hindsight is 20-20. Complaining aint going to get me anywhere.
Linkadge
Posted by rod on June 1, 2005, at 6:01:06
In reply to Re: LINKADGE, WE ARE EXACTLY THE SAME..PLZ READ, posted by linkadge on May 31, 2005, at 19:41:43
> and you've convinced yourself that the pain is "all in your mind" and has nothing to do with the fact that your hand is still on a burning plate.
>hmmm and what is the equivalent of the burning plate in YOUR life??
excessive damands, sexual problems, family problems ??
Just curious, if you want to tell.....
greeting
Roland
Posted by linkadge on June 1, 2005, at 15:40:29
In reply to Re: LINKADGE, WE ARE EXACTLY THE SAME..PLZ READ » linkadge, posted by rod on June 1, 2005, at 6:01:06
Right now, my burining plate is the fact that I got into a university program that is too hard.
I am not smart enought to complete it, but on the other hand I have invested so much money, to just drop it.
I was experiencing the same difficulty in similar high school problems, but was to stubborn to admit it. Instead, I burnt myself out completely and was placed on AD's. I was told the burn out depression was in my genes. The SSRI's disrupted that hypercholinergic thought-refelective state
which would normaly force one to sit back and think about "what went wrong" and "why"Anyway, history not dealt with is bound to repeat itslef, and so now I am really in a messed up situation.
Linkadge
This is the end of the thread.
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