Posted by Mark H. on March 22, 2000, at 19:55:37
In reply to Re: MarkH - Tyrosine, posted by KarenB on March 22, 2000, at 18:44:10
Dear Karen,
Yes, I have extreme fatigue associated with my depression. I sleep 11 to 12 hours a night, and 14 hours or more a night on weekends. I recently had to go from 10 or 20 mg of methylphenidate a day to 60 mg a day to stay awake. I fell back asleep after taking 40 mg this morning. Considering that a few years ago, 2.5mg would keep me alert all day, it's a little discouraging, but at other times of the year, I can look forward to needing little or no ritalin at all to stay awake. It changes with my cycle. I also take 25mcg of Cytomel a day, as well as 5mg of Pindolol (a beta-blocker) for the adrenaline and 150mg of Effexor with breakfast. The combo has been a true job-saver and life-saver for me.
I become overwhelmingly sleepy in warm climates. If the temperature reaches 80 degrees, I'm a goner. Sue and I had to buy a new car last fall with air-conditioning for the first time in our lives. We've lived on the cool coast for the past 30 years and I can no longer handle the heat when we head inland.
And yes, I'm Bipolar II, which I like to say means I have limitless black hole depression relieved by periods of hypomania marked by delusions of adequacy. Joking aside, I enjoy hypomania and used to think it was the only "me" that counted. Janice said it SO BEAUTIFULLY in another post earlier today, "I used to think hypomania was real and the other was the flu."
My cycle is roughly twice a year. I am good in late November, December and part of January. I head down in Feb and usually feel awful in March. I feel good again by May and June, then slide towards a low at the end of August and September. My doc and I agree that the cyclicity of the depression is the primary identifying feature; Bipolar II is just the closest current approximation. Occasionally I can "force" hypomania for a short period of time, but it's not reliable.
The amount of l-tyrosine I took was unremarkable -- whatever the normal health-food store dose would be, one capsule a day only. I never pushed the dosage up, and the effects came on subtly enough that I didn't suspect the cause at first. I have a high degree of self-control, but I could see how l-tyrosine could be used or misused literally to push someone over the edge who had poor control and a history of acting out aggression.
Good luck and very best wishes, Mark H.
poster:Mark H.
thread:27849
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20000321/msgs/27886.html