Posted by johnturner77 on May 15, 2000, at 15:09:56
I was accused by my exwife of being depressed though I don't always feel that depressed. More apathetic than depressed... I saw a post recently where a lady said she was diagnosed as ADD with hypoactivity. Thats a lot closer to me. I am always doing something else...I should be studying right now! 8>) I am not particularly anxious, I think I have a sort of mental tension that keeps all the nasties at bay quite well. I sometimes describe myself as mildly dissociated. I have this buffer of some kind between me and all experience. Somewhere in my unconscious my memory does quite nicely. Anyway I have tried a number of antidepressants over the years with out finding anything that really helped. Prozac was one of the worst. I was too uptight to think. All the rest eventually or quickly caused me to have short term memory problems. A doctor friend recently persuaded me to do a trial with Effexor.(it doesn't seem to stimulate the 5HTP-H2 receptors that inhibit Dopamine activity) It has been fairly good so far but I have trouble waking up in the morning, can't come, and am under pressure from my wife to quit it. She says I am spacy and not less depressed. Except when I was very fatigued, short term memory seems unaffected. I was exasperatingly slow at figuring out what I want even before this drug. The serotonin enhancing effects of effexor seem to be more than adequate IMHO so a higher dose(75 mg of XR) doesn't seem to make sense. I have a hunch that some type of a dopamine agonist in addition may be the answer. I have seen a number of anecdotes where Dopamine agonists in conjunciton with AD's have proved helpful with atypical depression, but there seems to be quite a resistance to using this approach. I am not really eager to try a stimulant such as methylphenidate or amphetamine. I am considering asking for a trial of Bromocriptine along with the Effexor. Is there a better combination that I should try first? What are your experiences with combo's of this type? I don't have insurance at present and when I start work I won't be covered because of pre-existing condition clauses so cost and endless experiments are to be avoided if possible.
Thanks in advance,
poster:johnturner77
thread:33494
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20000508/msgs/33494.html