Posted by sweetmarie on April 8, 2001, at 11:11:12
In reply to Re: HAS ANYONE ..., posted by Shirley2 on April 8, 2001, at 8:45:39
Shirley,
>
> Right now, I am having a very hard time with meds so I'm probably in the supersensitive mode and probably worried about what people on this board will think when I shouldn't be concerned.I know what you mean. No worries. >
> The side effects you asked about:
>
> 1. Foot pain from Zoloft that required my taking something for relief. Not the garden variety pain. Finally convinced the psychiatrist it was related although it was hard at first because he had never heard of it.- That`s interesting, because I started having really bad pain in both feet (the right one in particular) after I started on Nardil. It was so bad that I found walking very difficult indeed. I`d put on a lot of weight (which I still haven`t lost) with Nardil, and everyone I spoke to about this (my psychiatrist, my GP and also a chiropodist I consulted), assured me that the pain in my feet was to do with being overweight. It wasn`t until I was looking at medication side effects (I have a skin rash, and was trying to sort out whether it was medication related), that I saw that `swollen and painful feet` are a side effect of Nardil. I have to say that I was really cross about this - surely my psychiatrist could have found this information out for me. I had believed that it was a weight thing, which you can imagine, felt like `insult to injury` (it was bad enough being overweight, but so overweight that my feet couldn`t cope with it?!). It seems to me that any ailment which occurs at the same time, or shortly after, starting a new medication is very likely to be to do with the medication. WE shouldn`t have to be the ones telling our psychiatrists this. >
> 2. After a clear out of Zoloft, tried Celexa. Even 5 mg. made me so agiatated that I thought I was literally going to die. I was at work and how I got through that day, I'll never know. Went back to Zoloft and the pain threated to come back but didn't. I said that it wasn't welcome in my home:))
>
> 3. Got pretty stabalized (I guess) but after a few months, continued to have agiatation once a month, usually three days after my period had started. My psychiatrist had no idea and I finally found a possible answer in Valerie Raskin's book, in which she said hormone levels can affect the med level. She described my problem as rare since it happened after my period started. She suggested raising the dose two weeks prior to menstruation and going back to regular level afterwards.Again, this is the sort of information that should be researched and provided by our psychiatrists. Sorry if it sounds like I`m ranting - I just feel very strongly about this. Finding out information for yourself is all well and good, if you have the capacity to do this. What I mean is that we (and most people posting on this board) have some amount of self-awareness, and motivation to look into different medications/side-effects etc. There is a large number of people without this capability, and cannot as easily `fill the gaps` left for us by our psychiatrists.
More importantly, it`s extremely difficult to even think of doing your own research, when so often it`s all you can do to perform the simplest of tasks. >
> 4. After Zoloft and Adderall continued to cause agiation on other days besides after PMS, I switched to Prozac and Adderall because I was gaining weight rapidly on Zoloft with no end in sight. Would have put up with the weight gain but the other side effects made it not worth it.
>
> 5. Prozac and Adderall seemed to have promise and two weeks ago, I had the best week I've had in 5 years. After my period started, I didn't even get the monthly agiatation I usually get. But now, chain reactions of agiation and irritability have been continuously set off. Don't know whether changing the Prozac levels does that or if something else is needed.
>
> Again, I'm willing to deal with the weight gain I'm getting even though I don't like itI agree - I would gladly put up with the weight gain (well not gladly exactly, but you know what I mean), if the result was a loss of depression. So, it really gets up my nose that a) I`m 3 stone overweight, and b) I have a horrible skin rash, with absolutely no change whatsoever in my mood.
but something just isn't right. I intend to ask my psychiatrist for a longer appointment because I want him to take a fresh look at everything.
That`s a good idea, but it may not throw up any further information. What I mean is, it`s often the case that psychiatrists are `blinkered` to a certain way of thinking. Your depression sounds quite difficult to treat, and may therefore be outside the expertise of your psychiatrist. This sounds like I`m trying to put you off, which I`m not trying to do at all. I suppose what I`m really doing is going by my own experience.
I may ask a referral for a second opinion because I am tired of this crap.
That sounds like a better idea (if the `longer appointment` scenario doesn`t produce any results). It`s often a good idea to go to another psychiatrist, if only for an opinion. They are in a position to view the whole thing with `fresh eyes`, and hopefully to be able to see the thing from a different angle. I don`t know where you live (i.e. the States or here - UK), but it might be worth asking your psychiatrist if he knows of a specialist he can refer you to. The reason I suggest this, is that I`ve recently seen one (as I`ve told you), and I spent an hour and a half with him whilst he asked me every question under the sun. Literally everything. For example, he didn`t just questions like `how depressed are
you?`, but questions like `how does it feel when you are depressed - physical symptoms/are you able to cry/is it possible to talk?` etc. He also wanted to know about my experiences of depression throughout my life - when they occurred, how they felt etc, etc. It was with this information that he was able to give me the diagnosis of `chronic severe double depression`. What this means in English, is that I have a condition called Dysthymia, which is a long-term low mood problem, usually life-long. It`s genetically based, and basically is part of my character `make-up`. On top of this, I have a major severe episode (the past 6/7 years) - hence `double`.My psychiatrist had never heard of this condition before (double depression), and had to look up Dysthymia. Do you see what I`m saying? >
> I probably told you more than you wanted to know but I'm just in a bad place right now.
Well, this board is the right place to be then.
Anyway, thank god for this board, it keeps me going.
You and me, both.
I hope that you don`t think I`ve been poking my nose in, by saying all this. After all, what do I know? It just seemed worth saying that`s all, and it`s often good to hear what others have to say on the matter.
bw, >
Anna.
poster:sweetmarie
thread:59032
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20010403/msgs/59108.html