Posted by Peter on April 10, 2002, at 21:54:34
Hi everyone:
Well, after deciding that I definitely did not want to begin a trial of Lithium for mild, mixed moods, I managed to come to a consensus with my pdoc for an alternative: switching back from Neurontin to depakote (small dose-only 500mg), tapering my adderall to minimal dose (because it was causing intense obsessive worrying) and adding an SSRI (for social anxiety and depressive dips). I've tried many an SSRI before in the past, and every time I ended up going on an alcohol/drug binge after a matter of a few weeks. My doc and I figure that this tendency can either be a result of a hypomanic switch and/or a dopamine deficiency caused by the SSRI. With the strong possibility of my emotional numbness and alcohol cravings in the past being due to an SSRI-induced dopamine deficiency, we've decided that I go on zoloft but maintain a small daily dose of adderall (12.5-15mg) to compensate for a possible dopamine problem that the zoloft could cause. I started the zoloft on Saturday (12.5mg) and it is Wednesday night. Honestly, I really am desperate for it to take effect because I find that my social anxiety has worsened-I haven't been able to leave the house, and when I do I MUST be with someone; if I'm with a crowd of people or in a class, it's worse than ever before-shortness of breath, wanting to get out, etc.. Mind you, I've been taking klonopin 1.5mg total daily for 3 years, but the SSRI's always tended to help me more with the actual acute worrying and freed me up to be more active and social; the klonopin usually just makes me overly-sedate and therefore socially withdrawn! So hopefully this current combo will work; theoretically it makes sense: the depakote can stabilize my mild hypomania, the klonopin can ward off panic, the zoloft can help keep me from the depths of depression and help my social anxiety and obsessive worrying that the adderall could cause, and the adderall could give me some motivation and focus while compensating for SSRI-induced dopamine deficiency. I've tried celexa, paxil and luvox in the past, and for some reason my doc said zoloft would now be a good one to try. I've also tried atypical AD's like wellbutrin and moclobemide (before it was approved in the US)-neither effected me well. I tried effexor at one point and I don't believe I gave it a fair trial, but my pdoc said it wouldn't be as good for me as zoloft. Anyone have good tales about zoloft for SP? How long do the anti-SP effects take to work, on average? Anyone been on this combo of depakote, klonopin, zoloft, and adderall? Anyone agree that this combo could plausibly work for the long-term? I am just so sick of constantly changing meds; I'm really crossing my fingers that this combo will be sufficient to help my symptoms enough so I can move forward and be productive in my life, once and for all. Thanks.
Peter
poster:Peter
thread:102690
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020408/msgs/102690.html