Posted by nucase on March 10, 2004, at 13:58:00
I am thirty two years old. I have been depressive and suicidal since I was eleven, although I generally led a fairly normal social and professional life. Two years ago my PCP prescribed me paxil to control my anxiety. Generally, I tolerated paxil quite well (except for some weight gain) but in order for paxil to remain effective the dosage had to be increased every few months (my last dose was 50mg). I also felt at times quite "flat" and "not myself" while on medication. My therapist also encouraged me to see a psychiatrist and to change my medication, as she found I still had too much suicide ideation. Three weeks ago, I met with the psychiatrist who had me discontinue paxil and put me on Effexor XR (150mg) and Amitryptiline (100mg). For the first few days, I experienced severe mood swings a few hours apart from one another (e.g. I felt fine one hour, then had a strong impulse to jump off a cliff, then I felt fine again). My mood seemed to be more stable thereafter but around three week after I started this medication, I felt wonderful, "high" and very optimistic. Less than 24 hours later, I sarted sobbing uncontrollably for several hours and felt utterly helpless. In each of these mood state, I had a feeling of understanding with certainty things about my life that had eluded me before. I have never experience such sharp mood swings before, nor did I ever had these sobs. I have since talked to the psychiatrist, who asked me to continue the medication for the time being and suggested using lithium if the mood swings do not go away. He asked asked me to keep track of my mood changes. Meanwhile, I have come accross some literature on the bipolar disorder. I had previously thought that I suffered from chronic depression but after reading about it, I find that the description of the bipolar II disorder bears a stricking resemblance to what I have. I am puzzled by the diagnostic though and I am not sure how to make sense of it. I am wondering if I am getting worse over time or not and how much meds can really help.
poster:nucase
thread:322946
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040308/msgs/322946.html