Posted by bleauberry on December 14, 2008, at 12:35:58
In reply to Any New Medications coming out for Depression, OCD, posted by mogger on December 13, 2008, at 0:25:41
Well, I don't know about new meds. But how about some of the old meds that treat the Great Imitators of depression and OCD? Or some of the not-so-common tests to identify the Great Imitators?
Doxycylcine...Lyme and its many co-infectious cousins. Treatment resistant psychiatric symptoms abound in this patient population with likely millions of unsuspected and undiagnosed cases. Treatment resistance is a good clue to at least find an LLMD (Lyme Literate MD) and either suspect it or rule it out. While it is historically associated with ticks, there is emerging evidence it is also contracted by infected mosquitos, horseflies, and eating meat from an infected animal that is not thoroughly cooked.
DMSA...lead and mercury chelator. A high dose challenge urine test will show the tip of the iceberg of what is residing in the cells and nervous system. Low dose frequent dose in combination with alpha-lipoic acid will remove these nervous system toxins. Anyone who has or had amalgam fillings is at high risk for mercury, while practically everyone is at medium risk for lead, and smokers are at a medium-high risk for lead and cadmium.
Thyroid freeT3, totalT4, freeT4, anitbodies for Hashimotos. If Hashimotos is diagnosed, then likely causes of it are one of the above two scenarios.
ELISA for food immune reactions. Again though, immune reactions, intolerances, and sensitivities don't just happen for no reason. Top candidates are listed above.
The Great Imitators. They look like depression, feel like depression, do not respond well to psych drugs, hide from diagnosis, are only well respected in their devastating power by select MDs, and well, fool everyone who doesn't take a look at the bigger picture outside of psychopharmacology. Psych meds can help ease symptoms, sometimes, but if you are looking for something more dramatic in healing, new meds or not, there are crucial things to take a deep look at.
Some real life examples. I have been on 90% of psych meds you can name. I have had ECT. Yet a normal dose of Doxycycline helps me in ways so much more throrough and powerful than psych meds it is like night and day, no comparison. What does that tell you? Can anyone see the clues? I haven't yet seen my LLMD infectious specialist so I don't have a diagnosis. But it is obvious to even a novice that barking up the 5ht/NE/DA tree is the wrong tree in this particular case, and has been for the last 15 years. It took a random boil-infection to coincidentally get me on an antibiotic, and yet another coincidence for it to be Doxy, to show me where the true potential of healing might be found.
How about a lady who had been in and out of psych hospitals 6 times who found total remission on Doxycyline. Or any of hundreds of people who had their psych symptoms slowly vanish as DMSA chelation continued. I myself have experienced several days of complete sudden remission while in the midst of chelation rounds. Does that tell anybody something? Any clues there? Or people who notice significant increases in energy, mood, and interest when they avoid offending foods.
New meds are great hope, but in my mind are a mute point running down another deadend street if other likely candidates have not been thoroughly looked at prior. Unfortunately, most of these things are not well schooled in the typical GPs office. They are Great Imitators, so great that they fool even the average doctor's office and pretty much all psychiatrists.
All of this post is primarily for psych med veterans. The averager person who feels a lot better on their first SSRI or whatever, this stuff is probably not as crucial for them. But for those having a lot of difficulty on various trials, logic says there is something else going on. Take a look at the Great Imitators.
poster:bleauberry
thread:868416
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20081214/msgs/868728.html