![[dr. bob]](/dr-bob-sm.gif)
Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 3 of 3. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by rg on October 10, 1999, at 7:24:28
Hi,
I have ADD and depression. I have previously responded very well to Prozac after a couple of days, happy calm, focussed, but anxiety forced me to stop. I am now trying Serzone and maybe augmenting that with Ritalin at some stage. Whilst Serzone is starting to take a little effect, I dont have much hope for it. Prozac just amazed me as it worked after two days.
Anyone have experiences with Prozac for treating ADD and depression? Or any other meds for that matter.
Thanks
Posted by Bob on October 10, 1999, at 8:19:08
In reply to Meds for ADD and depression: prozac? what else?, posted by rg on October 10, 1999, at 7:24:28
> I have ADD and depression. I have previously responded very well to Prozac after a couple of days, happy calm, focussed, but anxiety forced me to stop ... Prozac just amazed me as it worked after two days.
How long were you on prozac before the anxiety made you stop?
You have to give it two months if you can. Sure, they might have some immediate effect, but it needs to get into you and get saturated before you settle into whatever "therapeutic", stable effect it's going to have.
When I started with meds, my GP put me on zoloft. I can still remember that first day -- what a complete riot! I took a 50 mg tab, did my morning routines, then took off for this elementary school where I had been doing some computer consulting and training on a twice-a-week schedule. Half hour walk (past the Today show -- Katie waived and smiled at me ... [sigh!]) to the station, half hour train to the school. The two teachers I worked with the most were science specialists (and now are good friends, one is one of my best friends here in NYC) -- kind of like elementary art or music teachers, except they went to classrooms and helped teach science. They had their own science center room, and other teachers would often meet in there and sometimes kids were pulled in for special activities.
Well, thank my lucky stars there were no kids in the room when I walked in, because I opened the door, stepped inside, and asked in a loud voice of my two friends and a few teachers in the room:
"Guess who I took a shower with today!"
My hand slapped my move shut, but I could hardly contain the sheepish giggles. I hadn't noticed until then just how giddy I was feeling. I explained that my eight-month-old German Shepard had jumped into the shower that morning. the rest of the day, I had to consciously monitor every word about to come out of my mouth, because my giddyness had erased any sense of social inhibition that I had.
Of course, one week later, the floor had fallen out from under me and I was as panicked and desperate as I had been giddy. The roller coaster lasted 5-6 weeks for me. When it did settle, I had never felt better in my life.
And I kept feeling better and better and better. The my GP suggested going off zoloft since I seem to be recovered. One month later, and this normally unipolar guy found out just how devastating a crash from a manic to a severely depressed state can be ... something else I had never before experienced in my life (and while the mania was a great ride, I can live without the sudden stop at the end of the fall, thank you!).
I went back on zoloft, and it nor any other SSRI has come close to elevating my mood more than the minimum of what I need to function.
To make a long story short ... well, I guess I should just cut all the text above and spit this out:
You seeing a pdoc or a gp for your meds? You can listen to our stories and get yourself educated as to the possibilities, but you'll still need a trained eye to watch how YOU respond to the meds. My GP is a very competent and caring doctor, but he didn't know enough about depression or how meds interact with it to see that I was manic, or to keep me on meds for more than six months. I've paid a heavy price for it ... mostly because I didn't want the added expense of a pdoc when my GP was willing to write the scripts.
I don't know if that's quite the info you were looking for, but it's my story and I'm sticking to it. ;^)
Bob
Posted by dove on October 12, 1999, at 8:36:01
In reply to Meds for ADD and depression: prozac? what else?, posted by rg on October 10, 1999, at 7:24:28
First thing, how long did you try the Prozac? It has a strong history of producing anxiety through the 3rd and even 4th weeks of treatment. After that point it supposedly relieves anxiety.
I am ADD and Bipolar(manic-depressive) along with a strong anxiety complex, I am taking Adderall, Amitriptyline (Elavil) and will be starting Prozac in a couple weeks. The Prozac, according to my Doc, is for my anxiety but I am still a little apprehensive about starting it because of it's history of making people bipolars manic.
Anyway, I know that there are a number of CNS stimulants that are usually tried for ADD, which can be combined with TCA's, SSRI's and other atypical anti-depressants like BuSpar and Wellbutrin. I've also read that using an invigorating anti-depressant can be used alone (w/o Stimulant)for some people. My Amitriptyline is profoundly effected by the Adderall though and I wouldn't say it's a good effect.
So, I guess what I'm trying to say is, there are many combinations of meds that can be used or tried and there's monotherapy and it all comes down to what your Doc usually uses and feels comfortable with. Some combo's are better than others but your going to find a lot of different respones for every particular med.
One more thing, a mood-stabilizer could also be added to the mix, especially if the ADD has any features that are similar to bipolar. The Adderall has helped me quite a bit, but there are days when I feel like my brain is on fire and it scares me a little. The mood-stabilizers can also aid an AD that isn't reaching it's full potential.
Sorry to ramble on so.. If you need more specifics or have any questions just give us a yell, we're usually here :-) Good Luck!
~dove
This is the end of the thread.
Psycho-Babble Medication | Extras | FAQ
Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.org
Script revised: February 4, 2008
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/cgi-bin/pb/mget.pl
Copyright 2006-17 Robert Hsiung.
Owned and operated by Dr. Bob LLC and not the University of Chicago.