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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 6 of 6. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by Mr. Scott on January 9, 2002, at 21:15:35
I don't know about you...but I've been taking psychiatric drugs of one kind or another for many years (11). And when I was more naive maybe the word I'm looking for is, they seemed to work much better. How is it that now after all these years I can barely tolerate anything anymore, and my depressed state is almost preferable to a medicated state which would require Klonopin, SSRI/Effexor, a Stimulant and a Fiber supplement?
I'm sick of this run around with all these different pills. I don't understand how Prozac worked for a while and then just stopped and made me tiread as hell.
I don't understand how I tolerated Zoloft for 2 years and then started to suddenly gain weight like a balloon and cause severe muscle pain forcing me off the drug (I lost the weight And frighteningly high cholesterol as too).
How is it that Once Xanax and Sinequan were a perfect combo, and then after 3 years I developed BAD constipation and had to come off the drugs.
I'm not a damn scientologist or a this or a that. I'm just looking for answers as to why these things don't seem to work for me anymore.
Maybe there just is no drug for a bad attitude.
Posted by Mitch on January 9, 2002, at 23:26:47
In reply to I don't know about you..., posted by Mr. Scott on January 9, 2002, at 21:15:35
>
> I don't know about you...
>
> but I've been taking psychiatric drugs of one kind or another for many years (11). And when I was more naive maybe the word I'm looking for is, they seemed to work much better. How is it that now after all these years I can barely tolerate anything anymore, and my depressed state is almost preferable to a medicated state which would require Klonopin, SSRI/Effexor, a Stimulant and a Fiber supplement?
>
> I'm sick of this run around with all these different pills. I don't understand how Prozac worked for a while and then just stopped and made me tiread as hell.
>
> I don't understand how I tolerated Zoloft for 2 years and then started to suddenly gain weight like a balloon and cause severe muscle pain forcing me off the drug (I lost the weight And frighteningly high cholesterol as too).
>
> How is it that Once Xanax and Sinequan were a perfect combo, and then after 3 years I developed BAD constipation and had to come off the drugs.
>
> I'm not a damn scientologist or a this or a that. I'm just looking for answers as to why these things don't seem to work for me anymore.
>
> Maybe there just is no drug for a bad attitude.
Just be wary of antidepressants. There are so many now that there is bound to be at least *one* that would trigger *hypomania* in any susceptible adult. Everything you mentioned involved an AD either by itself or combined with something else. Just use a "subtractive" rule when it comes to AD's. If you are having problems-see if the problem could be reduced or eliminated by either reducing the dose of an AD, switching it to another AD, or eliminating the AD entirely.After you do one of those three things, reassess how you feel. If you exhaust all of these options then consider *adding* something (only then).
Mitch
Posted by CalvaryHill on January 10, 2002, at 1:12:07
In reply to I don't know about you..., posted by Mr. Scott on January 9, 2002, at 21:15:35
I'm hoping that an _entirely_ new class of medicines will help you. Something like buproprion, which is dopaminergic as well as noradrenergic. Or maybe the RIMA moclobemide, which affects all three monoamines. I'm sure you can think of some more too. This is your way to "expand your horizons," so to speak.
Best of luck,
CalvaryHill
Posted by Simcha on January 10, 2002, at 8:50:49
In reply to Expanding » Mr. Scott, posted by CalvaryHill on January 10, 2002, at 1:12:07
I'm so amazed by this phenomenon. I lament the day where my combo might backfire. I've read it over and over in here. My combo is growing to handle side-effects. Now I'm on three meds (Celexa, Wellbutin, Klonopin) and I hope I won't have to take more. But you know what? The alternative was unbearable. I used to be very anti-medication.
My attitude now is, if there is a problem, give me something to make it feel better. I don't care what it is so long as it works. Life is way too short to be depressed, compulsively driven, and anxious all the time. If drugs are the only thing that works for me than so be it.
Believe me, I've tried 12-step, 10 years of talk therapy, religion, various spiritual paths, meditation, and all without meds. The only thing that has brought me into consistent remission is the medication. Therefore I'm now a believer.
Bring on the pills! Life is short anyway! If they shorten my life at least I will have been happy.
> I'm hoping that an _entirely_ new class of medicines will help you. Something like buproprion, which is dopaminergic as well as noradrenergic. Or maybe the RIMA moclobemide, which affects all three monoamines. I'm sure you can think of some more too. This is your way to "expand your horizons," so to speak.
>
> Best of luck,
> CalvaryHill
Posted by finelinebob on January 10, 2002, at 12:32:19
In reply to I don't know about you..., posted by Mr. Scott on January 9, 2002, at 21:15:35
> Maybe there just is no drug for a bad attitude.
Well, there's Soma, but I don't think Huxley ever got that past the FDA....
SSRIs were a disaster for me and my PDoc kept pushing them for 2.5 years, then we tried nortriptyline. Blasphemy, I guess, to admit in these times that my depression has little to do with seratonin blood levels....
I'm not so much resigned to taking meds as empowered, in a way ... maybe not by taking meds in and of itself, but of why they are needed. I'm not blind enough to think my actions or environment have no influence on my condition, but the biological implications of needing medication give me something real and legitimate to blame besides my "self".
The rationality and "medicalness" of pointing at biology is also a bit of a tool for me when confronting "normals" whose knowledge of an altered state of mind is limited to "better living through recreational chemistry." The notion of "neurological dysfunction" or "disorder" may not be comprehensible by most, but it carries a much different connotation than a "mental illness". I haven't been infected with some sort of irrationality virus, and some two-week prescription of a bug-killing drug plus my own autoimmune response is not going to make me all better.
Plus, the fact that Big Medicine understands what's happening in our brains so poorly, compared to the norm of medical understanding, gives me yet another target other than myself to rail against. [Doesn't matter that such railing is futile ... my self-deprecation doesn't do much good either!]
Anyway, I'm all for meds. As little as possible, as few as possible. Alternatives when available ... acupuncture is SO much more effective than Valium for me. I just wish the drug companies and doctors who spout the same mantra would get over the notion that these are short-term fixes with no need for a long-term fix for many, many people.
my two cents,
flb
Posted by pedr on January 11, 2002, at 8:33:33
In reply to I don't know about you..., posted by Mr. Scott on January 9, 2002, at 21:15:35
>
> I don't know about you...
>
> but I've been taking psychiatric drugs of one kind or another for many years (11). And when I was more naive maybe the word I'm looking for is, they seemed to work much better. How is it that now after all these years I can barely tolerate anything anymore, and my depressed state is almost preferable to a medicated state which would require Klonopin, SSRI/Effexor, a Stimulant and a Fiber supplement?
>
> I'm sick of this run around with all these different pills. I don't understand how Prozac worked for a while and then just stopped and made me tiread as hell.
>
> I don't understand how I tolerated Zoloft for 2 years and then started to suddenly gain weight like a balloon and cause severe muscle pain forcing me off the drug (I lost the weight And frighteningly high cholesterol as too).
>
> How is it that Once Xanax and Sinequan were a perfect combo, and then after 3 years I developed BAD constipation and had to come off the drugs.
>
> I'm not a damn scientologist or a this or a that. I'm just looking for answers as to why these things don't seem to work for me anymore.
>
> Maybe there just is no drug for a bad attitude.Mr. Scott,
I don't think you've got a bad attitude at all. I challenge anyone to go through 11 years of meds, repeatedly having success but to having to give that success up for reasons outside of your control.
Your attitude is a perfectly human and reasonable attitude; everyone would be looking for answers if they were in your shoes.
I've only been on the med trail for a couple of years and am already majorly naffed off with it.
Best wishes,
pedr.
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