![[dr. bob]](/dr-bob-sm.gif)
Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 7 of 7. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by pedr on April 29, 2002, at 12:07:03
Last Tuesday I think I forgot to take my afternoon Wellbutrin pill [150mg]. The reason I say this is because I suspect I forgot, and because I was considerably more depressed, bitter and low than normal for all of the following Weds, Thurs and Fri.
Can anyone tell me if it's feasible that missing one pill can have such a dramatic effect? Or is this my mind trying to find excuses for my meds temporarily not working?
On a similar note, my mood regularly crashes on the weekend - usually on both days and never before 2p.m. I've experimented with various variables that differ for me on the weekend:
- when I go to sleep
- when I eat
- what I eat
- when I take my meds
- what I'm thinking/doing
- alcohol intakein order to find out why it's always the weekend when I crash but I've not found a causal factor. Can anyone suggest anything else that people do that's different on the weekend to during the week? It'd be brilliant to finally crack this problem.
Cheers all,
pedros pedros pedros n'chali.
Posted by IsoM on April 29, 2002, at 12:19:31
In reply to Can missing one pill really clobber you?, posted by pedr on April 29, 2002, at 12:07:03
For some people, missing one pill can affect them. If I missed my morning time AD, I'd be feeling seriously ill by evening (withdrawal effect) but it never affected one son. But what he noticed is a few days later, he'd be much more miserable & low. The meds didn't work enough to ever lift his depression (I think his blood levels didn't rise enough on it) but he sure noticed his depression was MUCH worse a few days later.
One psychiatrist told me about a fellow doctor who only had migraines on weekends. Through the week & all the pressures of work, he was fine. Come the weekend when he wanted to relax, do whatever he enjoyed, he'd be sick with the migraine all weekend. Monday, it would fade & the whole thing would repeat.
It was found that while his stress levels were higher during the week, it prevented the migraine. But when he relaxed, his body let go too & it would always hit. I forget how he got around it so he could enjoy his weekends, but I know he did find a solution.
Perhaps something similar is happening with you? Does the social situation change on the weekend? Is your environment different? Different people you're around? Explore the social context rather than the physical context & see if there may be factors that cause it.
Posted by rainbowlight on April 29, 2002, at 17:55:39
In reply to Can missing one pill really clobber you?, posted by pedr on April 29, 2002, at 12:07:03
I was thinking the same thing. I just saw a show on T.V. about people who only get sick on the weekends. It is due to the high stress they are under all week, and than on the weekend they breakdown and actually feel like they have a flu like illness.
Posted by paxvox2000 on April 29, 2002, at 19:50:27
In reply to Can missing one pill really clobber you?, posted by pedr on April 29, 2002, at 12:07:03
I have the same problem on weekends and hoildays. I think the answer is fairly simple, assuming you are of similar psych-profile as myself. I have depression (flavored w/OCD) and GAD. This makes Wellbutrin an interesting AD. However, I also get Tranzene at night (I actually should take one during the day). OK, here it is..... on weekends and holidays, your sleep cycle is disturbed, e.g. you go to bed later, and stay in bed later. This, for me, throws me out of wack. It bothers me terribly. I have to get up at 5:30 A.M. M-F, and try to stay in bed to 8 A.M. on Sat-Sun. I have had sleep problems for about 15 years, and use all the proper sleep-hygiene (no alcohol, no caffeine after noon etc...). For me, I need to be in bed about the same time every night, and should do the same on weekends. I have started to try to get to bed no later than an hour to hour and 1/2 my "regular" time on weekends. This has made my situation *better* but has not totally resloved it. My problemm is generally anxiety, and I WAS getting a benzo boost from my GP that my Pdoc wasn't happy about (1mg Ativan PRN). That REALLY helped when I was having a bad day. Pdoc won't go for it, and pharmacy called my GP to ask why he was giving me another benzo when I was already on one (Tranzene) so he had to back off. I really shouldn't have asked him, but I DID let him know about the other meds my Pdoc gave me. He had no problem witht the boost until the pharmacy got involved. So there's that. Anyway, bottom line in my book is: you need to try and go to bed and get up about the same time 7 days a week. That seems to be the ticket for me, for the most part. I really am NOT a morning person, so that kinda sucks.
PAX
Posted by pedr on May 2, 2002, at 4:54:59
In reply to Can missing one pill really clobber you?, posted by pedr on April 29, 2002, at 12:07:03
Thanks for your suggestions guys [& gals?]. I've just chatted to my shrink about missing a pill and he generally agreed that it can heavily affect some people but not others. He also said that I was "special" [cheers mate!] and so it's entirely feasible that one missed pill can clobber me.
Interesting suggestions about the social/stress elements of the working week and weekends. I had been wondering the same. I used to have terrible trouble on weekends and holidays. I had [and still sometimes fall into] a belief that I would become catatonic with depression and top myself if I stayed inside too much or didn't have much stuff to do. This belief in itself scared the shit out of me and thus made my free time a nightmare for ooooh, 7 years.
Aaaaaanyway, recently my free time is a lot more enjoyable, as is my working week [mainly due to wellbutrin working]. Thus I'd be quite surprised if social/stress aspects are to blame. Also, I don't detect *any* causal thought/environment patterns. e.g. I can be pissing around on xbox with some mates and *bang* I crash. I was watching the london marathon the other week, enjoying myself and *bang* fifteen minutes later I don't want to be around. It's disturbing.Thanks for all the suggestions, I'll endeavour to keep an open mind and to post any interesting findings. Cheers all,
pete.
Posted by omega man on May 4, 2002, at 12:43:31
In reply to Re: Can missing one pill really clobber you?, posted by rainbowlight on April 29, 2002, at 17:55:39
many people like life to be work 24/7 so perhaps the stress is for that to be continually taken..or the stress is needed to keep the body and mind at racing car type level ...racing cars you notice cant drop below certain revs without stopping totally...or perhaps theres just some hormone rush that hits humans at weekends for which might be tied in with the time needed for stopping production and sexual procreation...I mean its interesting why in such a complex thing as life with such variety in culture...we have a five day...two day break system...globally..its just a theory but I think theres something deeper that makes us feel like this at weekends...I have',t had a long enough break from the week system and people who perpetutate it to see if I would lose sense altogether of the weekend...
> I was thinking the same thing. I just saw a show on T.V. about people who only get sick on the weekends. It is due to the high stress they are under all week, and than on the weekend they breakdown and actually feel like they have a flu like illness.
Posted by pedr on May 7, 2002, at 3:23:57
In reply to Re: Can missing one pill really clobber you?, posted by omega man on May 4, 2002, at 12:43:31
Interesting stuff omega man!
I do wonder if it's the routine itself causing the crashes but I bloody hope not [as there's pretty much bugger all I can do about that].
FYI the variable I'm looking at at the moment is my caffeine intake. I realised that when I go out with my mates [most often Fri&Sat] I tend to drink coke [which has plenty of caffeine] and on Friday and the weekend I tend to drink lots of tea [which has lots of caffeine too]. I'm wondering if that's what's causing the crashes. I'm going to test this out this week by sticking to 2 teas a day, no chocolate, no coffee and no coke. Fingers crossed.
Cheers,
pete.
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.