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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 14 of 14. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by AdamCanada on January 6, 2007, at 18:29:42
Is there any class of meds I should look into that can make me more social, emotional, and motivated?Those are my biggest problems with my clinical depression. I still have a good amount of social anxiety but paxil has helped greatly for that along with my depression.
But I am still bored, lifeless, very little motivation, very little interests, unable to talk to anyone because i dont relate to anyone because i have no interests.
Ritalin has helped tremendously for this when I took it a few years ago but it doesn't last. It has it's ups and downs and I suppose loses effectiveness the more you take it. Plus I lost a lot of weight.What meds can work in a similar way? Perhaps my problem is low dopamine?
Adrafinil I am considering taking again or modafinil.
Any other suggetions pls?
Also what do benzos work on?
A lot of typical anti depressants have made my depression worse. whatever they been doing just was very bad for me. Expecially celexa, effexor, etc.
I am currently on paxil right now.
Posted by blueberry1 on January 6, 2007, at 21:29:55
In reply to Which meds make you more social, emotional?, posted by AdamCanada on January 6, 2007, at 18:29:42
Since mileage varies so much, it is hard to pinpoint a particular drug to target particular symptoms. That being said, you may find it encouraging to go to remedyfind.com and see what users have to say about Provigil. That was the number one drug that popped into my head when you described your symptoms.
There are other possibilities, such as Amisulpride (Solian), Ritalin, Adderall, dopamine agonists. But they all come with a host of difficulties in terms of getting them or in terms of side effects or in terms of poopout tolerance issues.
Strange as it sounds, sometimes a medication that does the opposite of what you expect might work. For example I took Xanax for one week to get through a company meeting with hundreds of people that had me in a panic. I expected it to relax me. It did. I did not expect it to perk me up emotionally and generate interest and motivation and pleasure. But it did. Weird.
Provigil.
Posted by Phillipa on January 6, 2007, at 22:56:33
In reply to Re: Which meds make you more social, emotional?, posted by blueberry1 on January 6, 2007, at 21:29:55
Blueberry supposedly xanax has a weak antidepressant effect unlike the other benzos. Love Phillipa
Posted by cgd092 on January 6, 2007, at 23:58:41
In reply to Which meds make you more social, emotional?, posted by AdamCanada on January 6, 2007, at 18:29:42
You wrote, "...unable to talk to anyone because i dont relate to anyone because i have no interests."
I know this isn't a drug, but my psychologist got me over this particular hump. (I have to work hard to practice it, tho.) He said "true fun has true social meaning," so we need to have fun. We need to develop interests. If there is a mood scale from 1 to 10, and depression makes it so golfing (or whatever you used to like) only registers a 3 for you, he says "Go for that three!" Have you ever read Barbara Sher's book, "I Could Do Anything, If I Only Knew What It Was.?" Well, it's not about depression, but the first part of the book has really good practical ideas for how to get back in touch with things you like.
-Katy
Posted by med_empowered on January 7, 2007, at 1:11:13
In reply to Re: Which meds make you more social, emotional?, posted by cgd092 on January 6, 2007, at 23:58:41
I dont want to sound anti-medication, but this may be something that will happen in therapy, after a while on med(s) to deal with underlying issue(s), or a combo of the 2. That said...I imagine stimulants and maybe Stablon ((tianeptine)) could do it. If you're so tense you're unable to feel and socialize, I imagine a benzo might make you more responsive and feel more "human," at least in the short term.
Posted by NYCguy on January 7, 2007, at 11:52:34
In reply to Re: Which meds make you more social, emotional?, posted by med_empowered on January 7, 2007, at 1:11:13
> I dont want to sound anti-medication, but this may be something that will happen in therapy, after a while on med(s) to deal with underlying issue(s), or a combo of the 2. That said...I imagine stimulants and maybe Stablon ((tianeptine)) could do it. If you're so tense you're unable to feel and socialize, I imagine a benzo might make you more responsive and feel more "human," at least in the short term.
My friend and I both took Stablon for a while and what you say is true about it making people more emotional. That wasn't what I was looking for mind you, but it seems to increase moodiness as opposed to reeling it in like the SRIs do. It didn't seem very consistent in it's effect at all, however.
Posted by metalflipflop on January 7, 2007, at 21:30:49
In reply to Re: Stablon » med_empowered, posted by NYCguy on January 7, 2007, at 11:52:34
NYCguy--
Could you say a bit more about your and your friend's experiences with tianeptine? I have been reading up on it and thought it might be a good option for me, as SSRIs have consistently made me so blunted and emotionless. I would be very appreciative!
=)
Posted by AdamCanada on January 7, 2007, at 23:02:16
In reply to Re: Which meds make you more social, emotional?, posted by blueberry1 on January 6, 2007, at 21:29:55
thanks for the suggestions i will deffinetly look them up. ritalin was incredible but too many ups and downs and loss of effectiveness
Posted by AdamCanada on January 7, 2007, at 23:04:36
In reply to Re: Which meds make you more social, emotional?, posted by cgd092 on January 6, 2007, at 23:58:41
i cant snap my fingers and generate interest. i have a serious illness caused by accutane. i was the happiest most wild guy you'd ever seen before that. now none of my previous interests interest me one bit.
Posted by AdamCanada on January 7, 2007, at 23:06:05
In reply to Re: Which meds make you more social, emotional?, posted by med_empowered on January 7, 2007, at 1:11:13
I heard they cannot. Is this true?
because I deffinetly have wanted to try it.
Posted by blueberry1 on January 8, 2007, at 4:44:18
In reply to Can Stablon be taken with Paxil?, posted by AdamCanada on January 7, 2007, at 23:06:05
> I heard they cannot. Is this true?
>
> because I deffinetly have wanted to try it.Theoretically no. But in reality tianeptine has been combined with other antidepressants. Just not sure which ones. There was some case report I saw at pubmed.com where a patient did not improve on tianeptine or another antidepressant, but significant improvement when they were combined. No mention of what the other antidepressant was though.
Posted by NYCguy on January 8, 2007, at 7:12:42
In reply to Re: Stablon » NYCguy, posted by metalflipflop on January 7, 2007, at 21:30:49
Hey metalflipflop, no problem.
Stablon is to be taken three times a day at 12.5mg per dose. It is not some once a day thing as the half life is short. We tried it because, as most know, the emotional effects of SSRIs can be, well... depressing.
The interesting thing about the drug is that it does increase emotion with regard to reaction positive events. It didn't seem to effect in one way or another the reaction to "negative," or depressing events. It did not to enhance libido, nor did it interfere with it. Stablon, the days when it decided to work, worked well. However, many days I would take it and it would do nothing. Kind of a 50/50 thing.
In terms of the emotion-enhancing aspect, this turned out to be a double edged sword. I began taking Adderall for my then recently diagnosed ADD. As you may know, stimulants like that can produce a dysphoric "rebound effect" or crash as they are wearing off. Stablon plus a powerful stimulant turned out to be too much for me to handle.
The side effect profile of Stablon was great, however the efficacy of the drug was unpredictable and in the end, not robust enough to justify continuing it for myself. My buddy found the same to be true.
You never know, it could be just what you need, but I would not expect a powerful MAOI type response to tianeptine. In other words, if can't get out of bed each day and is that depressed... Stablon alone probably won't do the trick.
I hope this helps!
> NYCguy--
> Could you say a bit more about your and your friend's experiences with tianeptine? I have been reading up on it and thought it might be a good option for me, as SSRIs have consistently made me so blunted and emotionless. I would be very appreciative!
> =)
Posted by metalflipflop on January 8, 2007, at 14:45:53
In reply to Re: Stablon » metalflipflop, posted by NYCguy on January 8, 2007, at 7:12:42
Posted by Iansf on January 8, 2007, at 15:20:00
In reply to Re: Stablon » metalflipflop, posted by NYCguy on January 8, 2007, at 7:12:42
> The interesting thing about the drug is that it does increase emotion with regard to reaction positive events. It didn't seem to effect in one way or another the reaction to "negative," or depressing events.
This makes me wonder if tianeptine might effectively counter some of the lack of emotion caused by the SSRIs. Though I was generally happy on Prozac, I was not particularly affected emotionally by life events. I felt no sadness at my mother's death, for example. Perhaps tianeptine could help restore a greater emotional balance, while the SSRI blocked descent into depression.
This is the end of the thread.
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