Posted by dove on April 30, 2000, at 10:57:48
In reply to Re: Short Trial Success/Bipolar II Qx, posted by Mark H. on April 30, 2000, at 1:36:16
> I'm with Karen B on this -- when my depression has been lifted by medication, the effect is not subtle, questionable, gradual or attributable to something else.
>I have just a few comments to add.
First, I have also experienced a complete worsening of symptoms after the first pill was swallowed, the guilty agent being Prozac no less. It never got better from that point and I did stay on it for the full trial and at full recommended dosages. When I decided to stop taking it, I could feel a night-and-day difference after the first missed pill. And this is Prozac, super-long half-life and all!
Secondly, when we initiated Serzone (Nefazodone) I was hit pretty hard with lethargy, sleepiness, stupidity and the rest. I did not like the way I was feeling, and was pretty sure it was not going to get any better. Amazingly, after I adjusted to the sleepiness and more dry mouth (as I also take Amitriptyline) I actually began to feel better. I've left the house, went to an art viewing, which are few and far between in this little Minnesota town of ten thousand people, I saw a little ballerina pirouetting to Tchaikovsky's Sleeping Beauty and remembered that there are so many things I love and I had forgotten all about them.
Thirdly, combining different meds, as in cocktails and augmentors, doesn't always work the way we think it should. If someone is feeling scatterbrained, lethargic, their doc may recommend a stimulating AD (Prozac, Wellbutrin), or even a CNS Stimulant (Ritalin, Adderall) and find the augmentor's performance at odds with their circumscribed (hypothesized) effects.
Why can't we grapple with these agents in the light, why is it always in dark alleys and shadowed corners. Why are they so mysterious, when will we see their true bodies exposed? I want, really want to understand these psychotropic medications. Why do they all work so differently in every individual.
I am extremely interested in Dr. Jensen's initiation dosages, more so than anything else he is actively practicing. How high are these one week trial dosages? I know what it feels like to start a new med at full dosage, and to say it didn't feel good is not expressing the anguish strongly enough. Lowering the strength of the same med can unearth a good thing, a substance that really works with good effort. Meds like Buspar seem to work slowly and subtly, but work none the less. If you based the decision on whether to remain with Buspar versus one of the Benzo's by the time it took to feel any improvement, no one would be taking Buspar.
Just a little ramble of thoughts. Though, I really desire to comprehend these technical and biological feats of psychotropic meds, but the whole or complete knowledge of their workings doesn't seem to exist quite yet.
dove
poster:dove
thread:31659
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20000429/msgs/31751.html