Posted by wendy b. on October 26, 2001, at 8:08:51
In reply to Re: Neurontin -max. dose with depakote, posted by Krazy Kat on October 21, 2001, at 12:15:14
> > Hi Wendy and Mitch and Susan:
> >
> Sorry, I didn't see this post until today.
>
> Mitch, your comments are always So helpful!Yes, this guy is super, if you read some of the archives, he's been very helpful to people here for a long time...
> Wendy, I started with Neurontin alone and it didn't do much for me. It was a little calming at first, but didn't really help until Topamax was added. Then I could tell a difference if I didn't take a Neurontin dose.
So you really saw its benefits only after the Topamax was added, that's interesting.
> Topamax has been too sedating so now I'm taking Depakote which has helped me quite a bit. Hadn't thought about keeping the Neurontin up - might be helpful. The Depakote really is stronger for me.Will you try the Neurontin with it? You haven't been feeling really well lately, have you? Maybe it would help (?)
> No hair loss, no weight gain yet. But it feels more like a heavy med - Neurontin is so gentle (at least it was for me).Yeah, it has been fine. I can't tell any difference in bodily functioning like stomach upset or somnolence. BUT, in July I ran out for a few days when I went out of town, and tapered down before I ran out totally, and I was a mess, very out of sorts and nervous. So that's when I understood that I am really dependent on it.
> I am having a difficult time coming to terms with being dependent on meds right now, myself.Right, I saw the post on PSB. I truly feel for you, even though I didn't write. Everyone else said what I would have said, only they said it better. This latest incident with the pushing of the dose with the Neurontin has made me feel like an invalid, dosing every three hours... Shit!
>Going in for lab tests.For what, can I ask?
>Worrying about side effects. But I know I have to at some point... The mania sneaks back in, so does the depression. It's not going to go away.
Ditto. The hypomanic incident a few weeks ago was a little weird. I felt, at least, that this alien thing was happening to me, whereas in the past, it would have just been one more chaotic chapter in the Life of Wendy. Therapist says this is good to experience it as coming from outside, rather than something that's innately part of my 'self'. If you know what I mean, maybe not expressing myself well.
> I could never take the doses of Neurontin you're being asked to take - it's just ludicrous. MHO.
I wrote to Sar last nite, I am cutting back on the big doses of the N, without telling the therp. Is this bad?
> Is any other info helpful?
>
> - K.
>
> P.S. I was wondering if Lithium or Depakote was the better choice re: side effects - from what Mitch says, it sounds like Depakote.
Yes, yes, everything is helpful, including just talking about it. My ex-boyfriend is also experiencing the therp's incompetence (I feel so bad saying this!), she continually mis-writes his scrips, he never has a smooth prescription transaction with her. Think he's going to get a referral to someone else. (The first time we went to see her was together in November last year. At this stage, we don't talk or see each other very much, but send each other e-mails about meds, and about scrip annoyances... The basis of our relationship, I tell him, was our ability to piss each other off over things...).Anyway, my most recent scrip transaction with her was a disaster, too. Monday after group, she wrote me a new scrip for Neurontin, after I had expressed to the group that I felt over-medicated, felt like a lab rat (thanx, Mitch!), and an invalid (that one was mine). I think she got the point, but wasn't happy about it, didn't give me the usual banter... She wrote it for 900mg tabs of Neurontin, which, if I remembered right, was something she'd done for the ex, and that the pharmacist told him the manufacturer, Parke-Davis, didn't *make* 900mg tabs! So I dutifully took it in anyway, and the pharmacy told me the same thing Tuesday morning! 900mg tabs don't exist. I e-mailed ex about it, he told me she lied to him to cover up for it, said to him, they *used* to make it... Does this do anything to make me feel better about the situation? .... You're right, it doesn't.
Thanks for listening... Any suggestions or words of wisdom appreciated as always.
love,
Wendyps: wasn't the new sign-in for Dr Bob's site a little much?
poster:wendy b.
thread:56289
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20011025/msgs/82332.html