Posted by Mitch on November 29, 2001, at 13:13:20
In reply to Re: adderall update neuropsychological tests, posted by manowar on November 29, 2001, at 11:37:33
> Mitch,
> Thanks a lot for the info. I made an appointment to see my doc today. Now that I'm just taking the Adderal XR and Wellbutrin I really notice that the Adderal is really kind of dragging my mood down even lower than normal. So I'm going to ask him to put me back on the Medadate (methylphenidate XR). The Medadate and Concerta are practically the same but I felt the Medadate kick in a little sooner than the Concerta.
>
> I hate polypharmacy because it can be so damn confusing. It's hard to tell whether you feel worse because of a side effect of one of your drugs, or because of a combination that may not suit your particular system - or whatever. It takes so long for AD's to be effective. You have to be very patient and suffer through side effects to really give a drug a good trial. What a racket!Been there been doing that for quite awhile now!
I am very lucky to have a pdoc that is being *very* patient with me. When my moods change or my seasonal depressions wax and wane I want to tinker with meds and that can sometimes cause as many problems as they solve.>
> Anyway, what I'm trying to figure out is this: Since at this time I'm only taking Wellbutrin which by itself is not helping me, should I ask my doctor to stop taking that too, and start a trial of Neurontin clean? My pdoc in CA that evaluated the scans told me that the first order of business is to find a good mood stabilizer to stabilize function in the temperate (sp?) lobes which for me are under functioning and the basil ganglia which is slightly over functioning. I guess that finding one drug at a time to help one problem at a time would be the most logical approach to my treatment.I know I find this advice hard for myself to take, but you really need to change one thing at a time or you might find yourself clueless as to what is helping or causing problems. My advice is simply to add the Neurontin on to your Adderall XR and Wellbutrin and see what happens. Your pdoc suggested it. You might find that it will improve your mood and then you won't feel a need to switch your existing meds around. I don't know what it is about Neurontin (for me anyhow), but it *wakes* up my head. There is something I found in psychobabble tips a long time ago where a pdoc was using Neurontin and dexedrine (which Adderall contains)in combination for ADHD and it worked better than either med alone. Another thing-Neurontin is also helpful for temporal lobe epilepsy (as it is an anticonvulsant used for complex partial seizures which TLE most commonly triggers).
>
> >There was a short interval of a few weeks when I hit what I call a "total clear spot" when I was on Neurontin 300mg bid, Adderal 5mg AM, and was still experiencing edginess from the pstim (what to do?).
>
> What is pstim?Oh, just shorthand for psychostimulant which Adderall/Ritalin,dexedrine, etc. are.
>
> Years ago I think I tried two different mood stabilizers. I wish I knew which ones they were so I could try to avoid them. But I do remember feeling the "dumbing down" effect, so my trials were very short. But I never had to have my blood tested. Don't you have to get your blood tested for all the regular mood stabilizers? I know that Neurontin is an atypical mood stabilizer that doesn't require blood testing.The only one I know of that "requires" blood-level testing is Depakote. But that has more to do with research done on people presenting with full-blown mania and what blood-level range of Depakote was effective at quelling the manic symptomology.
People who are cyclothymic or BPII often respond adequately with "subtherapeutic" dosages of Depakote with resulting lower blood levels.>
> I've read that psychostimulants can also act as mood stabilizers. Maybe the Medadate was slightly effective in that area.My experience with pstims confirm that as well. They didn't seem to aggravate cycling like antidepressants obviously do for me (I have to keep them to a minimum). In fact, I mood-charted the entire time I was on Adderall and I had stopped all antidepressants. I was just taking Neurontin+Adderall and the cycling gradually just faded away. That may have more to say about antidepressants aggravating cycling than pstims dampening cycling, however. I am convinced that sleep/wakefulness architecture and levels of consciousness is at the core of the mood cycling problems somehow. The Adderall made my sleep very dense and restful while my daytime level of consciousness was improved and sharpened. When I was on various antidepressants my sleep seemed broken up, light, excessively dreamy, which resulted in a day-long fatigue with extreme focus and attention problems. When my asleep/awake situation is like that is when I am cycling the WORST. Who knows? Sleep deprivation/oversleeping-napping+cognitive dysfunction *provokes* worsened cycling? SSri's seem to be quite nasty for doing that. AD's with short half-lives seem less troublesome.
>
> Well hopefully today I'll get a script for the Medadate and Neurontin. Neurontin affects GABA doesn't it? Hopefully it will help me feel nice and cozy like the klonipin did when I took it in the evening. I really felt the Klonipin worked synergistically with the Ritalin. It was great to take the Klonipin at night because it just shut down any excess stress and tension that I might have gotten from the Ritalin. When I took the Ritalin in the morning it was like "HELLO-TOP OF THE MORNIN TO YA!” It was sort of like the Ritalin was the Ying to the Klonipin, which was my Yang. Anyway, I hope I get some relief with the Neurontin.Whenever I first started Neurontin (300mg 3x daily), I felt a dramatic anti-anxiety and antidepressant effect.
>
> I went Mountain biking a couple weekends ago. I took my regular dose of Adderal XR (30 mg). Since stimulants improve cardiovascular threshold, and I had some extra Ritalin, I decided to take 20 mg of Ritalin before my ride. I had a blast! I wasn't in a hypomanic state or anything-- I just felt like a kid out there, just full of P & V. When I got home I got in an argument with my roommate, and I swear I could feel the adrenalin pump through my veins which is a sensation I hadn't felt in a very long time. Being that I have been in almost a continual state of lethargy and apathy in the last few years, it sure did feel good to be at that level of aliveness again. I've noticed that if after I take my morning dose of stimulants, if I augment the stimulants with exercise it seems to double the effectiveness of the drugs.
> Have a great day.
> --Tim
You might want to check your blood pressure at different times of the day to see what is happening with that. I got elevated BP from Adderall with headaches in the back of my head during heavy exercise. I was told to workout first thing in the morning before taking it.Mitch
poster:Mitch
thread:84890
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20011123/msgs/85526.html