Posted by Mitch on December 22, 2001, at 9:49:45
In reply to Re: Cyclothymia mood stabilizers, posted by S. Belmont on December 21, 2001, at 22:38:31
> mitch, yes its the only thing i'm on. for some reason i thought that it was some kind of mood stabalizer. but like i said im new so i dont really know. i find that when it diesnt work so well if i back off and lower my dosage for about a week then go back to my normal dose it works like a charm. anyone else notice this?
s.b.,
That is interesting that you are diagnosed as cyclothymic and only on an antidepressant. As far as the WB goes I think it is more of a psychostimulant than an antidepressant. It is a phenylethylamine-a class of chemicals which amphetamines belong to (I think). It's sister drug Tenuate (diethylpropion) is a Sch. IV controlled substance and is used for weight loss. Given all of that-it makes sense that you are probably building a "tolerance" to its stimulating qualities. If you back off the dose you lose a little tolerance to that, and when stepping the dose back up you re-experience the stimulating qualities of it. I am not sure if that is good or bad. Some might find that indicative of a tendency to abuse stimulants. I noticed some "start-up" mild euphoria when I started taking Adderall. But, it lasted only about three days or so and was associated with insomnia. Then it went away and I was just clear-headed and focused-with no cycling. I didn't feel a need to increase dose after I "adjusted" to it. I did "miss" that mild euphoria a little, but my attentive improvement was so dramatic that the low-dose I was taking (5mg) felt quite adequate for me. The problem I have with stims and stim-like AD's, however, is they tend to aggravate my GAD/OCD-like hyperfocusing at times and worsen ruminations. So, what do you do when your attention is generally wiped out, but if you take a stim you wind up focusing too much on the wrong things??
Mitch
poster:Mitch
thread:9730
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20011222/msgs/87667.html