Posted by 3 Beer Effect on January 13, 2002, at 19:16:49
hello, I am currently on Remeron 60 mg/day with 900 mg/day of Neurontin for Bipolar depression. I also have Attention Deficit Inattentive (non-hyperactive) disorder & Social phobia but those problems aren't being treated at this time.
Since I am going to try & finish my final year of college in the Fall, the ADD/attentional problems are more important to me to fix than the Bipolar Depression & Social Phobia problems. The Remeron/Neurontin combination i'm on seems to be doing okay but I am quite groggy in the morning and often have trouble getting out of bed & seem to have no energy to get anything done. I have a short attention span which makes studying almost impossible sometimes, & extreme procrastination (delaying) of studying until the middle of the night before an exam usually results.
I have previously been on Ritalin, Adderall, & Dexedrine for ADD. Adderall & Dexedrine made my short attention span worse but I still would get atleast some work done. Ritalin was almost 'magical' in that I could finally focus on the task at hand and get done the same amount in one hour that would take me 2 days without taking anything. (the main drawback is that it seems to make you nerdy & shy so it definitely doesn't help w/ my social phobia.).
But these 3 ADD medicines, being schedule II controlled substances are extremely annoying b/c they require once a month psychiatrist visits, triplicate prescriptions, no refills etc, and are in general a major hassle especially if your psychiatrist is in your hometown 3 hours away from where you go to college. So I am looking for an effective stimulant/dopamine agonist as a replacement for the traditional Ritalin, Adderall, or Dexedrine regimen for ADD.
The book Essential Psychopharmacology of Depression & Bipolar Disorder by Stephen M. Stahl recommends as "heroic combo #9" on page 158 that Remeron can be supplemented with a stimulant/dopamine agonist in order to "take care of" dopamine (since Remeron already takes care of Serotonin & Norepinephrine). Lack of dopamine seems to be the main problem in ADD/attentional/focus/"not getting out of bed to do your work" problems for most people.
So my question is which of these non-schedule II stimulants or dopamine agonists are best for increasing attention/focus/getting more work done?
Mirapex (Pramipexole) vs. Provigil (Modafinil) vs. Tenuate (Diethylproprion)?
poster:3 Beer Effect
thread:90009
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020110/msgs/90009.html