Posted by Peter on January 31, 2002, at 2:44:39
Hi all. I've been diagnosed with hypomania, possible ADD, and varying degrees of anxiety (social, generalized, etc.). The reason I say possible ADD is because of the general difficulties that often arise in discerning between hypomania and ADD, as they share similar characteristics. Because of these difficulties, my doctor, while more convinced that hypomania is most prevalent in my case, believes that ADD is most likely intermingled with the other elements of my disorder. Over the past 5 years, I've been prescribed a wide spectrum of meds-SSRI's,benzos,mood stabilizers, dopamine-agonists, stimulants, and beta-blockers. After much trial and error, I finally came to a combo that seemed to target, at least temporarily, most of my symptoms: adderall, klonopin, depakote, and atenolol. But while it worked for a time, the adderall, after having accumulated in my body for a few weeks, began to seriously exacerbate my anxiety. So, my pdoc and I decided to taper me off of everything and begin with a clean slate. I stopped the adderall, the atenolol, and the depakote, and remained on the klonopin. Things went well for awhile, causing me to even speculate over the possibility that I can handle life without meds. Then, unfortunately, I began to experience terrible episodes of what seemed like combined symptoms of ADD and/or hypomania, and anxiety/depression. My pdoc responded today by prescribing me Neurontin, with the intention that it would cover a wider spectrum of symptoms (hypomania, anxiety, depressive episodes) than the depakote, which frankly often felt like a damp blanket pulled over my head. Does anyone with similar diagnoses have positive experience with neurontin as an aid to episodic hypomania, anxiety, and depression? Also, if the addition of a stimulant becomes necessary for me for ADD symptoms, is neurontin a better mood stabilizer to combine with a stimulant than depakote for those with anxiety? I'd appreciate your input. Thanks.
poster:Peter
thread:92335
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020124/msgs/92335.html