Posted by BarbaraCat on January 31, 2002, at 14:09:30
In reply to Re: SSRI's, BPD, OCD » BarbaraCat, posted by Dinah on January 31, 2002, at 9:03:51
Dinah,
I've been diagnosed as unipolar with mixed states. Severe depression off and on throughout my life, contributed to by a very violent and abusive childhood. I also have recently been diagnosed with fibromyalgia which causes it's own brand of depression. When I have a fibro flare, I know I am sick throughout every cell of my body. I sleep, am in pain and cry alot because I feel so hopeless as to my future. It's a slowing down, vegetative type of depression. The other kind is much worse. It's frenzied despair, panic attacks, seeing only the horror and terror in the world, feeling constant doom and anguish. This has been diagnosed as PTSD from my past, but also could be other things. It goes way beyond general anxiety disorder. I can get into some very dark places that scare the heck out of my husband, family and friends (when I've let myself be seen like this). It's a very bleak and terrifying place and usually NOTHING but time will bring me out of it.What's in a label? There is plenty in this world to be scared of and I can go down that track all too easily. Does this mean I have OCD, PTSD, BPII, GAD? Spirit Possession? I have no idea and neither have any of my many docs. I know that SSRI's seemed to feed that inner disquiet and the despair always breaks through, so for me they have not worked, even at very high dosages. This has left my shrinks scratching their heads since one expects at least some benefit from SSRI's. On a purely structural note, I think my amygdala has been damaged from the chronic stress. I do know that my soul needs deep healing and the way to do this is to allow Nature to do it's work by allowing comfort to my body and mind. I'm helping this process along by taking klonopin and lithium which seems to be helping to smooth and soothe.
So 'nuff about me. What form does your dis-ease take?
> Hi Barbara Cat,
> I'm glad someone took me up on my invitation to discuss this. I suspect that, contrary to Kramer's Listening to Prozac, that you can't always diagnose based on SSRI response because SSRI's have properties that just about anyone would respond to. So I'm not actually convinced that high dose SSRI's get to the root of the problem, just change the superficial presentation. This is particularly true in "disorders" that have a large behavioral component, such as BPD and OCD. The assumption is that if the behavior is changing, the SSRI must be a "cure".
> If you don't mind my asking, what were you diagnosed with and what do you actually think your diagnosis is?
> Dinah
poster:BarbaraCat
thread:91182
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020131/msgs/92381.html