Posted by BarbaraCat on May 24, 2002, at 0:05:02
In reply to Re: OKAY --NOW WHAT Am I being faced with med-failure? » BarbaraCat, posted by Sarahmarie on May 23, 2002, at 22:34:49
No, lorazepam is a benzo, an anti-anxiety med and is not a mood stabilizer. You're not taking anything that qualifies as such. Your 180mg of prozac is an amazingly high dose and it's pretty clear that this particular SSRI isn't doing the trick. Hopefully you will resist any suggestion that you raise it any higher.
Let me tell you a little of my own history, which may be similar to yours. I was a non-responder for 20 years. Horrible agitated depressions that were cyclic in nature, started in my youth and picked up steam in my 20's. Really ghastly - I don't know how I survived (and I hope I continue to describe them in the past tense). I started with the tricyclics, then went on to trazodone which helped alot but pooped out and made me very dopey. Then Prozac which made me hyper. Then on to Zoloft which worked very well for a while then pooped. Pdocs kept raising the dose until I was at 300 mg with a pinch of Wellbutrin thrown in. That's a criminal dose, by the way, but they didn't have any other ideas what to do with me at the time.
After 4 years on this cocktail life still was unbearable - Oops, breakdown, hospital stay for two weeks. New drug - Celexa! Poop-out! Gee, (scratch-scratch) let's raise it some more! Wired, twitchy, depressed. No more, thank you very much. Then nothing for awhile except for vitamins and fish oil and I did OK til I crashed. Then onto Paxil which pooped within 2 months. Pdoc kept raising it and raising it and I practically went crazy on it. Was also taking lorezapam for the panic attacks. Got fed up and tapered off everything. Did OK for a year til I crashed again. Went on Remeron which worked great for 2 months then pooped. Pdoc kept raising it and and so on - you get the picture.
I was suicidally depressed this past winter and my current pdoc, one of the 8-10 psychiatrists I've seen, said 'well, you sure are a classic non-responder!' Duh!! And your point is??
I was in such despair, hurting all over from fibromyalgia on top of the depression, couldn't work and was desperately surfing the web for answers. That's when I came upon this site. It quickly became evident from reading other posts here that I displayed classic Bipolar II symptoms. I went to my pdoc and said 'Hey Doc, I think I'm Bipolar II'. He said, 'Well, you may be and even if you're not, lithium is a good way to augment your ineffective SSRI response'. So I started taking lithium (a mood stabilizer, one among many) and within 1 week I felt like God had heard my prayers at last.
Mood stabilizers act in a completely different way from SSRIs or any of the other meds you're on. Lithium, as one example, helps to make the neurons more permeable to serotonin and norephinephrine and also helps anxiety by allowing the GABA receptor system to work more effectively. It also has neuro-protective value in that it helps to generate new dendrites - it's like a good mineral or vitamin for the brain. People who are not depressed are taking small doses for it's supposed anti-anging benefits.
So I think I'm Bipolar II because of other things, but mainly it's a pretty good tipoff when SSRI's keep pooping out that Bipolar II should definitely be considered. Other mood stabilizers are Lamictal, Neurontin, Depakote, Tegretol, Risperdal, and more. So, I hope this has shed a little light on things. I don't want to criticize your health care since I don't know the whole story, but 180 mg of Prozac is way too much, and you're still feeling like hell. Good luck - BarbaraCat
> I am taking a very high dose of Prozac (180 mg per day), but I also take Lorazepam 3-4 per day and Trazadone 50 mg. at night. Does the Lorazepam qualify as a mood stabilizer -- I was thinking about asking my pdoc to augment the Prozac with wellbutrin -- not sure. Thank you for your concern.
poster:BarbaraCat
thread:106904
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020517/msgs/107471.html