Posted by Ritch on June 10, 2002, at 10:03:58
In reply to Ritch, posted by rainbowlight on June 9, 2002, at 23:11:40
> > My ongoing med saga continues (LOL!) Saw pdoc today, told her the Zoloft works pretty well. She said we will keep that in our back pocket to use as a last resort but she really wants me to try Effexor for the recently diagnosed ADD first. She thinks most of my hyperness/nervous anxiety is ADD related. So off I go on a new med trial. She put me on 1/2 of 37.5 once a day in the morning. Do you know what I can expect from this med? She told me it would make me jittery, and so far on the first dose I want to take a nap! Go figure!
>
> Hi, there. I read one of your posts above and you said you got hospitalized for a psychotic manic episode? Now, your pdoc is giving you a dx of ADD? Bizarro. I was on Effexor for about a year. It does help with ADD symptoms. However, I got very hostile and hypomanic on it. I was taking lithium with it then instead of Depakote so maybe that wouldn't have happened. All I can say is be careful with that one if you have any suspicion of bipolar. If your pdoc now thinks you are ADD, why didn't she give you a stimulant? The reason I ask is that stimulants didn't make me rage like some antidepressants can. What to expect from Effexor.. You might get nauseated pretty badly. That is the #1 symptom I didn't like about it. I also had some very vivid dreaming on it (which I didn't mind). 18.75mg is a low enough dose you could probably tolerate it OK. Just watch out for a hostility reaction. If you start getting manic-I would call your pdoc and get it stopped ASAP.
>
> good luck,
>
> Mitch
>
> Actually I am bipolar, but they just added ADD to it. Pdoc won't give me stimulants, she said she doesn't like to use them in bipolar patients because they could bring on a manic swing. The good thing is that I don't get full blown manic swings, pretty much just hypomanic/busy most of the time while unmedicated. The reason I went into a manic/psychotic episode that landed me in the hospital was because I went on an SSRI (celexa) without a mood stabilizer, it made me manic and dummy me, I decided to quit it cold turkey. BAAAAAADDDDDD move! Until then I had never been hospitalized. What an experience that was! Anyway, I am on day 3 of the Effexor and I am tolerating it really well. Slight heartburn and a little jittery. I'm taking a small dose of Ativan to counteract the jitters. Wish me luck!Oh, I see now! I was bipolar for a long time and then I saw a neurologist who thought I might be having frontal lobe or temporal lobe seizure activity. Evoked potentials,EEG, etc. was nada. Then the ADHD thing came up. Tried stims, and they worked great, actually having an anticycling effect, but they made me way too nervous (they also seemed to set off a neuroendocrine thing that wound up inducing panic weeks later). So now I am an "atypical" bipolar with panic disorder and attentional problems. Yep, an SSRI with no mood stabilizer (especially at a "standard" dose) would probably send me to Pluto! So, you probably had a moderate "mixed" episode (with psychotic "features") that landed you in the hospital. Effexor can definitely make you jittery. It helped me focus really well, unfortunately I was a major grouch on it. Let us know how it goes,
good luck,
Mitch
poster:Ritch
thread:109325
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020609/msgs/109370.html