Posted by shrimp on June 14, 2003, at 20:09:14
In reply to Stupid from drugs or from depression?, posted by Ponder on April 26, 2002, at 11:43:53
I had the same question, and my pdoc said that my brain was not at all permanently altered, it was just the depression. I only consider my depression alleviated when the cognitive problems dissapate. That happened to me for about a month on the SSRI's, then usual pattern, tired and dumb. I'm now on 400 Wellbutrin and 60 Nardil, and it seems to be helping. I've been too afraid to take the IQ test, it would just validate how depressed i was, but i think i am going to take it now. I've lowered the Wellbutrin to 300 mg., but i'm still getting the twitches, could this be related to Parkinsons's or the dopamine?
> Couldn't resist joining this thread. I, too, am a professional writer with concerns about intellectual functioning and word-find abilities.
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> I have been on Wellbutrin for decades (literally). It never occurred to me that WB might have cognitive side-effects. What I find frustrating is the difficulty of ascribing such effects. After all, my bipolar depression makes me dumb as a stump. Some people believe that ECT leaves you with some permanent impairment (maybe). Then there are the drugs.
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> I hate the thought of tampering with a combination of treatments that seem to be working at the time, but this discussion on WB is causing me to reconsider. My other treatments (Lamictal and VNS) are activating enough that DCing the WB may not be too bad an idea.
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> Does anyone else wonder about drug side-effects vs. depression as the cause of cognitive difficulties? I mean, not just during the depression, but a kind of ongoing alteration in brain function from the illness?
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poster:shrimp
thread:13717
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20030614/msgs/234042.html