Posted by pelorojo on August 14, 2003, at 10:40:40
Hi all, I guess this is one of my once-every-3-months requests for comments & discussion : )
I went to see the psychiatrist yesterday...just for a medication check-in, I didn't go thinking we were going to change anything. I have PTSD & depression, and though my depression has been trending up, I keep hitting PTSD land mines. That is, I feel better, I do all my self-care things (meditation, exercise, diet, etc.), and then I'll hit a "trauma trigger" (flashback), get overwhelmed & flooded, and then go back into depression. I then have to work my way out again, ultimately (it seems these days) to hit another trigger. The whole process seems to take 2-3 weeks.
So I was describing this cycle to him, if you will, and he said he had another patient with a similar dynamic. He said that they had recently had remarkable success with her using seroquel to help alleviate the post-trigger emotional flooding. Even better, he said, was if you anticipate a situation where a trigger could arise, to take a small dose of seroquel the night before (25 mg). Otherwise, take it as soon as you know you've hit one (but late in the day, as I guess it is sedating) and for as long as the flooding seems to continue, then stop until another trigger comes around. So basically try taking a small dose of seroquel for a few days to see if if counters the flooding effect.
I wanted to see if anyone else had ever heard of or tried this with seroquel or any other drugs in a similar class (atypical antipsychotics). If yes, did it work ? Any tips/tricks ?
Also, the product info I've found advises against drinking alcohol on seroquel but doesn't go into detail as to why. Has anyone had experience with a small amount of alcohol (say, 2 pints of beer) and a small dose of seroquel as I've described (25 mg. )? If so, what happened ? Does the alcohol make you sick or negate the drug or ? What about marijuana ?
Thanks for your help : )
pelirojo
p.s. my current regimen is 400 mg Wellbutrin, 300 mg Provigil, and 10 mg Lexapro.
poster:pelorojo
thread:250765
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20030812/msgs/250765.html