Posted by Ame Sans Vie on October 18, 2003, at 20:19:56
In reply to Re: Some advice and non-serotonergic ideas for you » Ame Sans Vie, posted by loolot on October 17, 2003, at 14:37:00
> o be quite risky territory). I believe the seizure risk is 1/1,000 at 200mg/day and 1/250 at 400mg/day (I may be wrong on the 200mg part, but the rest I'm sure of) -- 600mg could greatly increase your risk of seizure... 1/100? Who knows... I personally wouldn't take those odds, but that's just me. :-)
>
> Thanks so much A.S.V.!!!!
> As always, a wealth of awesome information!lol, no problem... feels nice to be appreciated, thank you so much. :-) You'd be suprised how this board has improved my social phobia simply due to the fact that I always am made to feel welcome here, and being appreciated is even more of a confidence booster, lol. :-)
> yes, I am inclined to agree about wellbutrin. My doc said that higher doses more than likely wont work. I guess I cold add a little topamax in to stop the seizure risk. I would rather just quit the stuff and switch to parnate, though, which is our last resort.
Just my personal opinion on the matter -- I would give the Parnate a go. Seems silly to have to add another pill into your regimen just to prevent another pill from giving you a seizure, ya know? Besides, Parnate is supposed to be a truly great drug for depression -- quite possibly the best there is.
> I have tried adderall and ritalin and didnt like the effects at all with the wellbutrin.It surprise me that I felt much more depressed when I was on the ritalin, bc I thought the dopamine would help.
Well, you know how some people who take Ritalin get that zombie effect? Did you feel like that at all? I know I'd sure feel depressed if that were the case... Anyway, Ritalin seems to affect norepinephrine more than dopamine in my experience. Either that or norepinephrine is just a stronger neurochemical. The norepinephrine is responsible for Ritalin's notorious mimicry of anxiety and nervousness in so many people who try it. For a dopamine boost, once again, I'd have to say that Parnate would appear to be a damn fine choice.
Have you tried higher-dose Provigil? What I mean is, the usual dose is 100-200mg, but some people get a great antidepressant effect at 400mg or so. I find it to be the best antidepressant in the world (better than MDMA [ecstasy]!), but it only worked for me at a dose of 1,000mg, which gave me bad headaches. However, I have a high tolerance to all drugs, so perhaps 400mg of Provigil could work miracles for you. Just food for thought -- and Provigil is the only "real" stimulant that can easily be taken with MAOIs, should you decide to give Parnate a whirl.
> Now I have a prescription for strattera, which I will start tomorrow.
Be sure to let me know how that works out -- I'm rather curious... if it provides extra energy, I just may add it to my dextroamphetamine that I already take for chronic fatigue and (to a lesser extent) depression and ADD w/o hyperactivity.
> I am also on cytomel, which is really helpful with the fatigue, and the fish oil and tryosine supplememnts help, too. I have phenyl. too, but I just read that it doesnt really work, that only the tyrosine does. What do you think?
I've never found tyrosine to work very well at all, especially now that I've tried phenylalanine. It most certainly does work, *wonderfully*. You can tell from the first dose (well, I could tell... and supposedly most people can). The DL-phenylalanine is unarguably the way to go though so you have the added benefit of extra endorphins working in your brain to make you feel good. It's the D-phenylalanine that affects endorphins; L-phenylalanine is the one that converts to tyrosine. Both forms also turn partly into phenylethylamine (the "love chemical", the "chocolate amphetamine" -- real amphetamine is beta-phenylethylamine; this stuff is alpha-phenylethylamine and is found to be in abundance within the brains of those who are madly in love with someone).
Oh, and glad to hear you're taking fish oil -- good for you. :-) Far too many people just dismiss that idea even after studies have shown it to be *extremely* effective at treating and preventing so many things. You mentioned taking other supplements as well... mind if I ask what they are?
I'd like to hear how the Cytomel is working as well... I have yet to supplement with any thyroid medications.
> How do those dopamine agonists regulate androgens? Would this be a bad thing for a woman? Are they androgenic?
To tell you the truth, I know very little about this. All I know is this:
1. These drugs stimulate ovulation in females.
2. They decrease lactation in females.
3. They inhibit prolactin, thus improving libido.
4. They're used to treat female infertility, to prevent postpartum lactation, to decrease hormone levels in giants (acromegaly), to treat symptoms of dysmenorrhea in patients with hyperprolactinemia, to improve menstrual cycles in patients with polycystic ovarian syndrome, and to supplement levodopa/carbidopa therapy in Parkinson's patients.As you can see, they're used quite often on women, so I doubt they're harmful. Of course, this is something to discuss with your doctor anyway since they are prescription drugs.
poster:Ame Sans Vie
thread:269769
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20031015/msgs/270684.html