Posted by Emme on April 12, 2004, at 20:28:33
In reply to Re: To Scott - memantine...., posted by SLS on April 12, 2004, at 8:48:38
Hi Scott,
> Wow. You certainly are sensitive to this med. I experienced nothing like that. I started with 5mg and raised the dosage by 5mg each week. I am currently taking 20mg.
I'm sensitive to just about everything. And on top of that, sometimes my energy levels shift enough (jittery/anxious vs. sluggish) that something may make me jumpy one time but less so another time. It must be part of whatever subtle bipolar tendencies I have.
> I experienced a "blip" response over the first few days at 5mg. This phenomenon sometimes prognosticates a good latent response. I had to wait another 3 before I felt any improvement again.
Hmmm...so you did feel *something* within a week or so. I think I'm going scootch up the dose a bit and see if my body is adjusting. BTW, great use of an SAT word! Prognosticate. I like it. :)
> Current meds:
>
> imipramine 300mg
> Lamictal 300mg
> Zoloft 200mg
> Abilify 10mg
> memantine 20mgQuite the witches' brew. I think that if any of us ever gets a combo that works, we ought to name it, as they did with CA Rocket Fuel! I see you have both a TCA and an SSRI. You've found it helpful to use them together?
> I'm not doing so well right now.
I'm really sorry to hear that.
> I tried to discontinue Zoloft in order to test whether it was a necessary component of my positive response. Apparently, it is. I raised the dosage back up to 200mg yesterday, and I am beginning to feel a bit better.
I hope you continue to do better. I see a lot of people mentioning combining Lamictal and Zoloft. I'm sorely tempted to try it. But we're not sure about me and SSRIs. Paxil was fabulous as the first drug I ever used. But in a couple of subsequent trials, I either had outbursts of rage, or turned into a zombie, even with Lamictal and clonazepam on board. Celexa helped, then my mood slipped and got a bit erratic a few weeks later, and I was so cold it was intolerable. Zoloft - tried it once (solo) and it did nothing but make me jittery. But....the desperate part of me always thinks "Gee, maybe this or that combined with an SSRI would be exactly right...." But mebbe not.
> Yes. I would say that I experienced a global improvement of all my symptoms of depression. Hopefully, I'll be able to recapture the antidepressant response and watch it grow.
That's encouraging. I desperately need my mood to be less hopeless. I'll plod along a bit more with the memantine and see if I can take a higher dose. Too many more days like today and there won't be much left of me.
Hang tight, and I hope the upward trend continues.Emme
poster:Emme
thread:334461
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040412/msgs/335716.html