Posted by King Vultan on June 8, 2004, at 22:19:19
In reply to Re: The motivation issue » blanding, posted by jerrympls on June 8, 2004, at 20:26:19
I don't have personal familiarity with atypical antipsychotics, but I've done some reading on them, and I question if they are really a good choice for people with unipolar depression and anxiety. It's a little bit hard for me to understand why they are being so widely prescribed to non-schizophrenics when they have so many drawbacks and side effects. Even my own pdoc, who I think quite highly of, suggested either Seroquel or Zyprexa (I forget which) as one option for my own MAOI insomnia.
Well, I managed to talk him into trazodone, which is what I had my heart set on. To my surprise, that wound up being a failure because while it did promote sleep, it left me feeling sluggish and depressed the next day. I filled in with Benadryl and a sleep/relaxation CD as a stopgap until the next time I saw him, at which point I asked him about Halcion. He thought that was a good choice but said I could only use it three or four times a week, so I am alternating between Halcion one night and Benadryl the next (still using the sleep/relaxation CD each night as well).
Now, this is working pretty darned good, but I had a tremendous advantage over the typical patient because I have some great reference books and have read "Essential Psychopharmacology" in its entirety, I've read countless posts on this board and others, and I always have a good idea of what direction I want to go in when I visit my pdoc (I do respect him and tend to ultimately defer to his judgement and wisdom, however). If I wasn't so well prepared and didn't have such firm ideas on what is in my best interest, however, I could easily see where I might be taking Zyprexa or Seroquel for insomnia. And I really don't think that would be such a good thing.
Todd
poster:King Vultan
thread:354883
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040608/msgs/354946.html