Posted by barbaracat on July 2, 2005, at 15:25:27
In reply to Re: More newbie Lithium questions » barbaracat, posted by Sabino on July 1, 2005, at 20:07:18
*Rem worked very very for me on its own for about 2 months getting up to 45 mg. I was so pleased at the energy, optimism, motivation I felt. And then it suddenly pooped and no amount of increasing ever got it back. I first started adding lithium around that time and hoped it would augment things, but never did.
I never experienced being able to sleep better on Rem and had to take Ambien. But I did notice a daytime lethargy that I was told disappeared as the dosage got higher and the NE kicked in more. My depressions, as I've mentioned veer from either vegetative drag my butt around to shreiking banshee wailing. This was the former. I got up to 90 mg and once again, it kicked in, but much too activating, even with lithium. No matter how I played with the dose it was either/or, too little, too much and the worst part was the snarling slobbering incessant hunger. I gained 40 pounds and developed kill- for cravings for gooey carby stuff I never was interested in before.
Remeron, I'll say this much for it, was the easiest med to get off. I weaned from 90 to 0 in 3 weeks and didn't miss it. There followed a long spell of different trials combined with lithium, lamictal which worked OK but I got the rash, lithium alone which was OK as long as there were no stresses in my life. One med worked very well, nortriptyline and brought me out of a desperate place after my mother died. But the sxs were too much and so I powered through it with only lithium and St. John's Wort. That really was pretty good, but I hit a very bad stressful skid and it could not compete. Ended up in the hostpital in January and since then have been on the low dose Cymbalta, Lithium 600mg Ambien to sleep (changing to Lunesta) and various hormones, like thyroid. All in all I'm feeling better than ever.
My report is not unbiased since I had negative experiences with it, as well as with Serzone, another Rem like med. Have you considered replacing the Remeron with a non-hangover sleep med? Some of us are very sensitive to the histamine blockade some of these meds cause in the name of sleep. The few times lately I took Seroquel, Zyprexa or doxepin to help me sleep left me suicidally depressed the next day and they all have that histamine punch. I can only give you my jive on Remeron and Lithium and point blank, I didnt like it. It's such an easy med to get off and back on, perhaps it would be worth a try without
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> >> **That wouldn't be from 'Off to see the Lizard' - would it? One of my faves.<<
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> Hmmm. Never heard of that one.**Jimmy Buffet album, circa 1984 or so. I'm by no means a Parrot Head, but this one I like.
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poster:barbaracat
thread:509665
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20050702/msgs/522599.html