Posted by 4WD on January 20, 2006, at 21:12:39
In reply to Re: Depressed/agitated/wired - soft bipolar? » 4WD, posted by ed_uk on January 20, 2006, at 13:53:49
> Hi M
>
> >And in the meantime while you are waiting to reach therapeutic dose levels..........
>
> I don't think starting at a low dose necessarily delays the onset of the therapeutic effects. The onset of the therapeutic effects is delayed by several weeks whatever dose you start at. High initial doses can actually aggravate symptoms such as anxiety and restlessness. You can increase the dose as fast as your body permits eg. start at 10mg/day. Stay on 10mg for a few days. If 10mg is well tolerated, increase to 20mg. Stay on 20mg for a couple of days, if 20mg is well tolerated increase to 30mg...........etc.......etc......increase to 80mg (for example) for a couple of days, if 80mg is not well tolerated don't increase any further until the side effects have reduced. If the side effects were severe you might have to reduce the dose.
>
> >...........do you just somehow get through the depression resulting from not being on much of anything?
> >Or maybe taper off the old whilst starting the new?
>
> .....but if your current medication isn't helping......
>
> Ed
>
Well, there's being in the black hole. And then there's being at the bottom of the black hole. ANd then, of course there's being buried under the bottom of the black hole.Anyway, thanks for your reply. It told me just what I needed to know. If the current Effexor + Depakote doesn't do it or improve the situation in the next couple of weeks, I'm going back to imipramine. I want to give the Effexor at least three weeks to see if I see any improvement (that'll be 1 week at 37.5 and 2 weeks at 75 - if I can stand the 75.) Seems like the Depakote has stabilized my moods somewhat, now I'm depressed every day, not just five days a week. But the Effexor hasn't had time to kick in yetand I guess I'm having some Celexa withdrawal too.
I just hope that a year off the Effexor will allow it to work again. Or maybe I don't. By the time I got off it, I hated it. It wasn't working anymore and all I had were the side effects. I mean maybe tricyclics are less *damaging* somehow. They feel less threatening. Effexor is scary.
Marsha
poster:4WD
thread:596894
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20060115/msgs/601297.html