Posted by detroitpistons on March 21, 2006, at 16:52:04
In reply to Re: Never thought I'd hear this..... » detroitpistons, posted by corafree on March 21, 2006, at 14:30:35
Hi Cora,
> When Effexor-XR came out, I thought it would be convenient.
>
> I began it and never, ever, had I experienced such a really high .. high. I was out of control w/ excitability and blabbery humor. I knew this was too crazy and d.c.'d it. (After seeing your post, I thought I'd share this.)
>I felt really good on Effexor the first time. For the first time I actually was content and at ease, and I had virtually no anxiety. I had confidence, which I had always lacked. I felt empowered and in control of my life. Maybe I was a bit manicky at times. I did some impulsive things (perhaps even grandiose), and I'd talk and move fast at times. One person actually asked me, "are you on drugs?", LOL! I was just revved up that day, so it could have been pure coincidence, but she wasn't joking.
> I thought to myself, then, and still, this must be the way a person who is bipolar 'manic' feels.
>I thought I was finally experiencing the way I was "supposed" to feel because I'd been depressed or dysthymic for so long.
> I stopped the Effexor-XR in about a month.
>
> Some time later, I tried it again and there were none of the above side effects. It was so odd. Same drug. Same me (maybe).
>Same exact thing with me. My second time on Effexor is nothing like the first time...Much more pleasant then.
> I stopped it after a nervous breakdown last year, finally realizing (Duh; it was about time!) that every time on it, I'd experienced no 'real true human feelings'.
>I found that to be the case moreso when I was on Paxil. It totally dulled my senses. I still felt sort of depressed. Effexor doesn't seem to do that to me. The difference may be the norepinephrine reuptake inhibition. Maybe it was too much this time, because I became extremely agitated.
> And, to Lamictal, I had very severe headaches.
>
> None of these anti-psychotics (right?) have agreed w/ me.
>Lamictal was actually an epilepsy drug (anticonvulsant) when it was first approved. Later it was approved as a mood stabilizer for the treatment of bipolar disorder.
> Is it always anti-psychotics that are used to treat bipolar? Or, is it anti-psychotics and mood stabilizers?
>Atypical antipsychotics like Zyprexa or Abilify are very often used for bipolar disorder, often in conjunction with a mood stabilizer. They are sometimes used to augment antidepressants for people who are fairly treatment resistent.
> I've often had people who are bipolar, want to diagnosis me the same. I see from this link that there's this theory we are all somewhat bipolar.
>I can see why people would do that. When the idea that I may have bipolar II was first introduced to me, I'd look for bipolar traits in other people.
> When you're in the middle of a big change in your life, that's kind of the last thing you need to hear.
>I understand...Tell them to shove it. Just kidding! I guess they want to increase membership in the bipolar club.
> So far anything used to treat bipolarity has some properties that I cannot tolerate.
>So far, Lamictal has been pretty good. It's counteracted most of the agitation brought on by the Effexor. It's pretty bad when you need to keep adding drugs to offset the bad effects of the other drugs. I guess that's one of the biggest difficulties for all of us here. But I'm pretty lucky because right now I'm only on Lamictal and Effexor. I take trazadone to sleep, and a teensy bit of xanax as needed....It would make sense that if I was having bad effects with Effexor, then maybe I should stop taking Effexor, right? My doctor didn't see it that way. He would prefer to assume for now that I'm bipolar II based of the symptomology (regardless of cause). He didn't want to take me off the Effexor quite yet because of the suicidal ideation I was having when I was depressed. He felt this was the safest way to go to prevent relapse.
Marc
poster:detroitpistons
thread:620137
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20060315/msgs/622999.html