Posted by Squiggles on November 29, 2006, at 17:18:56
In reply to Re: Maybe all drugs are like this, posted by linkadge on November 29, 2006, at 16:49:58
> For instance, I had a good antidepressant effect from lithium alone, the first trial, but when I restarted it, I was never able to regain that same antidepressant effect.
Did you stay on it? Are you on it now?
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> Infact, on subsquent trials the drug seemed to induce rage/irritability reactions.
>
There is what I call the "Twilight Zone" -- the interim between just beginning to recover, and actual stabilization. Within this agitated period is where you might find the greatest number of suicides and violent acts. That would apply to the more agitating ADs as well, e.g. Prozac. I got the same thing with psychomotor agitation.
> Dr. Manjii, a cellular biologist studies the cellular actions of mood stabilizers. He commented that lithium may be good for the "early" stages of kindling, wherase valproate may be better for the later stages of kindling.Yes, that is consistent with the fact that Benzodiazepines are so good for this period of adjustment. Valproate like Klonopin is an anti-convulsant. That may be his actual discovery, NOT that lithium will not work eventually. I've been on lithium for 25 years, and each time a fluctuation occurs, it takes about 30 days to get well again. That is a pattern. The only exception was the counterfeit batch, or weaker batch, that took six month before I hit true manic-depression as i remember it 25 years hence.
So, valproate is not necessarily proof of superiourity to lithium but rather appropriate dampening of a brain state, which lithium will correct given a concurrent dose of benzos.
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> So, if the disease progesses, lithium alone may be insufficiant. I think Manjii commnents too on the possability of lithium loosing its effect if discontuned too many times or not taken consistently.It has not been my experience, with all due respect to the neurologically innovative work of Dr. Manjii.
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> My psychiatrist, the chief psychiatrist at Waterloo Univeristy, Ontario, Canada, made that exact comment. When I told him that my use of lithium was periodic, he said "don't take it that way, cause there is the possability that it will stop working".I am sceptical about that given my experience.
Squiggles
poster:Squiggles
thread:708634
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20061129/msgs/708689.html