Posted by linkadge on November 29, 2006, at 21:23:38
In reply to Re: Maybe all drugs are like this » linkadge, posted by Squiggles on November 29, 2006, at 17:18:56
Like I said, we cannot base the experience of many doctors on just one case. We could ask other people on this board. Its not just an old wives tale. I'm sure SLS has heard of the phenomina.
Again, I am in no way saying that this is a guarenteed thing, there is just a possability that it will not work if you discontinue and start again.
I don't think that valproate has gained this reputation. Ie, I don't think there are a substantial number of cases suggesting that valproate looses effect if discontinued and restarted.
Lithium is acutally proconvulsant. It is not good in cases of epileptiform brain activity. I was under the impression that my rage reaction to lithium was due to some sort of temporal lobe proconvulsant activity. The rage was even more pronounced if I combined it with an SSRI. Lithium made the music in my head much worse, it also worsened my insomnia, wherase valproate did not.
Tegretol also did not worsen isomnia,When I restarted lithium, I would have taken it for nearly a year the second time. Although, I never regained the state of wellness that I had when I took it the first time.
Antidepressants were added to no avail.
At this point valproate worked better.
This is not a lithum bashing session on my part, its just my experience thats all.
>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.Well, possably. If the lithium benzo combination is working for you than great, no worries.
I had taken lithium + clonazepam, or lithium + lorazepam, but adding the benzos just made depression worse. At this point, like I said, valproate worked better.
This is not a matter of valproate being a better drug, just that it does work better in certain cases, (for instance, valproate is often superior to lithium when it comes to rapid cycling.)
Linkadge
poster:linkadge
thread:708634
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20061129/msgs/708814.html