Posted by liliths on February 8, 2007, at 13:10:14
In reply to Re: SSRI to Tianeptine - side fx (easy now ;) » ralphrost, posted by Declan on February 6, 2007, at 20:37:48
hi Declan,
this post in particular touched a real nerve in me.. some of what you wrote really resonated :)
Now of course, I look back and see a life spent more wasted than lived and it just makes me very sad
I thought I'd just join this thread rather than post a new one about starting tianeptine. Yes, it finally came!!
I've been taking it for about 5 days now... 2x daily.
In the morning, I also take focalin XR (40mg) and klonopin (1mg). I've noticed an almost immediate difference, though I still need to overcome a lot of the ingrained habits being depressed for so long left me with. But my ability to focus is intensified and it's easier to actually accomplish something. I'm not sitting around frozen though I have a long way to go towards achieving anything close to the levels of functionality I've experienced in the past. Depression used to come and go when I was younger, meds or not, and unfortunately, I'm dealing with some health issues which are keeping me down and housebound. Hopefully, that will improve.
But when I look back, even just a couple of years ago, I was like a different person in my ability to 'get out and do things'. But it's only that ability to "do" that's REALLY changed. I am what I am, as popeye used to say LOL
In the afternoon, with the tianeptine, I'm still taking 100mg wellbutrin, along with a number of supplements supposedly for stress and improved brain function (who knows if they do anything). I've been considering trying Piracetam and I want to discontinue the wellbutrin but figure I should wait till I'm on the tianeptine for a couple of weeks before stopping.
I do notice as the focalin starts to diminish, I'm still falling into my sluggish evening behavior. Someone on this board has posted that focalin lasts for 12 hours for her - that's definitely not my experience but overall, I'm quite happy with it. In terms of duration, I'd say the focalin works similarly to concerta for me. But as I tend to naturally have trouble with sleep, I don't want to augment with more stims and that was actually the reason I decided not to take the tianeptine 3x daily. I have considered splitting my focalin dose to 20mg in the morning and the other 20mg in the afternoon but one thing I learned when it came to meds was to change only 1 thing at a time! Right now it's tianeptine's turn :)
I'd really prefer to not take anything, though I'm pretty sure I wouldn't last long that way.
I haven't had any noticeable side effects. 'Maybe' I'm slightly more gaseous in the evenings but that could be dietary and it's minimal anyway
so... so far, so good. I only hope it lasts long enough to deal with getting back into living again. I'm still not really able to socialize (part of that is the whole evening 'comedown') but even during the day, it's still hard to go out of the house. And getting/staying in touch with people is still a huge hurdle.
But I do feel a bit returned to myself. I think I'm more interested again and less consumed by self-hate, at least part of the time.
please keep your fingers crossed for me. I've been through and continue to be experiencing some of the worst luck in the world... what's that saying: if it weren't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all. Well, that's been me.
and I could really use a break or I'm giving up
hope you're having a better day. I read further down this thread that you'd had a bad one. Be well and thank you for all your help
namaste,
lilith
> It's interesting that you should mention sense of humour.
> For me tianeptine has been good for that, perhaps because I feel more comfortable/pleasant being me and so don't have to be so careful??
>
> I have no desire to feel less. I'd much rather feel worse than less, because I can (just) handle being me.
> For much of my life I have felt amused and agonised in some kind of mix.
> I've never taken SSRIs and won't bother now. The only ADs I'm interested in are deprenyl and tianeptine, and if it came to the crunch, Nardil and Parnate.
>
> But old self? Afraid I haven't got one. My mood has waxed and waned over the years, and I spent MUCH too long staring at clocks in a challenging manner waiting for time to pass, and I could have read a little less terrible history and looked after myself way better, but apart from that I have felt more or less the same most of my life.
>
poster:liliths
thread:728547
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20070207/msgs/731124.html