Posted by med_empowered on July 30, 2007, at 13:25:01
In reply to Re: Can ADD mimic depression .../Brooke, posted by stargazer2 on July 30, 2007, at 8:28:12
DSM diagnoses aren't "real" like cancer is "real"; if you have, say, a tumor in your lung, a doc must go through steps x,y,z to address this problem. Not so mental illnesses...people respond to different drugs, so its not such a straightforward process.
Stimulants can be great for some kinds of depression--sometimes there may be ADHD-type symptoms, sometimes not. Back in the day, docs recognized this: hence the common use of amphetamines and upper/downer combos (dexamyl, eskatrol) to treat various states of depression. Even now, stimulants are used a good bit in depression, except its "off-label," b/c stimulants are now conceived of as being primarily for the treatment of ADHD.
So..I guess I'm saying it doesn't really matter if you "reall" have ADHD instead of/in addition to depression; its entirely possible that, whatever the diagnosis, an added stimulant could be beneficial.
Why do you think your doc hasn't used stims yet? Is s/he afraid of increasing agitation or something, or just not willing to rx a stimulant? I'd ask and see; if there's a valid reason for not using one, talk about; if your doc's reason(s) don't make sense to you, or seem stupid, you may want to go to a different doctor, since you seem to be having some residual problems. there's no reason to put up with less than optimal treatment from a shrink, so if your doc isn't cooperative, fire and move on.Good luck.
poster:med_empowered
thread:772762
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20070730/msgs/772919.html