Posted by Racer on June 21, 2008, at 1:34:26
In reply to Re: I'm slowing going off my meds, posted by bleauberry on June 20, 2008, at 17:17:23
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>> The phenomenon has been noted here hundreds of times in the last decade, and is well documented at other places such askapatient.com or revolution health. The mysterious phenomenon. A drug that previously worked very well without notable side effects becomes a poison with strong side effects that either doesn't work, works only a fraction of how it used to, or actually makes you feel worse than ever.
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> There are indeed people who take a drug, get well, stop the drug and stay well. There are indeed people who take a drug, get well, stop the drug, relapse, start the drug again and it works just as good as ever. No scientific evidence to back it up, but my guess is the bad outcomes outnumber the the good ones. Any way you look at it, one is taking a situation of very low risk and purposely voluntarily entering a realm of high risk.
>I respectfully disagree, and would suggest that the specific population posting on sites such as this one and others where that phenomenon is reported may be a causal factor of this belief.
Last year, I tried EMSAM, with lousy results, and went back onto my trusty Wellbutrin/Concerta cocktail. And felt miserable, because it didn't seem to be working very well. I started to think, "Oh, it's because I went off it and now it won't work as well anymore..." Only one problem with that theory -- if it had been working well in the first place, we'd never have tried something else. My combination is working about as well as it ever has -- but I remembered it working better than in fact it had been. I don't think my experience is all that unusual, and I think that skewed view of how well a medication worked is behind that belief that drugs don't work as well on subsequent trials.
Furthermore, as SeldomSeen pointed out, often times start up effects are a problem when restarting a medication. Also, restarting at too high a dose can cause problems.
Personally, I believe that for many people -- in fact, the vast majority of people who do not experience treatment resistance of any sort and simply improve on the first medication they take -- stopping a medication and later restarting it probably poses no significant challenges. I think it's worth remembering that the people who post here are a distinct, though heterogeneous, population.
I also think it's wonderful that Deneb has worked so hard and improved so much that her doctor thinks she will do well off medications. I hope that it turns out well, and that this thread does not cause too much anxiety for her.
poster:Racer
thread:835521
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20080617/msgs/835746.html