Posted by desolationrower on March 29, 2009, at 2:09:42
In reply to Re: TCA not good for SAD+GAD+lack motivation/energy » desolationrower, posted by Vincent_QC on March 12, 2009, at 14:49:40
hey vincent.
these are things i'd be interested in, arrange to some degree with most improtant at top. its waht i can think of as being worth checking, though please keep in mind this is the kind of thing an MD can hlep with, and i do'nt know much about bypass surgery and its effects, or obesity sequelae (although ive read a lot about preventing weight gain). and test could be expensive if not covered with insurance, although seeing how treatment resistant you are, looking around for problems in less likely places seems worth it. but i will write a list, of things that might be abnormal and cause problems, and maybe something will show up that your doctor will be able to treat. also i'm not 100% on which tests are needed, for some systems there are multiple tests, and you may only need some of them to check for a problem, but further tests to know what is causing the problem. i think they usually come in combination 'panels'.
also, while i am thinking about it, i think it might be quite helpful if you used nicotine patches/lozenge to reduce smoking. have you tried this? also smokers withdrawal from nicotine at night, if you wake up and smoke right away, it might be causing sleep problems, and a patch worn at night might help.
check for sure, 25-Hydroxy vitamin D (it should includes concentration of total 25OHD, 25OHD2, and 25OHD3)
i think you said you do get tested for vitamin A? i think keeping an eye on this. but while most people i would say, take beta-carotene, there was a study indicating beta-c supp with smoking increases cancer risk. and eating more veggies (with a bit of olive oil on top, same time of day as taking fishoil and other oils) might not work as well with bypass, although its never a bad idea. getting d, A, and w-3 from cod liver oil would probably be a good idea, for a cheap source since you sound deficient in both? and getting lutein and zanthaxin(sp) woudl be good, important for eye health. also, taking vitamin K, while not useful psychiatricaly that i know, is good for health, epscially with the risk factors you have, i think you should definatly take that too.ANd vitamin E in multis is not good quality, get gelcap type mixed tocotrienol/tocopherol (there are 4 each-8total). that probably won't help psychiatric things, but good for health. it might be testable, but maybe wait till you get things worked out and can make some diet improvements to go about testing everything like that.
not sure i'd bother with something like b12 test, just get those methylcobalimin lozenges and take one a day. but also getting folate is important too, but you are getting enough of that? probably would show up on blood tests for aneamia.
also do you take mineral supplements? ca, mg, zn especially. citrate forms and zinc gluconate is good. actually you know if its me i'd probably end up taking a few things like that, a trace mineral, b-vitamin complex, etc, instead of a multivitamin, to be sure i got the most absorbable form. of course it makes it more of a hasle to have more containers of pills to take everyday, and they don't do much good if you don't take them then because its so complicated. i think these are more helpful for good health, but also i think while not going to have antidepressant effect on their own, will improve response, when all the different things are there, and your health is better. but there should be good values, it can be complicated, but shouldn't be too expensive.
i think you said you had thyroid (not just TSH, but t3 and t4 check out, and it was ok?) if so, i wouldn't bother rechecking unless it was borderline
should be checked: hormones
testosterone, free, total
estradiol, progesterone
maybe dhea, prolactin, dht, fsh & lh, those seem to be included most of the time with other hormone panels.
should be checked: some kind of cortisol/DSM suppression. maybe include Aldosterone and Renin, crh, and/or acthmaybe show something:CYTOKINE PANEL - IL1b, IL6, IL8, TNF alpha. these tend to be disturbed with depression, but they usually aren't a specific disease, or treatable. but might be useful to know, since you are kind of lost for ideas.
if you know something isn't working, like you are iron deficient, you should really try to get that to normal range: i don't know if you need to take a larger dose, or add vitamin C, or try eating red meat (might reduce appetite a bit more than protein shake, though pick lean)? (oh also while mentioning, probably would be good to eat some skim yoghurt with 'live active cultures'(not pasteurized after the bacteria grow), with various bacteria strains. the stoneyfield yoghurt is the one i get, there is probably different brands for you.) I really don't know in context of the bypass. but if you have something like that, doctor should be getting it to normal. otherwise how does it help to test?
hm that was long and disorganized, ask me if that didn't make sense. obviously we need someone here who has a large prescription for dexedrine to organize.
also you said you walked a lot before? maybe get a dog to take out for a walk in the park would be good, get out of the hosue, a reason to chat up people, etc.
-d/r
poster:desolationrower
thread:884848
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20090322/msgs/887533.html