Posted by g_g_g_unit on July 30, 2010, at 23:37:29
In reply to treatment options..., posted by Christ_empowered on July 30, 2010, at 7:41:09
Have you tried Cymbalta yourself? If so, did you find it less numbing than the SSRI's?
Dexedrine has less peripheral stimulation than Adderall, which is probably why it's more suited to OCD.
Thanks again for your suggestions. When I first saw your user-handle, I was fearing a zealous anti-medication spiel :)
> I'm not a doctor or anything--just a patient who's been around the block a few times re: meds. I suggested Cymbalta b/c its kind of like a cleaned-up TCA (so is effexor), so you might get more of an anti-depressant effect. TCA drugs are considered by some to be more effective for more severe cases of depression, even though they don't out-perform SSRI drugs for moderate depression.
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> The zombie state is possible, I've experienced it, but it is also possible with stimulants alone. Stimulants can leave you in a hyper-focused but utterly unproductive state; I've personally found that this is a result of an excessively high dose, but I imagine that for some people, a stimulant really isn't the way to go at any dose. Unfortunately, you may just have to try it out and see.
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> Stimulants are sometimes used for OCD. Dexedrine in particular seems to be pretty popular; I don't know if that is because Dexedrine has unique characteristics that make it awesome for some cases of OCD, or if its just b/c Dexedrine pre-dates Adderall by a good 30+ years as a psych drug (Adderall, BTW, was originally a diet pill, not a psych drug).
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> You're right about the Tenex (and I would imagine clonidine) being better for the restless kind of attention problems; Tenex and clonidine can, however, help with stimulant-induced side effects and sleep, so if those problems pop up during treatment, it might be something to consider (although that would be a lot of medication to take).
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> I wish you the best of luck with what you're going through. Hopefully, you'll find medication(s) that get you to point where you can function better and enjoy life more.
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poster:g_g_g_unit
thread:956304
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20100720/msgs/956527.html