Posted by delna on August 1, 2010, at 6:07:17
In reply to Re: Mood shifts. Ritalin IR vs SR??, posted by bleauberry on July 7, 2010, at 17:23:06
Hi,
I sincerely apologize for my really delayed response to your post so full of ideas.
Firstly I really appreciate your input and do agree with you but I am just too tired to do any more research and frankly quite fed up too. Merely typing is a huge effort for me.> Fatigue. We're talking a vitamin thing, an unsuspected chronic infection, an immune system in disarray, adrenal gland weakness. All kinds of things are being discovered by accident that play into chronic fatigue, and the neurotransmitters we manipulate with psych drugs aren't among them. By manipulating them we can indeed improve the symptoms but do nothing to address the real problem which continues to progress over months and years.
I do believe this fatigue is something more than depression. Unfortunately I have been checked and nothing was found. I saw a fantastic internalist in NYC who wanted to know every last detail of my problem and wasnt convinced that this was all psychiatric. He made me have some more tests and my inflammatory markers *were* raised so the insisted that I see a rheumatologist, to begin with. However the rheumatologist really checked and quite desperately looked for a cause for both my fatigue, my abnormal arm tiredness and breathlessness but he found nothing. Nevertheless he did some extra tests but nothing came up. He said he did not think the symptoms were in my head but he could not find an organic cause. He also refrained from using the term fibromyalgia as he said that that is just a dead end diagnosis- it means we dont know the cause of the problem. He told me that he hoped that this was indeed psychiatric and if my depression was treated these things would improve. He himself was frustrated.
I was checked for infections like lymes, sarcodosis and some others but again, nothing. Both the doctors said that one can spend an entire lifetime finding the cause of these vague symptoms and still not be successful as no one knows where to even look. It is frustrating for both the doctor and patient they agreed.
My fatigue was initially assumed to be D3 deficiency. However since treating that and getting the levels well up, I have had little improvement. My internist did add that sometimes trying to raise the level of Vit B helps even when it is well in the normal range. So I am giving that a go.
Having said that I was (and am) exteremly depressed so some fatigue may be coming form there.But I had a spontaneous hypomania episode in NYC (also observed by the psychiatrist) but despite the fact that I had classical symptoms (wildly racing thoughts, shopping, less need for sleep, talking others to death etc) my *physical* energy level didnt improve THAT much. Normally that level of hypomania makes me unable to sit still physically and I am all over the place. My arm fatigue and breathlessness did not go away either.
But when I was on Geodon and well, I had no fatigue whatsoever and not thing could sedate me which again makes me think it is psychiatric.
> I think you have to play with the ritalin and see what you can do. But more importantly
you should embark on a dedicated research project on anything and everything you can
find on google relating to chronic fatigue syndrome. The thing you are dealing with is much bigger than a stimulant is going to handle.As I am extremely fed up and have really given up I cant bear to do research. Im using the Ritalin to get by now and thats it. Lets see how long I last.
> Now, fatigue is listed as a symptom of depression. So the two are often lumped together as one stand alone thing. Which can be misleading. >
> I would suggest three other things besides ritalin.
>
> Low dose naltrexone. Study up on LDN.
> Vitamin B12 patches, available on the net OTC.
> Cordyceps herb.
>I did look up naltrexone ( I have a book, so that was easy) and it says its sedating.
If I have it in me I would look up the herbs too.> The tiredness in the morning and irritability in the evening is probably partially due to ritalin wearing off, but I would suspect since it is so predictable it is more related to the adrenal glands and would still be happening on a more subtle level without the ritalin.
My adrenal glands are normal.>Cordyceps is the one that can help there. Other popular ones are Siberian Ginseng (called Eleuthero, not a true ginseng, and Rhodiola Rosea. At the very least, spend a few hours reading up on the substances mentioned here. And of course keep it in perspective...just one person's input.
Thank you for sharing. I will try looking these herbs up if I find the energy. I was also suggested NAC by my psychiatrist but I havent tried it yet. Just so fed up.
Take care
DPS: Sorry for the ramble.
poster:delna
thread:953603
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20100731/msgs/956677.html