Posted by utopizen on August 31, 2010, at 23:31:17
In reply to Re: methylphenidate augmentation of venlafaxine, posted by bleauberry on August 27, 2010, at 16:45:22
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I think it might be time to start thinking about things that are not so ordinary to the psychiatrist's office. Things like LDN, DLPA, and others. I think part of the reason for treatment resistance is due to getting stuck thinking inside a confined box. But that's the way it is. There is a lot more to depression than what psych drugs can impact
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>First, I was on Lexapro for 3 months straight; it did nothing. I still craved sleep in the dorms while in class. Then, one day, I realized two weeks had passed, and I hadn't yet craved sleep for that last 2 weeks.
Yet it wasn't Lexapro. I had received a shipment abroad of DLPA + selegilene(sp), took 2 5mg tabs/day along with DLPA. And I swear, effect was immediate. Don't try this @ home: Lexapro + Selegilene is a very risky combo; I just got lucky. I didn't tell my doc I added it, as I knew he couldn't be on board for something that could have cost him his license.
as for effexor:
it's nice to think a drug will get you out of bed. The reality is, if you find that happening, awesome; more power to you. However, this is an unrealistic expectation for _any_ medicine, and an unhealthy one at that.
Is it nice to think a drug will get you out of bed? Is that not a sure sign of depression? You betchya.
But using *any* medicine as a crutch to avoid following CBT therapy visits weekly + regular, vigorous outside of your doc's office--+ actually following those worksheets the therapists gives is not doing anyone with treatment-resistant therapy any favors. And just trust me: your CBT therapy has better odds at changing certain behaviors like getting out of bed than any drug.
Moreover: the Ritalin is, I hope, needed for your ADD, not depression. Psychostimulants all can drive the neurons crazy when they are depressed. They can take even the slightest case of the blues and drain, deplete+exhaust already limited dopamine reserves until you have chronic depression in a matter of months. Your are describing dysphoria. Most likely, the Ritalin is too high given the Effexor dose; they're both hitting at similar transmitters. So basically, your Effexor dose is super high, making your Ritalin dose effectively super high as well and high doses of a psychostimulant makes one prone to dysphoria.
One of the adaptive things about depression is this: it does actually let your body know you may have gone too far in stretching it, in not appreciating we all have a finite amount of energy levels each day. What stimulants do is tell our brains otherwise, and we wind up exhausting ourselves through sustained mental concentration without knowing to pace ourselves. It's like running on a broken leg with regular morphine injections.
But while you figure out exercise: (vigorous, not walking! no one walks themselves out of depression!)
set your alarm clock for, say, 8AM. Then, take your morning dose of the Ritalin, and set it to buzz again at 8:30 AM. By time it kicks in, you'll be out of bed. And then, ride a bike/run/go to gym so you can actually feel proud of yourself for the rest of the day.
I know this is long; but there's a lot of stuff here I think you deserve to have cleared up. Good luck =D
poster:utopizen
thread:960153
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20100829/msgs/960892.html