Posted by SLS on May 19, 2011, at 2:30:16
In reply to Re: Memory loss - bipolar / depression » SLS, posted by uncouth on May 18, 2011, at 20:59:19
Hi Uncouth.
I wish you nothing but the best. You are obviously a survivor, and your tireless efforts to attain health are recognized.
Just in case you were unaware, Tegretol can negatively affect memory and cognition.
- Scott
> hi scott,
>
> depression is much better, but of course nothing close to full remission. i have been meaning to post about my experience on PB the last few months, maybe will make a separate one. the short of it is that I started on Tegretol (carbamazepine), and it had a profound effect on my *depression*, starting at a pretty low dose. I am BP2. lithium, lamictal, and even mostly all antipsychotics with the exception of zyprexa and high dose saphris never worked as quickly or as effectively to stabilize my depressed mood. what i now realize is that what i have been calling "depression" takes various forms, and most recently (maybe most often) it is characterized by tortured thoughts, coming at me, all the time...i'm sure many people here know what i'm talking about. that, and almost physical anxiety/pain in the torso area. of course its hard to describe. i wasn't at all hypomanic since last year, but perhaps what i was in this whole time was a mixed state. doctor chose carb. because i came presenting 6 weeks ago telling him I felt like there was a "storm" in my mind, and there wasn't "space" for anything else. carbamazepine is used for temporal lobe epilepsy, and there was research in teh 80s (but not so much recently I don't think) about the link between temporal lobe epilepsy and mood disorders. perhaps that has been my issue the whole time, essentially constant seizure activity deep in limbic regions that was immediately responsive to carbamazepine, uniquely (not lithium,not really lamictal though maybe a tiny bit, and not 4 years of atypical antipsychotics of all varieties). i am very thankful to feel some relief for the first time in a long time, and some stability, but there is still this emptyness, and other syptoms of depression/bp2 that are still present. and of course, now that i'm feeling better, i am left with a life that has been ravaged by years of depression and mood instability. lost social relationships, insecurity, memory issues, unemployment, money issues, no real career to speak of, personal embarassment from things i did while hypomanic last year, etc. but i'm hoping with some extended period of stability, at least something like stability or relief, i can move forward. optimism and hopefullness and ambition aren't quite there yet, but again, i'm thankful for the relief of the torment, and not having to focus on the pain every single moment of every single day opened up so much "space" for other things...reading, interests, etc.
>
> so i'm "so so" but thankful for even that at this point. now, just to find my ambition and optimism...maybe it's somewhere around here!
> uncouth
>
> i> Many people with depression develop a decline in cognition and memory as time passes. Short term memory is particularly hard hit. For some people, depressed mood is absent. It sometimes happens that people blame ECT for memory impairments that are actually being caused by the depression.
> >
> > Is your depression substantially better now that you feel capable of working?
> >
> >
> > - Scott
>
>
Some see things as they are and ask why.
I dream of things that never were and ask why not.
poster:SLS
thread:985666
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20110515/msgs/985685.html