Posted by Laurie1041 on May 27, 2011, at 18:38:22
In reply to Re: Med Crisis - Lost faith in pdoc need input!, posted by Christ_empowered on May 27, 2011, at 16:00:46
Thank you so much for your very thoughtful and kind response. If I have BP I that was not "substance-induced mood disorder" than I am hopeful that getting off meds that can aggravate this disorder in some, such as AD's and Adderrall, will alleviate my moods and I can volunteer to help others. If I don't have BP I and I can remain stable more often than not, then I will be very pleased to hand back my SSDI and go back to work to be of service to others.
I am pleased to say that I am completely 100% off of Adderrall for over 1 month. I was in the hospital at the time, so it was pretty easy to be miserable and sleep all day. The withdrawals lasted about 7 days.
The plan is to d/c the Pristiq first because it cannot be cut due to it being a time-release tablet and more importantly, when I did cut the time-release tablet of Pristiq, I got really, really sick, Yuck! Once I am off the Pristiq and just on Lexapro as my AD, than either I will have to up the dose a bit to even out withdrawals from dropping Pristiq or the withdrawals will even out in a few days. After I am stable, I can start decreasing the Lexapro at no greater than 5-10% of my starting dose (now at 20 mg.) every 3 weeks (no less than 3 weeks) as tolerated. This is where the liquid Lexapro comes in handy.
I was so busy earlier feeling sorry for myself AND feeling the need to point fingers at others, that I forgot to mention that I feel SO MUCH BETTER after getting off the Adderrall, lowering the dose of Pristiq and getting on Depakote. So I guess there really is a light at the end of the tunnel. I have to remind myself that even though I was barely able to function, I retained my will to live, got myself to the hospital and actually started to become much more assertive in my care.
Today, I have had only very minimal irritability, so I think I must be adjusting to the dose increase of Lexapro. I'll save the Zyprexa as a "rescue med" in the event of further agitation.
I am no longer interested in fighting a label of BP I, but if a pdoc puts me at risk for mania or a mixed episode by having me on Adderrall and/or SSRI's, then I have some resentment that I need to work through so that I stop allowing it to eat at me. After all, my pdoc was only trying to do his very, very best and psychiatric medications, as my pdoc says, "are like trying to hit mosquitos with a baseball bat".
I will follow through on getting into the mood disorders clinic for women at a major teaching hospital in So Cal (I have to see an Internal Medicine doc first for a referral) with the thought that a second opinion certainly cannot be a bad thing. :) Laurie
poster:Laurie1041
thread:986374
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20110515/msgs/986385.html