Posted by JTDC on October 24, 2011, at 7:53:49
In reply to Re: Day 31 of Viibryd » joe schmoe, posted by Chris O on August 3, 2011, at 8:26:39
Been following this thread for a while. On 80 mg of Viibryd myself and it's not cutting through my atypical depression. I had some amazing relief in the beginning of treatment but that seems to have dissipated. Previous to Viibryd I was on a combined Lexapro/Pristiq regimen which gave me more energy (thanks to the norepinephrine boost of Pristiq). For three years before that I did have moderate remission with Lexapro by itself.
Viibryd at 80 mg has some very strange, "trippy" side effects than the "purer" SSRIs. The strange dreams are more bizarre than the regular SSRI dreams. I sometimes "dream" when my eyes are closed but I'm not asleep. And not to scare anybody here, but it's not a pleasant feeling. I haven't stopped taking Viibryd, but I do want to put that out there. It's very hard to describe accurately.
So what's new? Based on my atypical depression diagnosis with comorbid mild fibromyalgia/chronic fatigue syndrome, my psychiatrist has added low-dose Cytomel (T3 Thyroid med) to the Viibryd.
Didn't feel "good" the first week on 10 mg (two 5 mg pills) but I definitely felt "less worse". However by the second week on 20 mg, I definitely felt improvement. Many of the aches, pains, "fever-ish" symptoms have disappeared and my mood has considerably brightened. Still some lingering physical symptoms and I haven't started working out yet (exercise intolerance is a huge symptom of my fibro/CFS/depression), but I'm getting close.
I see my doctor tomorrow. Plan on asking him if I can go higher on the Cytomel (I'm still at a subclinical dose) and lower my Viibryd to 40 mg from 80 to avoid some of the "bad dreams" side effects of the Viibryd.
Please note I have had my thyroid tested numerous times in the 15 years of my depression/fibro/CFS and it always came back in the normal "range". But what is a range for one person may not be for the other. Apparently, endocrinologists are very conservative when it comes to thyroid medication, but psychiatrists have tended to push the envelope for those of us who are very, very sick. And it's helping me so far.
Google "Cytomel and depression" for more info and for studies. Remember it's T3 thyroid (Cytomel) not T4 (Synthroid) which works for some of us.
Good luck to everyone. I'll be happy to update if anyone is interested.
poster:JTDC
thread:989763
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20111016/msgs/1000682.html