Posted by Christ_empowered on August 20, 2013, at 7:48:00
In reply to Lou's response and warning- » orbital, posted by Lou PIlder on August 16, 2013, at 4:56:32
"Depression" actually covers a lot of ground. You could be: anxious, tired, apathetic, too agitated, psychotic, unable to concentrate, gaining weight, losing weight....so on and so forth.
Personally, AAPs don't help my sad states. I either have to deal or add in a short term SRI for bouts of psychotic depression (I'm on Abilify @ 20 for bipolar, with trileptal @ 1200). But I'm not you.
Even though AAPs are the latest thing for depression, and shrinks are a trendy bunch, I'm starting to suspect they're not gonna work for you. Antipsychotics can actually cause or worsen depression in some people. If you're already apathetic from antidepressants, a tranquilizer probably isn't going to be the best thing for you. Then again, I'm not an MD.
Have you tried BuSpar? Does some of the same things for AD-boosting as an AAP, but its cheaper, probably safer (TD, NMS, all that), and the immediate side effects usually aren't nearly as terrible.
There's also: low dose lithium, lamictal, a benzo (xanax or xanax xr comes to mind), stimulants. You've got options.
Like I said, "depression" is now a fairly meaningless diagnosis. Shrinks (and GPs, too) just throw antidepressants at people and hope it goes OK. Re-diagnosis isn't really all that helpful, unless something crazy is going on (psychosis, manic episodes).
All I could think of, looking over your meds, would be to drop the Effexor, keep the Prozac, and maybe add in Ritalin, Provigil, or one of the amphetamines (Vyvanse is the new "it" Rx speed). Or not.
poster:Christ_empowered
thread:1049029
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20130730/msgs/1049342.html