Posted by SLS on May 7, 2021, at 8:48:02
This might be the magic potion for me.
Nardil: 105 mg/day
Nortriptyline: 100 mg/day
Lamictal: 300 mg/day
Lithium: 300 mg/day
This is the f*ck*d-up thing that I must accept, though. I am 61 years old now. In 1996, Lamictal was approved by the FDA. Lamictal was the last drug necessary for my cure (remission). I was 36 years old then.That's one hell of a bitter pill to swallow. When I first "woke up", I was unimaginably grateful. I never thought I would get here after 39 years of assaulting my poor brain with synthetic chemicals. I became ill abruptly at age 17, 44 years ago.
No guarantees, of course. I would say that Nardil poops out more often than Parnate, but I am far from certain about that. Even so, a remission with Nardil can last for years - or even life.
I haven't posted much in the last year because I could never be certain that I would reach remission with the episodic course of my response to the lower dosage of Nardil. I wanted to wait until I was more sure of my destination before reporting anything. It was kind of personal.
I am one lucky MF. This was the LAST treatment that remained unexplored. A previous attempt with this same combination in 2007 used insufficiently high dosages of Nardil and Lamictal. I swear, this was the last alternative on the list. Either I was to be reborn at age 61, or perhaps not living to age 62.
Lithium at 300 mg/day gave me a mild, but immediate improvement upon beginning treatment at 300 mg/day. Lithium at dosages of 450 mg/day and higher make me MORE depressed. I always hated lithium for that. I decided to add it at 300 mg/day rather than 1200 mg/day based on a few things I read. Months later, when it was unclear whether it was still helping in the treatment of my presumably bipolar depression, I decided to keep taking it to prevent Alzheimer's Dementia. Little did I know that my mother should be stricken with Alzheimer's 10 years later.
I don't know if any other doctor in the area was as able to "think outside the box" and be more aggressive than he was. He worked with me more as a colleague than a passive patient. He was willing to allow me to go up to 120 mg/day of Nardil if necessary. I hope it's not.
The best way I can describe my experience is to use The Wizard of Oz as a metaphor, provided youve seen it. Of course, the movie starts out in black-and-white. Everything is a drab and dirty gray. The wind kicks up dust from the road. The farm is depressing. Ominous clouds fill the sky and a tornado drops down to the ground in the distance. Without warning, the house is hit by the tornado and is carried upwards into the sky. When the house finally lands abruptly, Dorothy grabs her dog, Toto, and heads for the black-and-white front door. When she opens it, the world explodes in Technicolor.
I feel that this is a very important way that we should all conceptualize our psychobiological illnesses:
While we are ill, we live in an ALTERED STATE OF CONSCIOUSNESS. Nothing short of this is an adequate description.
- Scott
Some see things as they are and ask why.
I dream of things that never were and ask why not.The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.
poster:SLS
thread:1114906
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20210418/msgs/1114906.html