Posted by mair on January 12, 2005, at 16:27:36
In reply to New here, and could use a bit of help (long), posted by broken on January 12, 2005, at 15:29:47
Hopefully Dr. Bob won't boot you over to the meds board, because I don't think your question is really medication specific. I've been through multiple drug trials, and for me, anyway, Wellbutrin is the first drug I took (after 4 or 5 others) that made a positive difference. But it wasn't overnight by any stretch; I almost wasn't aware that it was working until it suddenly occurred to me one day that I was working more effectively and productively, and not thinking about suicide as much. This may have happened even a couple of months after I started it. I probably kept with it in spite of being aware of specific benefits because for me, the side effects were either non existent or very tolerable and I wasn't falling apart otherwise. I will tell you, and I think others here would confirm this, that for a lot of us, no one drug is sufficient, and even a multi-drug cocktail will only go so far. The people who respond as if these drugs are miracle drugs are probably not hanging around this Board. So for the last several years, I've gone through multiple trials of other drugs to augment the Wellbutrin I take. Maybe no one drug is going to do the trick for you either.
My T is of the opinion that chronic major depression (my dx) requires a lifetime of symptom management. Drugs are a piece and for many of us, therapy is a tool as well. The use of medications is a loaded issue for me, probably minimally because I've tried so many with such unsatisfactory success. I really always hate the idea of trying something new because I don't want to experience yet another failure, and I don't want to feel that I haven't given a particular drug a real shot at working. Therapy actually helps me deal with some of the medication issues, maybe just because I see my T alot more frequently than I see my pdoc. My therapist has the time to review my history with me, and listen to all of my concerns about side effects. I've discovered that it's particularly helpful to have a session where we air out some of these issues before a meeting with my pdoc, because my T can help me formulate the questions I need to be asking my doc.
One thing that I did learn from coming to this Board is that there are tons of med alternatives. My first pdoc did a miserable job of letting me know that, so each drug failure produced this feeling on my part that I was running out of alternatives (and hope). The other thing I learned is that people are very idiosyncratic in the way they respond to medications so one person's miracle drug could be another one's poison. Lastly I've learned that you sort of have to plug along as best you can in the search for a better medical combination. I think finding the right one or ones is more art than science and really can take awhile.
In terms of quitting WB, and feeling the same, I'm not really sure what that means. I actually discovered with a few meds I took that I felt this real sense of euphoria after I went off them. It didn't mean that I was actually better off the drug. Inevitably I'd crash a few weeks later and be reminded of why I was taking the drugs to begin with.
One last thing about WB. Did you try it at smaller doses? The law of diminishing returns seems to apply to this drug. I take 400 mgs, and have taken less at different times. You might find that a lesser dose gives you much the same benefit without the same side effects, although if you really think it's not doing anything positive for you, that may just be academic.
Mair
poster:mair
thread:441233
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20050111/msgs/441256.html