Posted by Sarah T. on March 6, 2005, at 1:33:22
In reply to Re: Sometimes there's no choice » Sarah T., posted by SLS on March 4, 2005, at 4:15:39
Hi Scott,
You mentioned that you had brief, psychotic, manic reactions to some antidepressants. May I ask which AD's caused this reaction? The one antidepressant that caused a psychotic reaction for me was Parnate. I'm uncertain whether my reaction was caused by the fact that Parnate is one of the most dopaminergic medications, or by the fact that it caused severe disruption of sleep and circadian rhythms, or something else altogether. Oddly enough, when a small dose of Ritalin was added to the Parnate, the psychosis disappeared, and my circadian rhythms improved. Dexedrine was the most stabilizing medicine I've ever been on, something I would have never expected after my initial reaction to Parnate. Oh, one other point about Parnate-induced psychosis. I read that Parnate suppresses REM sleep more than just about any other AD, and while some doctors believe that REM suppression leads to antidepressant activity, it did not have that effect on me.
Is diagnosis very important to you and/or your doctor? Diagnosis serves a function, but I think too much importance is placed on it, and it can detract from understanding and treating the patient as a person. A relative of mine who is a physician knows one of the doctors who co-wrote one of the DSMs. My relative said that "Dr. DSM" was one of the most boring people he'd ever met. Reducing psychiatry to diagnostic labels is sort of like saying that biology should be reduced to taxonomy. Classifying organisms into genus and species serves a purpose, but if that's all there were to biology, the study of it would have died off long ago. And one of my biggest gripes is the fabrication of diagnostic labels for the purpose of marketing a drug. For example, as a female, I am all-too-well acquainted with "PMS," but "PMS" wasn't good enough for drug companies. I heard that the diagnostic label "PMDD" (pre-menstrual dysphoric disorder) was coined for the purpose of marketing Sarafem, which is just Prozac, re-packaged and re-named.
Perhaps I shouldn't have posted that I stopped stimulants abruptly. It seemed to be the right thing for me at the time, but it is probably not the best way to go about withdrawal, and I don't encourage others to stop "cold turkey."
The reason that I mentioned the Mayo Clinic is that a couple of doctors have suggested it to me. I have another medical condition that contributes to my depression, and my doctors thought it might be helpful for me to be evaluated and treated by a team of doctors from different specialties. I don't know. I'm so discouraged and fed up with most doctors. I think I'd just be used by the team for teaching purposes, and then, thousands and thousands of dollars later, I'd leave, no better off than when I arrived. I have nothing against teaching hospitals, but I'm tired of paying others so that they can learn from me without giving anything in return. After nearly every medical appointment, I am further depleted of energy and money, and yet, the help I need is not forthcoming. Do you think you got anything out of your stay at NIMH?
Regarding mental health funding, I will discuss that at another time. I am usually not one to avoid controversial topics and conflict, but it's late now, and I think it's nearly impossible to get into a discussion about funding for mental health research without also discussing politics and all sorts of other topics that will make me angry and further exacerbate my delayed sleep phase syndrome. To be continued. . .
Sarah
poster:Sarah T.
thread:463648
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/wdrawl/20050228/msgs/467215.html