Posted by tonyz on July 11, 2009, at 18:58:49
In reply to Re: Withdrawing from Zoloft, Lamictal, and Seroquel, posted by morganpmiller on July 9, 2009, at 1:07:31
Well thanks guys and gals for responding. Things have slid for me and I checked myself into a hospital as an outpatient. I figured, I needed more attention and adjustment then could be provided just seeing a pdoc once a week.
So the pdoc in the hospital recommended stopping the Zoloft I had already stopped the lamictal. He upped the seroquel to 150mg, left the NTP at 150mg and started me on lithium at 300mg.
I would rather take lithium than lamictal. I posted a link to an excellent article (IMHO) that talks about all the physiological changes that can occur with lithium usage.
I am getting some involuntary twitches, my balance sucks, and when my muscles are tensed from exercising there is a fair amount of shaking. I don't like this. I think the shakiness and the twitches are from the Nortriptyline and Seroquel, and the balance may be from the valium.
I think I am slightly improved, but not at all in good shape.Normally I would get better taper my beds sometimes on my own sometimes in concert with a doctor and when all was gone I would be stable with no apparent side effects or relapse until sometime later. Unfortunately, as expected the incidents are becoming more frequent and harder to treat and there is always the loss of something that I feel.
So honestly at this point I don't feel human, but maybe just a wee bit better.
Sleep is always a big issue along with anxiety that is why I need the seroquel and valium now. I asked about restoril (which I have taken before) but the response I got which I know is that it is just another benzo.
The tricyclics have some rough side effects to deal with. My hope is that I will be able to switch to an SSRI and maybe take a small dosage of lithium in concert. I think I could possibly accept that as a solution.
A lot of people seem to respect this pdoc in the hospital that he gets people well. It worked last year when I was in the hospital and on Nortriptyline, valium, seroquel, and abilify. I didn't want to go in the hospital but the doctor I had been seeing had supported my usage of sam-e which had kept me stable for almost 2 years. I am also thinking that for me that may have been a better antidepressant than Nortriptyline. The problem is the dosage had been adjusted pretty high and was not working. He was trying all different combos but my anxiety was growing, my lack of sleep exacerbating and I was in very bad shape. He was recommending shock therapy. That is when I found another doctor, but unfortunately he couldn't do enough for me so it was the hospital.
So the short answer to your question is I don't like the meds because of the side effects. My medical knowledge is very limited but I look at the depression as pathway that has been programmed into my brain in response to certain stimuli. Just as learning anything else the more it occurs the easier it is to remember or in the case of depression relapse.
So is it possible to rewire your brain so you don't need pharmaceuticals -- I don't know and given where I am now and the frequency of relapse, quality of life, etc. I can't afford the risk to try.
I'm also thinking about TMS (transcranial magnetic stimulation). I don't know much about it but there is some promising work done in Canada and also at MIT here in the US. I think ECT actually destroys brain cells, I don't know about TMS. I will make another posting about this and find out if anyone has tried it and had good experiences.
poster:tonyz
thread:904918
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/wdrawl/20081229/msgs/906284.html