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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 3 of 3. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by spike4848 on January 28, 2002, at 20:18:55
Hey Everyone,
The post above made me think of this. How do you know when it time to stop trying new medications or med combinations? There must be hundreds of combos ... each promising to be the silver bullet. But how many trials is enough? 2 ... 5 ... 10 ... 100?
Thanks,
Spike
Posted by misty99 on January 28, 2002, at 22:47:10
In reply to How do you know its time to stop-AGAIN!, posted by spike4848 on January 28, 2002, at 20:18:55
Spike,
To digress momentarily, I posted on this board previously under Shirley but kept losing my password. Anyway, I figured that was an omen to change my user name.
You are asking a good question. I debated that also as my St. John's Wort seemed to fail as my main antidepressant and I wondered if I should fill my psychiatrist's prescription for nortryptyline.
I had good reason to think it might work but I alslo felt that way about all my previous med combinations. Finally, I decided my SHW brand might be the problem and am going to give it another shot with Kira, which has a good reputation. As an FYI, I am also taking Adderall during the day and Remeron at night.
If the St. John's Wort situation doesn't get any better, then I need to set some more ground rules with my psychiatrist. He already knows if I get a real bad side effect such as severe agitation, that med goes bye, bye immediately. But I think I need to say to him, I want a two week follow up appointment and I want to be able to say, this med ain't it, bring on the next one if I don't have a good feeling about the way it's going.
He has said himself that the patients who respond the quickest end up doing the best on the med. But yet, if I were to mention Dr. Jensen's theories, I don't think he would buy it. So I am going to lay my own ground rules, which I think he will accept.
I can't remember how I reacted to meds during my severely depressed days. I think I stayed on some of them longer than I should have but who knows and all I care about is now.
Ok, what is my point? For me, I can't be without meds so the trials will continue whether I like it or not because I'm not the type of person who seems to have long term success with any particular combination. But if I know that I am no longer doing any 6 to 8 week trial on useless meds, it will be alot more bearable.
Misty
Posted by IsoM on January 29, 2002, at 1:39:10
In reply to How do you know its time to stop-AGAIN!, posted by spike4848 on January 28, 2002, at 20:18:55
Hey, Spike - not a question that one single answer would work for. Each person may give a different answer for different reasons, & everyone of them might be right.
I know I figured on staying as I was - not depressed anymore, able to feel the highs & lows of emotions unlike some, but life feeling just pointless - no drive, or sustainable motivation. I knew & felt lots of good reasons for living. And I really wanted to do them but I've always had trouble sustaining the desire to achieve, even on a small scale. So I figured it was my make-up & I'd just settle for life as it was, likable or not.
Well, I found 'my wonder drug', adrafinil. I need my Celexa too, but if I hadn't tried adrafinil, I'd never have believed anyone if they told I could feel like this. Last year, I hadn't even heard of Provigil for narcolepsy, nor adrafinil. They're in a new class by themselves (eugeroics). If I wasn't still trying to find something to help me, I'd never know I could feel this good.
Anyway, I think you know what I mean. It'll depend on how tired you get of trying to see what'll help, & in deciding how much *is* a chemical imbalance & how much is adaptive behaviour. Tough to figure out sometimes & even tougher to find the "right combo", if it exists.
This is the end of the thread.
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