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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 8 of 8. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by caulene on November 20, 2003, at 13:33:56
I have been suffering from depression off and on for about 13 years. Prozac has always been very helpful for me in the past. I had a bout of double-depression a year and a half ago and upped the prozac to 40mgs from 20mgs and also added Wellbutrin. That worked for about 7 months, but the Wellbutrin caused severe sweating, weight gain and gastrointestinal problems so went off those. At about the same time I began having severe peri-menopausal symptoms and felt so horrible. Since then my Prozac seems to no longer work. As well I feel shaky and twitchy and horribly and chronically depressed for months now. I have joint pain and feel physically weak and old. I'm only 44. I'm considering switching to Paxil to help with anxiety and depression and getting off the Prozac, since it doesn't seem to work anymore. Is this has good as it's going to get?? Is there something out there that will help me.
Posted by blink23 on November 20, 2003, at 18:36:21
In reply to Chronic Depression - Help, posted by caulene on November 20, 2003, at 13:33:56
HANG IN THERE!!!! of course there is something out there that will help.. The thing is just finding it. How long have you been off the wellbutrion? Its not side effects is it? I my-self do not take paxil.. But i have heard good stories. Did any consideration come in about maybe its not the meds? Could something else be wrong. Have you gone to the doctor?
Posted by Flipsactown on November 21, 2003, at 3:29:21
In reply to Chronic Depression - Help, posted by caulene on November 20, 2003, at 13:33:56
Hello Caulene,
I have been taken A/D's for over 12years. I was on prozac or zoloft with desipramine for the longest time alternating between the two every couple of years until the combo pooped out and was no longer effective. I have taken wellbutrin, effexor, celexa, paxil and elavil. Currently, I am taking 100mgs prozac, 60mgs of remeron and 300mgs lamictal. Lamictal was added recently and I have been on lamictal going on 8 weeks. I noticed a dramatic lifting of my depression 6 weeks into taking the lamictal. Currently at 8weeks with the prozac,remeron and lamictal combo, I am pretty much depression free. You will definitely have to supplement prozac with another A/D such as desipramine to enhance its effectiveness. Lamictal was used as an antiseizure med until it was discovered to work well for treatment resistant depression both bipolar and unipolar depression. I am unipolar. My depression is caused in part from chronic back pain I suffered from a 10 speed bike-truck accident. Unfortunately, I was the one on the bike. That was way back in 1981. After 2 failed back surgeries, multiple injections, physical therapy, etc. I was diagnosed with clinical depression in 1991 and I have been on A/D's and painkillers ever since. Give the lamictal a try because it has worked for many people like us who have "treatment resistant" depression. Good luck and I hope this gives you hope.
Flipsactown
> I have been suffering from depression off and on for about 13 years. Prozac has always been very helpful for me in the past. I had a bout of double-depression a year and a half ago and upped the prozac to 40mgs from 20mgs and also added Wellbutrin. That worked for about 7 months, but the Wellbutrin caused severe sweating, weight gain and gastrointestinal problems so went off those. At about the same time I began having severe peri-menopausal symptoms and felt so horrible. Since then my Prozac seems to no longer work. As well I feel shaky and twitchy and horribly and chronically depressed for months now. I have joint pain and feel physically weak and old. I'm only 44. I'm considering switching to Paxil to help with anxiety and depression and getting off the Prozac, since it doesn't seem to work anymore. Is this has good as it's going to get?? Is there something out there that will help me.
>
>
Posted by caulene on November 21, 2003, at 17:49:44
In reply to Re: Chronic Depression - Help, posted by blink23 on November 20, 2003, at 18:36:21
Yes I did go to the Dr and had lots of tests. My first thought was thatmaybe there was something wrong, but all came back negative...I guess it's in "my head". Haha...thank god I still have my sense of humour.
I went to see him yesterday and he wants to keep me on the Prozac for a while longer and increase the dose to see if that helps. It just all takes so much time : (
Posted by blink23 on November 21, 2003, at 19:00:50
In reply to Re: Chronic Depression - Help, posted by caulene on November 21, 2003, at 17:49:44
Thank goodness its nothing too serious.. internally i mean.. other then in your head..right...lol... its good that you can keep your sense of hummor and continue it.. a lot of people lose that..good for you.. so you just got your prozac upped maybe that may worked considering your body just may be immuned to the dosage that you are on it needs a little kick... Trust me I know what you mean it takes a long time..I started the zoloft more then a year ago and I started getting the same feeling that I did before I started the zoloft so my doctor started switching me around on a couple of diferent meds.. and im actually on the XL Wellbutrion and I personally asked to go back on the zoloft.... it makes me i happy i should say... but the zoloft was upped to 150mg and continue the 300mg of WB... I love it.. It has been working great for 2 months now..I cant complain... But in the mean time...i know how fustrating it is to find soemthing right, cause you have to wait weeks before trying something new, to see if the other one did anything.. But hang in there...kepp up you good spirit.. let me know how your doing on the dosage increase.
Posted by mtdew on November 21, 2003, at 21:10:34
In reply to Chronic Depression - Help, posted by caulene on November 20, 2003, at 13:33:56
It's possible that you have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome or Fibromyalgia. Unfortunately, that wouldn't suggest any magic treatment, but at least you would know it's not "in your head." CFS can cause not only persistent fatigue, but also feeling achy and old, brain fog, post-exertional malaise, gastrointestinal problems, and other things too numerous to mention. It can coexist with or be misdiagnosed as depression. It's hard to find knowledgable doctors, but if you find one the treatment goal is to boost the immune system and find out what other illnesses you may have picked up while your immune system was weakened. The doctor will also understand the gamut of other things that have similar symptoms and need to be ruled out, like Multiple Sclerosis, Lyme disease, etc. Many of these things are not looked for in a routine physical. Your psychiatrist is not the right doctor to talk to about this.
I'm not saying you should go to all this trouble right away, but be aware of it, because depression does not cause pain, post-exertional malaise, and the like, and so if you experience these, you should be skeptical of your diagnosis.
Best of luck.
> I have been suffering from depression off and on for about 13 years. Prozac has always been very helpful for me in the past. I had a bout of double-depression a year and a half ago and upped the prozac to 40mgs from 20mgs and also added Wellbutrin. That worked for about 7 months, but the Wellbutrin caused severe sweating, weight gain and gastrointestinal problems so went off those. At about the same time I began having severe peri-menopausal symptoms and felt so horrible. Since then my Prozac seems to no longer work. As well I feel shaky and twitchy and horribly and chronically depressed for months now. I have joint pain and feel physically weak and old. I'm only 44. I'm considering switching to Paxil to help with anxiety and depression and getting off the Prozac, since it doesn't seem to work anymore. Is this has good as it's going to get?? Is there something out there that will help me.
>
>
Posted by mtdew on November 21, 2003, at 21:32:09
In reply to Chronic Depression - Help, posted by caulene on November 20, 2003, at 13:33:56
There's one thing I forgot. Feeling weak, shaky, anxious and depressed are symptoms of hypoglycemia. If you have some insulin tolerance, but not enough to cause diabetes, hypoglycemia can make your life hell. It's a controversial diagnosis, but going on the diet helped me immensely. It's basically the Atkins diet. This page has good information: http://www.guaidoc.com/hypoglycemia.htm (the rest of the site is questionable).
Posted by caulene on November 21, 2003, at 22:41:32
In reply to Re: Chronic Depression - Help, posted by mtdew on November 21, 2003, at 21:10:34
I have definitely considered both of those as possible causes. It could also be from a case of severe stress. I had a year of one major stressor right after another. You name it, it happened to me. It was really quite unbelievable. You throw in a chronic depression problem and the onset of peri-menopause (which also causes brain fog) onto an already overloaded system and you got one tired old soul. I'm hoping that's what it is. I haven't had the nerve to bring up Fibromyalgia or CFS yet with my GP. Mainly cause I'm afraid of being pooh poohed. However, if I don't get some relief soon, I am definitley going to bring it up. Thank you for the encouragement.
> It's possible that you have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome or Fibromyalgia. Unfortunately, that wouldn't suggest any magic treatment, but at least you would know it's not "in your head." CFS can cause not only persistent fatigue, but also feeling achy and old, brain fog, post-exertional malaise, gastrointestinal problems, and other things too numerous to mention. It can coexist with or be misdiagnosed as depression. It's hard to find knowledgable doctors, but if you find one the treatment goal is to boost the immune system and find out what other illnesses you may have picked up while your immune system was weakened. The doctor will also understand the gamut of other things that have similar symptoms and need to be ruled out, like Multiple Sclerosis, Lyme disease, etc. Many of these things are not looked for in a routine physical. Your psychiatrist is not the right doctor to talk to about this.
>
> I'm not saying you should go to all this trouble right away, but be aware of it, because depression does not cause pain, post-exertional malaise, and the like, and so if you experience these, you should be skeptical of your diagnosis.
>
> Best of luck.
>
> > I have been suffering from depression off and on for about 13 years. Prozac has always been very helpful for me in the past. I had a bout of double-depression a year and a half ago and upped the prozac to 40mgs from 20mgs and also added Wellbutrin. That worked for about 7 months, but the Wellbutrin caused severe sweating, weight gain and gastrointestinal problems so went off those. At about the same time I began having severe peri-menopausal symptoms and felt so horrible. Since then my Prozac seems to no longer work. As well I feel shaky and twitchy and horribly and chronically depressed for months now. I have joint pain and feel physically weak and old. I'm only 44. I'm considering switching to Paxil to help with anxiety and depression and getting off the Prozac, since it doesn't seem to work anymore. Is this has good as it's going to get?? Is there something out there that will help me.
> >
> >
>
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This is the end of the thread.
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