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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 L McLean on September 22, 2004, at 8:47:55
Please forgive the bad grammar! For those of you who have had great results from anti-depressants, I say Wonderful!!!! I am happy for you. However, My point was to simply illustrate that there are MILLIONS of us out here that have tried the A-Ds, and for us, they are simply HELL! That's not some far fetched generalization. I know many of these people who A-Ds just do Not work. I also said in my origenal post "for legal reasons, I cannot say the names of the meds" Well, I spoke with my lawyer, and he said it is ok to give the names.
1. Effexor: This drug nearly killed me. I had attempted suicide by taking an estimated 600 pills of varying types, and My mom found me, and rushed me to the ER. I flat lined 3 times, and no sooner had I survived this attempt, than my doctor prescribed 100mg a day of Effexor. The other stuff was still working out of my system, and the effexor nearly gave me a heart attack. My BP shot up to 150 over 110.
2. Lexapro: AKA TicTacs A different doc put me on this junk, and told me just give it time. I did, and the depression just got more depressing, and my doc would just tell me, It takes time, but It will help you I feel. 2 months later, I was taking a stronger dose than even medically recomended by the manufacturer, and still nothing!!
3. Cymbalta Yet another doc put me on this "NEW" med, and failed to tell me (even after being asked) that this med is very similar to Effexor. I found out, and by that time, I was so far out of it that I nearly blacked out, and went blind for a short time. That doc told me "This could simply be your system getting adjusted to this med! It's still a new drug to the market, and we don't know much about it." Two weeks later, I guess my body was still adjusting. Sunday made 1 month, and I guess still adjusting because I was still almost completely out of it, and I could not even stand up on Sunday. That's right, I could not stand up. My legs were totally powerless.
Maybe this stuff helps some, and it takes a little trial, and error, but I will not be a "test patient" any longer! I can fight this, and I know there are plenty of other people just like me.
Posted by partlycloudy on September 22, 2004, at 9:09:57
In reply to I am sorry that I upset many of you!!, posted by L McLean on September 22, 2004, at 8:47:55
I'm sorry you have had such distressing and life threatening experiences. I would have found another doctor who monitored your reactions much more closely, so you would not have had to go through such trauma. It doesn't sound like your physician was keeping track of your responses and you have paid a heavy price.
pc
Posted by Bill LL on September 22, 2004, at 9:17:27
In reply to I am sorry that I upset many of you!!, posted by L McLean on September 22, 2004, at 8:47:55
What are your symptoms? Do you have anxiety and ADD in addition to major depression? Have you always had depression? Have you ever considered shock therapy? The way shock therapy is done today is safe and is oftentimes very effective.
> Please forgive the bad grammar! For those of you who have had great results from anti-depressants, I say Wonderful!!!! I am happy for you. However, My point was to simply illustrate that there are MILLIONS of us out here that have tried the A-Ds, and for us, they are simply HELL! That's not some far fetched generalization. I know many of these people who A-Ds just do Not work. I also said in my origenal post "for legal reasons, I cannot say the names of the meds" Well, I spoke with my lawyer, and he said it is ok to give the names.
>
> 1. Effexor: This drug nearly killed me. I had attempted suicide by taking an estimated 600 pills of varying types, and My mom found me, and rushed me to the ER. I flat lined 3 times, and no sooner had I survived this attempt, than my doctor prescribed 100mg a day of Effexor. The other stuff was still working out of my system, and the effexor nearly gave me a heart attack. My BP shot up to 150 over 110.
> 2. Lexapro: AKA TicTacs A different doc put me on this junk, and told me just give it time. I did, and the depression just got more depressing, and my doc would just tell me, It takes time, but It will help you I feel. 2 months later, I was taking a stronger dose than even medically recomended by the manufacturer, and still nothing!!
> 3. Cymbalta Yet another doc put me on this "NEW" med, and failed to tell me (even after being asked) that this med is very similar to Effexor. I found out, and by that time, I was so far out of it that I nearly blacked out, and went blind for a short time. That doc told me "This could simply be your system getting adjusted to this med! It's still a new drug to the market, and we don't know much about it." Two weeks later, I guess my body was still adjusting. Sunday made 1 month, and I guess still adjusting because I was still almost completely out of it, and I could not even stand up on Sunday. That's right, I could not stand up. My legs were totally powerless.
> Maybe this stuff helps some, and it takes a little trial, and error, but I will not be a "test patient" any longer! I can fight this, and I know there are plenty of other people just like me.
Posted by Bubblehead on September 22, 2004, at 9:56:29
In reply to Re: I am sorry that I upset many of you!!, posted by Bill LL on September 22, 2004, at 9:17:27
Okay, I just have to ask. Have you had shock therepy? For that matter, has anyone here tried it? I ask because I told my Doc I wanted it and he looked at me like I was a freak and then uped my medicine dose. Does it work? I really want to know.
Posted by mcp on September 22, 2004, at 18:11:14
In reply to Re: I am sorry that I upset many of you!! » Bill LL, posted by Bubblehead on September 22, 2004, at 9:56:29
I don't want to go over some of the same old stuff, but I totally agree with the notion that these drugs can do severe harm to people. You and I are living testaments to that. I also will NEVER use an AD again and I don't care about trial and error. The error has had me bed ridden for months. Yes, these meds help many people. Yes, they harm many people. We gotta get to that middle ground where the trials aren't essentially guesses and the errors aren't so painful and sometimes catastrophic. Maybe some day.
Posted by L McLean on September 22, 2004, at 18:59:43
In reply to There has to be a middle ground, posted by mcp on September 22, 2004, at 18:11:14
I agree with you 100%. The challenge is fighting to find that middleground, and that can't be an easy fight!
> I don't want to go over some of the same old stuff, but I totally agree with the notion that these drugs can do severe harm to people. You and I are living testaments to that. I also will NEVER use an AD again and I don't care about trial and error. The error has had me bed ridden for months. Yes, these meds help many people. Yes, they harm many people. We gotta get to that middle ground where the trials aren't essentially guesses and the errors aren't so painful and sometimes catastrophic. Maybe some day.
Posted by Bill LL on September 23, 2004, at 9:55:46
In reply to Re: I am sorry that I upset many of you!! » Bill LL, posted by Bubblehead on September 22, 2004, at 9:56:29
No. I have never tried it because I have been doing very well on antidepressants. It does really work but it is only used if medications have proven not to work on a patient. Since most depressed patients are helped by drugs, shock therapy is not used on most patients. It's sort of expensive so it helps to have a good health insurance policy.
I guess your doctor wants to be more aggressive in trying medications before giving up on them.
> Okay, I just have to ask. Have you had shock therepy? For that matter, has anyone here tried it? I ask because I told my Doc I wanted it and he looked at me like I was a freak and then uped my medicine dose. Does it work? I really want to know.
Posted by Hattree on September 23, 2004, at 15:06:47
In reply to I am sorry that I upset many of you!!, posted by L McLean on September 22, 2004, at 8:47:55
Sorry you've had such a rotten time. Consider, though, that all the drugs you mention are all in the SSRI/SNRI family, which I personally think are vastly overrated.
You may not want to give up on meds yet. Consider:
Mood stabilizers (such as Lamictal) aren't just for the bipolar anymore. Since they usually don't take weeks to kick in, you don't have to go through endless misery to no avail.
The atypical antipsychotics aren't just for schizophrenics, either. I found that Geodon gave me a lift within a few days, with the tradeoff of some rather pesky insomnia.
Even the dreaded MAOIs seem to be well worth their diet restrictions for lots of people who post here.
A new doctor might not be the worst idea, either.
> Please forgive the bad grammar! For those of you who have had great results from anti-depressants, I say Wonderful!!!! I am happy for you. However, My point was to simply illustrate that there are MILLIONS of us out here that have tried the A-Ds, and for us, they are simply HELL! That's not some far fetched generalization. I know many of these people who A-Ds just do Not work. I also said in my origenal post "for legal reasons, I cannot say the names of the meds" Well, I spoke with my lawyer, and he said it is ok to give the names.
>
> 1. Effexor: This drug nearly killed me. I had attempted suicide by taking an estimated 600 pills of varying types, and My mom found me, and rushed me to the ER. I flat lined 3 times, and no sooner had I survived this attempt, than my doctor prescribed 100mg a day of Effexor. The other stuff was still working out of my system, and the effexor nearly gave me a heart attack. My BP shot up to 150 over 110.
> 2. Lexapro: AKA TicTacs A different doc put me on this junk, and told me just give it time. I did, and the depression just got more depressing, and my doc would just tell me, It takes time, but It will help you I feel. 2 months later, I was taking a stronger dose than even medically recomended by the manufacturer, and still nothing!!
> 3. Cymbalta Yet another doc put me on this "NEW" med, and failed to tell me (even after being asked) that this med is very similar to Effexor. I found out, and by that time, I was so far out of it that I nearly blacked out, and went blind for a short time. That doc told me "This could simply be your system getting adjusted to this med! It's still a new drug to the market, and we don't know much about it." Two weeks later, I guess my body was still adjusting. Sunday made 1 month, and I guess still adjusting because I was still almost completely out of it, and I could not even stand up on Sunday. That's right, I could not stand up. My legs were totally powerless.
> Maybe this stuff helps some, and it takes a little trial, and error, but I will not be a "test patient" any longer! I can fight this, and I know there are plenty of other people just like me.
This is the end of the thread.
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