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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 5 of 5. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by JayBTV on December 10, 2006, at 10:42:09
Is anyone taking (or have taken) this combination? I'm BPI w/ major depression and I'm wondering if Zonegran would offset the weight gain everyone complains about w/ Remeron.
If anyone has tried these two together please post your experience...
Thanks for any insight.
-Jay
Posted by med_empowered on December 10, 2006, at 11:42:06
In reply to Zonegran And Remeron?, posted by JayBTV on December 10, 2006, at 10:42:09
zonegran is pretty hardcore. Even in epilepsy, its not a first-line med. Maybe Provigil? It has mild slimming properties. Also...do you need remeron? Do you think there are ADs (or something) w/o the weight gain that you could use for your problems? Do you have any ADHD symptoms? Stims sometimes make ADs work better and reduce weight gain (or cause weight loss). You could also try "optimizing" your mood stabilizer(s) instead of using remeron.
Posted by JayBTV on December 10, 2006, at 12:08:45
In reply to Re: Zonegran And Remeron?, posted by med_empowered on December 10, 2006, at 11:42:06
> zonegran is pretty hardcore. Even in epilepsy, its not a first-line med. Maybe Provigil? It has mild slimming properties. Also...do you need remeron? Do you think there are ADs (or something) w/o the weight gain that you could use for your problems? Do you have any ADHD symptoms? Stims sometimes make ADs work better and reduce weight gain (or cause weight loss). You could also try "optimizing" your mood stabilizer(s) instead of using remeron.
----First off thanks for the reply.
I've been on pretty much everything over the course of the last year and a half. Used Provigil a while back and found it subtle but curiously positive in some way. The cost however is going to make it an impossibility for me at this point.
I'm comming off a week long hospital stay after nearly a manic episode nearly killed me. My pdoc recommended Nardil after trying a number of SSRIs, Wellbutrin, Emsam, Buspar, and I'm sure a few others. At 29 the sexual side effects really bother me so I don't think I'd go back to a standard SSRI unless I was hospitalized.
The Nardil worked almost too well in making me hypomanic. I started drinking like a fiend, smoking, and basically taking anything psychoactive I could find (including Robotussin of all things :( For some reason (again I was completely out of my head) I just decided it was a good idea to finish the bottle of Naril along w/ the remainder of my lithium (15-20 300mg pills), and 7 vicodin I found in the house. Of course I had a serious overdose and by many accounts should have died.
Anyway, that was three weeks ago. I'm back to normal on Lithium (900mg) and the hospital also put me on Neurontin (900mg). I can't tell if the latter is doing all that much. Nontheless I'm going through the worst depression of my life. Crying spells, no motivation, and on top of that I "quit" my job (again while manic w/ that "I'm god/f* the world" mentality). Luckily I do have a good family who is helping me through this (and it's not the first time).
I see my pdoc tomorrow (he was on vacation last week). As a result I've been obsessed with researching anything we might not have tried to get me feeling OK but at the same time stable. I had never considered Remeron before but I do like the lack of sexual side effects. I know it's one of the most "hardcore" ADs but he was about to throw me on Effexor last time but due to what I've read about it I don't think I'd ever take that.
Zonegran has great (for the most part) reviews on rememdyfind.com and I don't think there's anyway it could be harder on my system them lithium (unless I get SJS). So yea, after spending the last few days querying here, Remedyfind, askapatient, and Crazymeds the Remeron/Zonegran combo was what I planning to talk to my doc about.
Comments are welcome and hope everyone else is finding ways to be happy.
Cheers,
-Jay
Posted by med_empowered on December 11, 2006, at 13:46:39
In reply to Re: Zonegran And Remeron?, posted by JayBTV on December 10, 2006, at 12:08:45
sorry about your situation. Have you considered adding onto the lithium? Some people find lamictal+lithium to be effective.
Posted by JayBTV on December 13, 2006, at 18:52:39
In reply to Re: Zonegran And Remeron?, posted by med_empowered on December 11, 2006, at 13:46:39
> sorry about your situation. Have you considered adding onto the lithium? Some people find lamictal+lithium to be effective.
>I've tried Lamictal twice. Both times I got the "rash" early on so I can't go that route :(
I did see my pdoc on Monday and he wasn't too keep on neither Zonegran or Remeron. He had heard of the former but didn't see a reason why it would be helpful in my situation. Remeron he seemed indifferent about but again it wasn't what he thought was best.
We ended up agreeing on Lithum 900mg (300mg less), Neurontin 1800 (doubled), Provigil (200mg), and Tofranil (75mg).
The only one I've never been on before is the Tofranil and so far (3 days of use) it seems to be helping. I definitely needed something for my depression so the Tofranil + Provigil comobo is what we're trying.
I'm not sure if the Neurontin is helping all that much (very hard to tell). So that's something I plan to talk to my pdoc about. Something is also effecting my libido and that's bugging me a bit being 29.
I meeting up w/ the doc again next Wednesday (he wants to be sure I'm OK). I think I'll have a better idea as to how this current "cocktail" is working for me. At the moment the libido issue and a bit of brain fog (I think that's probably the Neurontin) are my main concerns. I'm hoping these issues will pass but if not at least I'm not depressed at the moment.....
Thanks for the discussion Med_empowered - appreciate it.
-Jay
This is the end of the thread.
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