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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 PeterMartin on May 6, 2024, at 9:34:17
i couldn't get on for a few days and figured it may be the end for this place. Glad to see it's up now.
Anyone taking anything that has them in remission?
Posted by SLS on May 6, 2024, at 16:17:58
In reply to Site is back? Nice + Remission anyone?, posted by PeterMartin on May 6, 2024, at 9:34:17
Hi.
The site seems to have been offline a few times. I thought perhaps Dr. Bob had discontinued it.
> i couldn't get on for a few days and figured it may be the end for this place. Glad to see it's up now.
>
> Anyone taking anything that has them in remission?I've been doing quite well on my medication regime for several years. Having exposed my brain to perhaps 40-50 different compounds showing antidepressant properties, I'm surprised I responded at all. That number does not include all of the combinations those drugs were used in. As I have indicated, the number of permutations of drug combinations seems endless.
1. Nardil (phenelzine)
2. Nortriptyline (TCA)
3. Lamictal (lamotrigine)Up until last week, I had been taking lithium at a dosage of 300 mg/day. I had been taking it for at least ten years for its ability to reduce the risk of contracting Alzheimer' Disease. It turns out that it began working against me. It was destabilizing. I experienced periods of flat affect (mild depression) once or twice a day. I became suspicious that lithium was the culprit after increasing the dosage of Nardil to no effect.
There are several reasons why all but a handful of people tave left Psycho-Babble.
1. The "golden age" of Psycho-Babble came to an end with the appearance of a single poster who became relentless in posting inflammatory messages. Because he was allowed to remain on the board for so long without the intervention of the moderator, people finally left, perhaps to avoid being upset. It was a fiasco.
2. The people who came to respond to treatment had no reason to hang around. They were busy building new lives for themselves.
3. Me.
For a brief period of time lasting about two weeks, I was hypomanic as the result of my having played around with my dosage of Nardil. It was an attempt to prevent my brief daily mood-shifts. However, the only reason I responded at all is that I was patient and allowed Nardil three months befor experiencing a dramatic improvement. It is important to note that I had had brief improvements early in the trial. I was taught at the NIH that this "blip" improvement was often a good prognosticator of eventual treatment success. I had every reason in the world to wait.
I was busy building a new life and was absent from Psycho-Babble for a while. When I had time to return, it hit me that no one here was exercising the patience that is necessary to achieve success with the "standard"antidepressants they were using. Many of these suffereing people could not help but to change drugs every 5-7 days. How the hell is that going to work. These people might have achieved remission years ago if they would only have waited the prescribed amount of time.
I used the word "standard" because emerging treatments have demonstrated the ability to produce an antidepressant response within hours, not months (albeit through different pharmacological mechanisms). Both drugs can produce dissociation and hallucinations at high dosages. Psilocybin is labeled a hallucinogen with no FDA indication yet. However, the NIH and FDA have sponsored studies into the clinical and pharmacological properties of these two drugs. Ketamine blocks NMDA glutamate receptors. Psilocybin stimulates 5-HT2a receptors (a property it shares with LSD). Both mechanisms lead to the increased release of glutamate, which ultimately engages the mTOR pathway, which has been implicated in depression.
One of the two isomers of ketamine, called esketamine (Spravato), is now available as a nasal spray. The drug was approved by the FDA for treatment-resistant depression (TRD). It is unconscionably expensive and must be taken only while at a doctor's office. Alternatively, people have using ketamine as a nasal spray for years to treat their depression. I watched one regular member of Psycho-Babble achieve into remission using intranasal ketamine. Ketamine seems to work best by dosing once every five days.
Ketamine is dirt-cheap. Three months worth might cost $75 dollars.
- Scott
* Don't be afraid to reply.
Posted by PeterMartin on May 8, 2024, at 8:09:41
In reply to Re: Site is back? Nice + Remission anyone? » PeterMartin, posted by SLS on May 6, 2024, at 16:17:58
I don't have a moment right now to write a full reply, but curious if you ever tried Ketamine or if not why?
I'm tempted but the cost of going to a clinic is very high. My doctor would likely OK me, but insurance wouldn't help. Doctor would prescribe "general" Ketamine and AFAIK Spavaro requires you take it in a doctors office w/ your doctor. I'm not sure I'm comfortable with that.
Thanks for updating on Lithium as I'm on similar meds and have often looked to your experiences w/ Nardil/Lamictal/Li as supportive of mine Marplan/Lamcital. I have taken Li before in low doses and have so much that I do ocassionally take it for short periods at doses of 150-300.
I'm pretty blah the past few weeks. Very up and down. Pushing Marplan (to 90) has helped until it doesn't and I feel like maybe it spaces me out a bit. I have problems sticking to times to take meds. I still only see my doc via telemed as he's a good 40min drive and ever since Covid he's been totally fine w/ just doing phone/weblink meedtings.
Stimulants were in my mix for the past 3 or so years but they (ritalin/provigil-etc) would give me random bouts of heavy anxiety w/o any rhyme or reason. Aside from that they really helped, but I couldn't stand the anxiety coming out of no where to ruin a moment at any time.
Lastly I take Metformin and Mounjaro (GLP-1). I take Metformin mostly for the ability to stave off long covid and other aging diseases. It might be a bit tiring, but I've started/stopped it a bunch and when I'm on it I don't notice it so for the extra covid protection I'm glad I take it.
Mounjaro (like Ozempic but hits one extra receptor ) has brought me back to a normalish weight (180 / 6" down from 230) - I dunno how it might be affecting levels of say Lamictal though...
Anyway, didn't mean to type so much but this is me. I think the most annoying issue I have now is anhedonia. There's a reddit group and a discord forum for it. I really think it's beocming more and more prevalent. Maybe things people have taken, or new chemicals in our environment are making that issue of not getting pleasure out of things you normall would the new major ailment......I get drive sometime, but nothing like I did 10-15yrs ago.....am I just bored of life and these hobbies? Or have receptors upregulated/burnt out and I just don't feel anything doing these things anymore......wish there were better treatments on the horizon.
Good to see you Scott - regardless of past posting here you're one of the reasons I still stop back now and again. I'd bet there are a few other who feel the same way.....
This is the end of the thread.
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