Posted by Ritch on August 6, 2002, at 12:32:24
In reply to Re: Your cocktail...Mitch, kk or anyone » Ritch, posted by MomO3 on August 6, 2002, at 10:49:26
> > Hi, I am currently on:
> > Depakote 250mg +Clonazepam .25mg +Diphenhydramine 25mg @bedtime.
> > Effexor XR 12.5mg + Bupropion 12.5mg (Ok, I count granules in the capsule, crush the bupropion,etc.) +500mg L-tyrosine +500mg Vitamin C + sublingual B-complex first thing in the morning on an empty stomach. Then I do a vigorous cardiovascular workout, weight lifting, stretches, etc. for an hour.
> > THEN, 1G of Flaxseed oil with breakfast and then at lunch with a multivitamin and folic acid. A couple of cups of stout coffee in the afternoons with nearly an hour of bright outdoor light exposure.
>
> Is this working well for you? How long have you been at this regime?
Oh, I have pretty much "evolved" into this. I have two or more major depressions a year and they are seasonal and fairly predictable. I have to take something stimulant-like to keep me awake, and bupropion half-ass accomplishes that. It is strange, but if I get rid of the daytime sleepiness I am generally not depressed.
>
>
> > Depakote works great for hostility, intraday cycling, mixed states (the best uses IMO).
>
> Hip! Hip! Hooray!!! I have been intraday cycling or mixed-states for several months now... started with a nasty bout of paxil... I get more depressed than manic - but the neurontin definitely doesn't control the swings. With the klonopin my anxiety is virtually nill.
Klonopin has a fairly strong antimanic effect as well. I am trying to withdraw from it (not completely). I just want to reach a point where I just take it as needed during the daytime for situational panic. Benzos can screw up your sleep, and I think that is where most of my problems originate (not enough, too much, or poor sleep quality). Dr. Ivan Goldberg was posting here a little while back and mentioned that lifting Klonopin dosage during bipolar depression helps. It does seem to have helped me. Depakote definitely is the "key" to keeping me off the ceiling. Neurontin has worked for me before, but I didn't have as much control of my highs.
>
> > Watch out for Effexormania! I am serious. I lately got up to just 25mg/day and I was getting loopy. I took 37.5mg of XR once (during my hypomania-prone part of the year) and I was intensely hypomanic within two hours and it lasted half the day! Raging and shouting on the phone-not good. BEWARE-watch the dose and your reaction to AD's.
>
> Already there!!! HA HAHA! My pdoc is ramping me up to 225mg effexor... with that 3rd pill I am definitely loopy... ya know - out planting flowers at 3pm and 105 degrees in Texas in August! Gotta put that energy somewhere ;-)
Be careful :) I read a post on another board about someone that was diagnosed with unipolar depression and got their dose jacked up to 300mg/day, and he just completely flipped out! He had a bunch of delusions about being in a nuclear attack and all sorts of wacky stuff. Of course, they thought he was schizophrenic. They stopped the Effexor and his symptoms went away! That's when they realized he was bipolar and that the antidepressant induced a psychotic manic state.
>
> > Neurontin settles anxiety better than any non-benzo anticonvulsant I have tried. I get some weird sfx above minimal dosages, however, and I am not even taking it all now. I have experienced good antidepressant effects from it in the past. Generally, for most folks, I think Dep+N. makes a good combo.
>
> I think I will have to try the combo.. maybe cut back my neurontin dosage... at 2400 I was stumbling around my house..I am much better with 1200 at night and 300-600 during the day.
1200mg/ of Neurontin was the max I could tolerate and still be able to do simple math. However, low doses (200-400mg/day) of the stuff seem to be somewhat alerting/stimulating (but I think that is probably just the reduction of anxiety makes you less fatigued).>
>
>
> So tell me about the non-prescription stuff.. what are those to treat? Why the mini-dose of wellbutrin? At theraputic levels of wellbutrin, I tried to get myself arrested in an airport..can you say hostility?!
>
> Thanks again!
> Holly
>
Fuscia (another poster here) talked about using L-tyrosine (an amino acid). I had heard about it before, but I am generally skeptical about supplements. This time I decided to give it a try (I don't see how it could hurt). There have been quite a few positive reports about Omega-3 fatty acids being used for bipolar and ADHD (flax and fish oils). If it doesn't help for that, it can lower your cholesterol. I have to keep my antidepressant dosages way down, or I get tweaky, grouchy, hypomanic, ugh! I have tried increasing "mood stabilizers" to "cover" it, but it seems to be the AD's themselves being the problem rather than inadequate mood stabilizer dosages, just my personal experience anyhow.good luck,
You'd better make sure to
water those flowers a lot!Mitch
poster:Ritch
thread:108313
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020731/msgs/115415.html