Posted by Ritch on June 23, 2003, at 13:47:16
In reply to Re: My med appointment-not alot of options » Ritch, posted by chloe on June 23, 2003, at 12:44:24
>
> > Yep, .5mg at bedtime (occasionally more). I'm really accustomed to taking it and don't feel much sedation from it anymore. If I'm needing to sleep-it doesn't help much to increase it. However, it still provides a definite antipanic effect despite other things wearing off. Yeah.. I think .5mg of Klon is more equivalent to 5mg of Valium.. from my experience with both anyhow (although at different times). Hey, the colors of the tabs match too! ;0) Valium would make me paradoxically hostile at times-never had that with clonazepam... perhaps at worst a "grumbly sullenness" if I was already depressed (not from the clon), but not sparky hostile. Oh... right now I've been having non-stop night after night sleep disruption since I started a little Buspar (I suggested it to my pdoc of course) a couple of weeks ago. I thought it might start to fade, but it is getting worse-I'm dropping the stuff as of today and return to what I was on before I added it-Depakote ER 250mg+Klon .5mg + tiny Effexor. It (buspirone) seemed to add a little energy during the day and I could pick out words better, but on balance it just seemed to make me a little shorter fused and sleep-deprived. I'm carefully logging all of this stuff one step at a time. I'll probably end up trying Lamictal (with the Depakote), OR adding some verapamil. I think I would like to try the verapamil first-because I seem to respond well to meds that affect Calcium channels for some reason. I'm already starting to switch gears mood-wise. It is a slow change from bubbly to tired-mixed-wired feelings. Maybe returning to my last combo (slight change) will fix this. I think if you can get an endo that will aggressively work with you on your thyroid stuff you'll feel much better. I would be interested to see if he adds T4 or switches to T4 instead. Let us know--take care----- Mitch
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> Hi Mitch,
> Definitely sounds like it's time to ditch the buspar. I hate AD's type meds. They mess up my sleep and give me dangerous short fuse. It's hard to keep control and feel comfortable in my body. 40 Doxepin is as high as I can go...I wish I could take more. The blues are so bad. To get through the summer my pdoc wants me on 25-50 of seroquel QD.
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> She thinks if I have a steady level of it, not just prn, I might not cycle as much or bottom out, like I can in the summer. It was last early summer I was so depressed and suicidal I looked into and started ECT. So I may try her stragedy. The side effects are worrisome, but perhaps worth it. She believes AAP's with not worsen my tongue movement that I got on the typicals... But, I can't wait to see endo. I don't know why it's been so difficult to get an appointment, but my pdoc wants me to see one in her hospital so she can work with the endo.
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> The verapamil idea sounds like it might work. You don't have to wait for therapuetic levels and the like. I hope you start to sleep/feel better minus the buspar.
> Thanks
> Chloe
> >I agree with your pdoc about the steady level of Seroquel. I didn't get much EPS stuff from Seroquel, just couldn't handle the zoned feeling half the next day (difficult at work). That's GOOD that your pdoc wants to work with an endo within the same hospital. I think you are lucky you have a pdoc that wants to team with somebody in endocrinology to help you out. I've slept better the last two nights. I still wake at 4:00AM, but I'm going back to sleep, whereas I wasn't that successful before. The trick will be to get good sleep for a few nights and see if my cognition improves (it generally does). I want to avoid needing to add Wellbutrin this time. I would like to give verapamil a try-I'm really curious to see if I can just take a nighttime dose and see if it will help sleep. I might add back some Trileptal (it helped before), but it makes me so nauseous. You sound MUCH more stable than you did at this time last year-I think you will do OK. ----Mitch
poster:Ritch
thread:233756
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20030619/msgs/236346.html