Posted by zinya on August 5, 2003, at 0:28:30
In reply to Re: just more evidence...ADs protect the brain » zinya, posted by jrbecker on August 4, 2003, at 11:31:14
hi JRB,
gosh, thanks for your responsiveness. I will follow the links you provided, which i very much appreciate, but for now to answer your Qs:
>
> What is your diagnosis, currently? Talk more to the bipolar piece that your docs have suspected.Well, I would say that most diagnoses are a bit up in the air at the moment. The fibromyalgia and myofascial pain syndrome still apply. Depression is a supposition and i'm trying Effexor now as my 6th or so attempt at seeing if there is a biochemical basis and answer for it. I'm sorry if i didn't make clear that all the other a-d's i indicated i'd tried were only tried temporarily. Each one caused side effects i couldn't tolerate or in one or two cases, did no apparent good. The last a-d i'd taken before Effexor, which i started in late May, was in Dec. 2000, first Celexa and then Paxil, with bad side effects from both and quit.
The sciatica and pelvic pain problems are congenital but then triggered by accidental injury, as explained in earlier post.
I gave up tracking the CFIDS cuz it just didn't seem like there was a treatment. I have had a couple of periods of pursuit of new doctors etc. but that gets old very fast when the result is ineffectual. It's been a while.
There were only two mds, one in about 1990, one in 1993 who thought bipolar was possible and put me on lithium and depakote, respectively. I was willing to give it a try but i never thought that sounded right. I had a couple of very brief manic episodes in a whole lifetime against chronic depressive episodes. I tend to have a 'beat the clock' instinct when under time constraints (like doctors' appts) and i do what they call 'fast talk' which makes some doctors mistake it for manic behavior but it's limited to md. visits -- which they tend not to believe when i tell them not to judge by that.
>
> What is the current cocktail? You mentioned Effexor @ 150mg, but are you still on the Lithium?Only the Effexor, @150 level for 2 wks. now
> How do you like your current pdoc? How open is he/she to your input? Do you feel he is doing a fair job?
I'm currently being prescribed by an internist who's known me for 5 years and previously helped me enough to know my history but he's not a pdoc. I would consider changing both to find a p-doc and someone closer to me, but I'm in a gap without insurance, needing to get blue shield but that is symptomatic of the kind of task that requires a kind of energy i don't have. This doctor used to be great but now his practice has quadrupled and he's constantly hassled so that's part of my wish to change at some point too. (I've had four different extended therapy phases over past 20 years at various times for various durations. I do have a bereavement counselor at present who has been great.)
thanks again for your interest and your info which i will pursue...
zinya
poster:zinya
thread:247363
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20030802/msgs/248176.html