Posted by SLS on April 17, 2014, at 0:06:43
In reply to Re: Augmenting to Brintellix: Theory Based on a Study » ed_uk2010, posted by Chris O on April 16, 2014, at 19:37:19
> Ed:
>
> Yes, that's right, 20mg of Brintellix for about 12 days now. It's working, definitely. But ... I don't think it's strong enough. Something is off about it. I still feel like hiding, even though it's made things easier in my daily interactions. I've also lost a sense of the thing (let's call it my mother's destruction of my innermost being) that I was fighting inside. It feels like ... I'm allowing "it" (my mother's destruction of my innermost being) to win. Maybe I'm overstating it a bit. : )
>
> Chris
Do you feel like a broken man? I do. If anything, I have been broken by the depressive illness itself. My mother did a hell of a job on me, too. However, I became strong enough inside to have conquered most of the issues that arose because of that. The war I have waged against a severe form of bipolar depression has been too much for me after 30 years of failed treatments. I am not the same person. I know that I have had my spirit broken. I am not motivated to do many of the things I should be doing to take care of myself. I am passive and don't really care about anything. I sometimes wonder if Abilify 10 mg/day is producing this amotivation as a side effect, but I recall having more spirit 10 years ago while taking it at twice that dosage. Every man has his breaking point. I probably reached mine. However, I think I can repair myself if I were to feel well for an extended period of time.I know what you mean about hiding. At my worst, I hid from everyone, even if they were simply walking by the house and I could see them through the window. When I would see them, I would hurry to hide around a corner. I really don't understand why. I actually like people. This is the illness itself.
I intend to make Brintellix my next drug to try if I don't respond well to my current regime. Raising the dosage of prazosin has helped a great deal over the last few days. Since I have a history of relapsing after 3 days, this response has not yet proven itself.
Currently:
Parnate 100 mg/day
nortriptyline 150 mg/day
Lamictal 200 mg/day
lithium 450 mg/day
Abilify 10 mg/day
prazosin 40 mg/day
minocycline 200 mg/day
Good luck with Brintellix. It is probably the first drug you have tried that has serotonin 5-HT1a receptor agonism and 5-HT7 receptor antagonism. It binds to a few more serotonin receptors, but I am unsure as to their significance (5-HT1b partial agonism; 5-HT1d antagonism; 5-HT3 antagonism).
- Scott
Some see things as they are and ask why.
I dream of things that never were and ask why not.- George Bernard Shaw
poster:SLS
thread:1064210
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20140328/msgs/1064347.html