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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
[email protected]Shown: posts 1 to 7 of 7. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by Peddidle on October 28, 2004, at 19:07:10
Where to begin...
I am a college student. I had been on 200mg of zoloft for about 5yrs, but I wasn't seeing a psychiatrist, my dad is a doctor and he had been prescribing the pills for me. I finally decided it was time to see an actual psychiatrist. I have, and recently I have been weaning down the zoloft-- 150mg for a week, 100mg for about 3 weeks, and today is my second day on 50mg. My doctor also gave me straterra yesterday. I am really happy about that because I am so frustrated with everything because I can't concentrate or focus. Every time I try to sit down and study or write a paper, nothing gets done. I am failing all my classes as of now. I was suspended after last semester, but I got a "retroactive" health leave, so my F's were turned into W's (withrawals) and I was allowed to return this semester. I have decidedd that if I get suspended again, I'm just not going to come back. It was so hard over the summer when I thought I was suspended....for a few days, I almost didn't survive it....
Unfortunately, the straterra won't start working until I reach a higher dose in like 3-6 weeks.....If I am suspended, telling my parents will be the hardest thing in the world.
Does anyone else have a similar drug experience? Or any experience or any thoughts about anything else in this post?
Today I am feeling kind of "down" and I don't really have much of an appetite, but I am eating. Is this a withdrawal symptom? Or possibly a side-effect of adding the straterra?Thank you to all who reply!
Posted by dazedandconfused on October 28, 2004, at 19:13:40
In reply to college is horrible...., posted by Peddidle on October 28, 2004, at 19:07:10
I completely empathize. College is extremely difficult...whether you have depression, Add, whatever. I don't experience with either of those drugs but I was wondering why you were coming off the Zoloft. If it is helping, you can just augment with the Straterra. Straterra is supposed to be good for focus/concentration, etc. but not much of an antidepressant.
Hope this helps.
dazed
Posted by Peddidle on October 28, 2004, at 19:19:44
In reply to Re: college is horrible...., posted by dazedandconfused on October 28, 2004, at 19:13:40
Thanx, Dazed. I am coming off the zoloft because I think it's time--it's been 5 years. Plus, I think it makes me really apathetic. For example, over the summer, someone really close to my family and me died and I couldn't even cry. I wanted to, but I couldn't.
I was originally taking the zoloft for OCD, but I have recently been told be several psychologists/psychiatrist that I don't have any qualities of OCD (I could probably use some though lol), but what I actually have is dysthymia and some form of adjustment disorder (some say with anxiety, some say with depressed mood).
Thanx again for replying, Dazed.
Posted by ants on October 29, 2004, at 7:59:58
In reply to college is horrible...., posted by Peddidle on October 28, 2004, at 19:07:10
Peddidle-
I am not sure what kind of college you are at (large, small, private, state, etc), but I thought maybe i could give you some things to think about. I didn't get on meds until after college, but looking back i wish I had seen a therapist or someone earlier-it would have made my college years more productive and enjoyable. But even though I hated it at times and had to take a year off to re-evaluate, i am glad I graduated (better late than never!) You have to remind yourself that in some ways, you are just "playing the game". In our society, you really need a college degree to be taken seriously. It may be wrong, but thats how it is. So try your best. It will make things easier later on.
Are there other support systems at your college that you could go to? Also, are you seeing a campus therapist or someone independant? Maybe someone on campus would have better experience working with students and would know of resources to help you. Maybe a tutor or someone could help you get organized and meet with you a few times a week to help you stay focused. Also, a lot of schools will allow you to get class notes taken by other students if you are diagnosed with some kind of learning disability (add would probably do it). You might even want to look into support groups. I am sure there are other students battling anxiety or other disorders at your school.Please don't give up. Maybe you haven't found the answer yet in terms of medication or therapy, or maybe you need a different kind of school environment. Make sure you are being open and honest with the professors and administrators at your school so that they have the opportunity to give you the second or third chance that you need. Everyone deserves to have a positive college experience and a degree-sticking with school is definitely worth it in the end.
Good luck. Keep us posted.
Ants
Posted by utopizen on October 30, 2004, at 17:29:31
In reply to college is horrible...., posted by Peddidle on October 28, 2004, at 19:07:10
> Today I am feeling kind of "down" and I don't really have much of an appetite, but I am eating. Is this a withdrawal symptom? Or possibly a side-effect of adding the straterra?
>I think it's more simple than that. However much you might of thought the Zoloft wasn't "working," it may have been lifting you out of a more extreme depression than you would have entered had you not taken it at all.
Antidepressant "withdrawl" is more associated with physicial symptoms emerging, not a worsening of your mood (depression). It sounds like you're starting to feel a bit of your depession returning, which the Zoloft partially fought off a bit without you realizing it.
Straterra may help your ADD somewhat, but it's important to realize that it is NOT an anti-depressant. Lilly first tried it get it approved for depression, and was unable to prove it was effective for depression. Some notice some benign changes in their mood or anxiety, but realize that someone with Major Depressive Disorder aren't exactly going to get relief from the stuff.
It's too inadequate to treat any chronic depression, but treating someone's ADD might help someone feeling slightly down from feeling overwhelmed with completing their work. Don't confuse this with it being successful in people with major depression!!
If you are ever feeling down for more than just a couple of days, CALL YOUR DOCTOR immediately. This could represent a worsening of your mood as a result of not having an antidepressant.
Zoloft may have failed you, but it's important to realize you can fail every antidepressant out there and find the last one left to try works wonderfully. Cymbalta is promising to many who have failed SSRIs, and Effexor of course is a potent antidepressant as well.
Your psychiatrist needs to be treating your depression BEFORE attempting to treat your ADHD-- a recent journal article said it's inappropriate to treat ADHD before depression in patients with both problems. Depression often results in the same attention and other problems that ADHD alone presents, and controlling the depression first could resolve your concentration issues. That, and your mood needs to take a priority over your attention span, because it's a more immediate risk factor for the emergency of suicidial ideation.
That said, you can fail some antidepressant, but after a few weeks your doctor's likely to be inclined to give you some Strattera or a stimulant like Ritalin, Adderall or Desoxyn while he or she continues to adjust your antidepressant treatment.
You said you are failing. Please do not do what I do last school year, and believe somehow you'll coast through like superman and "recover" out of some med that will suddenly work half-way through the semester. How realistic is this to expect? Even if you became superman, do you realize how stressful it would be to try to compensate for the first half of the semester now in a way that would lead you to maybe, if you're lucky, getting a C- or better?
Withdrawing for medical reasons, with a note from your psychiatrist, is much wiser than trying to risk the possibility of getting no credits in your classes, and having these courses also degrade your GPA.
You may or may not find relief from your problems this semester, and I hope you do-- but if I've learned anything from being so messed up mentally, it's never trusting yourself or assuming you can take things on in the future because some circumstances will suddenly change so quickly you'll be able to overcome them very soon.
Strattera doesn't work for many, many people, and even if it does, it takes weeks and weeks to notice a difference. The semester's ending in about a month and a week. It'll take that long just to realize it hasn't worked, so I wouldn't rest your future on something that fails the majority of people who take it.
Keep trying with the Straterra, but you need to talk with a therapist and ask him or her if it's realistic to expect such a change and risk so much for something you can't predict will happen.
IMHO, it's not worth it, and you'll just get more depressed if you realize this after the fact rather than confronting what's relaistic now.
Also, seriously express your concerns about your mood to your doctor, and arrange for a therapist to also address your other issues. And let your psychiatrist know that your mood is affecting your concentration, and this won't go away with some ADD med alone. You require treatment for your depression as well.
If you imagine asking yourself, "what does putting off one semester mean for me 10 years from now if it could rescue me from having a terrible GPA that would affect my career?" I think you'll find the right answer.
But you likely will have to try various antidepressants, some meds to augment with them (Lithium, Lamictal, antipsychotics, and Klonopin are some useful ones) and a stimulant if Straterra fails to treat your concentration issues.
Your priority is your mood, and treating that will help reduce your attention issues to the point where ADD meds can manage them as well.
Posted by Peddidle on October 30, 2004, at 17:52:30
In reply to Re: college is horrible.... » Peddidle, posted by ants on October 29, 2004, at 7:59:58
Thanx to all who have replied, I really appreciate it.
Just to clarify a few things that have come up in the replies:I am at a small, private, liberal arts college and I am seeing a therapist on campus.
As odd as it sounds, I have always tested negative for ADD, though I do have another learning disabilty--mainly, slow processing (i.e. it takes me a REALLY long time to read, complete exams, etc.), and I get extra time on exams because of this. Also, I wasn't being treated for depression, I was originally being treated for OCD, but have since been told that I do not have that, but that I do have dysthymia and adjustment disorder.
After getting the first "retroactive" health leave, my parents kind of, unintentionally of course, started making me feel kind of guilty that I had, in essence, wasted an entire semester (and they had, therefore, wasted A LOT of money).
Also, along with feeling "down" and just kind of "blah" (which actually kind of goes away when I'm around people, like in class or just in a room with a lot of people), I have been feeling kind of "spacey"....it's hard to describe, it's not quite dizzy or light-headed, kind of like "zoning out"?, I don't know....I notice it more when I'm standing up or walking around.
Thanx again to all!
Posted by utopizen on October 31, 2004, at 9:16:24
In reply to Re: college is horrible...., posted by Peddidle on October 30, 2004, at 17:52:30
You may not have had OCD, but it's possible you have obsessive thoughts. It took me awhile to realize I had obsessive thoughts.
And depression makes you feel down. Don't be afraid to accept the possibility that your mood is poor, and this is possibly depression. It happens to 1 out of 5 people in their lifetimes, so who's to say you're immune? =P
It took me a year to admit to myself I had depression. That's too long to wait.
OCD and depression are treated the same way, so it doesn't matter what your diagnosis was anyway.
You should ask your doc if you can have your parents meet with him during one of your appointments. My p-doc asked me this, and it helped a lot. He let them realize the seriousness of mental illness, and that it can lead to suicide, and there's no cures, and explained why it was that I kept changing my meds all the time. My parents were acting like I was seeing him as a convenient drug dealer or something, it's ridiculious.
And tell your parents you probably should go elsewhere during the holidays, because you don't feel supported by them. I'm finally going to do that, first time in 21 years. Not a single time have I ever stayed at home did my parents or siblings constantly give me insults, about my grades or my meds.
I'm letting them realize it's not acceptable, and if they can't accept my problems, they can't accept me. Sometimes spending some time apart from your family lets them realize it's not worth it for them to make you feel so bad. If they have a problem with you leaving, they should have thought of that before they tried giving you a guilt trip for having to cope with a mental illness.
Don't ever surround yourself with negative people-- if your family wants you around, they'll change-- but don't think this will happen unless they either speak with your doc or you let them know you can't let them do this to you. I don't think they'll keep it up for decades- they'll realize what they did is wrong, and stop doing it.
This is the end of the thread.
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