![[dr. bob]](/dr-bob-sm.gif)
Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
[email protected]Shown: posts 1 to 25 of 31. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by SLS on September 23, 2010, at 22:49:08
I'm moving this topic to its own thread.
What will a pill do?
What will a pill not do?
- Scott
Posted by Phillipa on September 23, 2010, at 23:51:40
In reply to What will a pill do? - What will a pill not do?, posted by SLS on September 23, 2010, at 22:49:08
To me a pill no matter what kind or classification can do many things. A pill in general can help or hinder. Some pills are good and some are bad. If referring to psych pills at different times they do different things. And I feel that a pill can only do so much. An antibiotic can do more as if properly prescribed can quickly kill an infection but not a virus. So it's the chicken and egg again in a way. For each has their own unique chemistry and depending on that I feel it influences the way a pill will work. This is my opinion only. Phillipa
Posted by SLS on September 24, 2010, at 6:13:47
In reply to What will a pill do? - What will a pill not do?, posted by SLS on September 23, 2010, at 22:49:08
> > I'm moving this topic to its own thread.
> >
> > What will a pill do?
> > What will a pill not do?> To me a pill no matter what kind or classification can do many things. A pill in general can help or hinder. Some pills are good and some are bad. If referring to psych pills at different times they do different things. And I feel that a pill can only do so much. An antibiotic can do more as if properly prescribed can quickly kill an infection but not a virus. So it's the chicken and egg again in a way. For each has their own unique chemistry and depending on that I feel it influences the way a pill will work. This is my opinion only. Phillipa
I guess I didn't make myself clear enough. Sorry. I was hoping for an answer more focused on the therapeutic effects of antidepressants.I am interested to know what positive therapeutic effects pills have - what they can do.
I am also interested to know what aspects of depression pills won't address - what they can't do.
- Scott
Posted by Phillipa on September 24, 2010, at 11:54:29
In reply to Re: What will a pill do? - What will a pill not do?, posted by SLS on September 24, 2010, at 6:13:47
For some going through a rough period an ad might help smooth the road so they can get over the rough period and may never need an ad again. For others from what I read here I do feel depending on state of mind meaning "Oh I know this is the answer and I will be all well" they may experience well being. For those who don't think they will work it seems they don't. Honestly for some it seems like nothing will work. I do include myself here as if an ad is said to relieve anxiety in me they just dont. I maintain contact with old posters and many are worse and some are feeling great. It just depends. I know you are looking for cold and hard facts. I don't feel there are any do you feel there are? Phillipa
Posted by SLS on September 24, 2010, at 13:01:32
In reply to Re: What will a pill do? - What will a pill not do? » SLS, posted by Phillipa on September 24, 2010, at 11:54:29
Hi Phillipa.
> For some going through a rough period an ad might help smooth the road
What exactly does "smooth the road" mean? What road? What does "smooth" mean? I think specificity will be more helpful than metaphore in order to facilitate communication and mutual understanding.
> For others from what I read here I do feel depending on state of mind meaning "Oh I know this is the answer and I will be all well" they may experience well being.
Can you better describe what "state of mind" you are referring to? Are you saying that having this state of mind is necessary for an individual to respond to drug treatment? (We have yet to describe what the word "respond" means).
> For those who don't think they will work it seems they don't.
What does the word "work" mean? Can you describe what happens when a drug "works"? This is at the crux of the issue. What can a pill do? Are you saying that an individual will not respond to treatment unless they believe the treatment will work?
> I know you are looking for cold and hard facts.
No, not necessarily. I am looking to resolve what people mean when they say that a pill "works". I am also looking to understand what people mean when they say that a pill cannot do all the "work". What work?
> I don't feel there are any do you feel there are?
You don't believe that there are any cold and hard facts? Despite years of human endevour to establish such?
Yes. I do believe that there are cold and hard facts. For instance, are you feeling anxious right now? Are you experiencing nervous sensations in your stomach? I consider the answer to these questions to be facts. You feel what you feel. I do feel that there is an increasing amount of information gleaned through continued scientific investigation. However, I am really more interested in how people experience depression and what their expectations are of drug treatment.
Regarding the therapeutic effect of antidepressants:
What will a pill do?
What will a pill not do?I hope more people will participate along this thread. I feel that these are among the most important questions to be asked in this forum. They are simple, but rarely attended to so explicitly. I am sure there will be differences of opinion. However, I am not sure that it is so important to be right as it is to be heard.
- Scott
Posted by Christ_empowered on September 24, 2010, at 14:16:46
In reply to Re: What will a pill do? - What will a pill not do? » Phillipa, posted by SLS on September 24, 2010, at 13:01:32
I think the most you can expect from a pill is to "take the edge off" severe problems. Pills can help stop psychosis, mania, or numb the pain of severe depression and anxiety; beyond that, you'll need therapy, self-help, and other forms of "treatment" to get better.
Posted by atypical on September 24, 2010, at 15:00:31
In reply to What will a pill do? - What will a pill not do?, posted by SLS on September 23, 2010, at 22:49:08
A pill will make you undepressed,
but it can't make you happy.
Posted by emme on September 24, 2010, at 16:47:31
In reply to What will a pill do? - What will a pill not do?, posted by SLS on September 23, 2010, at 22:49:08
> I'm moving this topic to its own thread.
>
> What will a pill do?
> What will a pill not do?
>
>
> - ScottGreat thread, Scott!
What the right meds have done for me:
Relieve (not numb) the terrible psychic anguish of depression. You know, that terrible pain and utter despair that's hard to describe unless you've been there.
Restore my enthusiasm for the things I enjoy.
Improve my apathy so I can actually DO the things I enjoy.
Calm down my out-of-control anxiety to normal and situation-appropriate anxiety.
Enable me to make decisions in a rational manner.
Enable me to sleep normally.
Remove a lot of the distorted thinking that goes with my depression and allow me to keep things in a more normal perspective.
In short, it puts me back in the game so I can do the normal living that people without depression do. It's amazing what you can do when you don't feel awful. :)
I think therapy is a good thing, and I've certainly found it helpful in many ways and continue to do so (all humans have baggage I think). But I have also been astonished at how much of my terrible, depressed state of mind that wouldn't relent even with a great therapist simply evaporated once I had appropriate medication.
emme
Posted by bleauberry on September 24, 2010, at 17:14:08
In reply to What will a pill do? - What will a pill not do?, posted by SLS on September 23, 2010, at 22:49:08
> I'm moving this topic to its own thread.
>
> What will a pill do?
> What will a pill not do?
>
>
> - ScottAs evidenced by the sporadic occasional success stories here, pills can work miracles. Viewing the overwhelming numbers of less-than-success stories and digging deep into clinical studies, we see that the pills actually don't do great things as often as we would like. I think many clinicians must wonder why they can't get the same results as clinical studies.
I believe the mechanics of the pills are far beyond our knowledge. What we know they do is only one mechanism. Zyprexa research for example showed that it turned on or up 30 different genes, while at the same time turning off or turning down 30 others. Some of those turned up have to do with weight gain. Some have to do with mood. Some have to do with blood sugar.
Pills can do a lot of stuff besides increase neurotransmitters at the synapse. Which of those things, most of which we don't know about, is really responsible for the occasional success stories?
What a pill cannot do. Not a single psychiatric medication can clean corrupted or contaminated neurotransmitters. They cannot increase neurotransmitter production if there is a roadblock in mehtylation and other circuits. Indeed we may be trying to increase neurotransmitters at they synapse but there aren't enough neurotransmitters being produced to allow the drug to do that.
It is my belief that many more people than most of us would suspect have an immune system problem and an underlying unsuspected undiagnosable pathogenic load. Whether that was caused by a chronic infection, the stress of ongoing depression, or some other environmental impact, the immune system is tied closely to brain, hormone, and receptor functions throughout the body. Psychiatric drugs do not address the immune system angle.
Many doctors scoff at the idea of systemic candida. Yet people's brain fog, severe depression, and chronic fatigue vanish when they embark on an antifungal war.
The same can be said of things such as Lyme, MS, Fibromyalgia, and Chronic Fatigue. Almost all of these patients have depression that is either unaffected by psych meds, modestly improved, worsened, or confounded with sensitive complications. I remember one lady's story of how Parnate complete wiped out her CFS and FM symptoms. But that isolated success story is among about 100 others not so successful.
The pills will not remove heavy metals such as lead or mercury. I suspect if all of us were to take a 1200mg dose of DMSA and collect urine for the next 6 hours, we would see much higher levels of both of those metals than anyone would have thought. The metals disrupt everything....literally, everything...blocking receptors, killing receptors, contaminating stuff, enabling otherwise tame pathogens to flourish, clogging thyroid and can't be seen in thyroid testing, clogging adrenals, allowing large undigested molecules to leak through the intestinal lining straight into the blood stream. Just for starters. They also interfere with neurotransmitter production, disrupt methylation pathways and dozens of others.
From my own personal experience and research I have no doubt that contaminated neurotransmitters....not deficient neurotransmitters...cause serious depression. Toxins are what contaminate them. Toxins come from a leaky gut or from an unsuspected and likely undiagnosable infection...bacterial, viral, or fungal, likely a combination. I say undiagnosable because tests for many do not exist, and those that do are woefully flawed in accuracy.
What do the pathogens do to mess up our serotonin and dopamine? Well, 3 things. Poop. Pee. And chemical trails developed over thousands of years of evolution that trick the immune system into backing off. Basically, if you have a load of poop and pee flowing through your blood into your brain and receptors throughout your body, you are going to feel depressed and feel like crap.
Our pills won't touch any of the things mentioned thus far.
Most people are like me....
1. I never heard of that, so it can't be true.
2. My doctor doesn't know anything about it, so it can't be true.
3. My test came back negative so I don't have these problems.
4. It couldn't possibly be that bad.
5. Certainly my immune system would take care of it, right?
6. It only happens to other people, not me.
7. It is so rare as to not even consider it.
8. It's all just theory or anecdotal, no scientific validation....as if anything in depression is solidly validated....nothing is...everything we do to treat depression is EXPERIMENTAL...herbs, psych meds, vitamins, exercise, light, antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral, gut healing, and such...psych meds are more widely accepted, but by no means more effective or solidly proven in any shape, manner, or form.Well, that was me 5 years ago. Today I know for a fact it is all as true as the sky is blue. The most significant depression relief I have ever encountered included the following:
1. DMSA. Picks up lead and mercury molecules and takes them out of the body. Also mops up some of the toxins of pathogenic invaders.
2. Doxycyline. Once the bugs, whatever they are, start dying, things get a lot worse (more toxins from all the corpses that can't be flushed out fast enough). But during the early days, hello remission! That's when the bugs were initially paralyzed...their pooping and peeing is stopped...but they aren't dying yet.
3. Diflucan. Same as above, except with fungi such as Candida or other versions picked up from dirt, attics, basements or traces of mice feces.Several anti-microbial herbs did the same thing.
My problem is that the Herxing gets so bad I can't get to the other side. But for sure, during that short window in the early going, I have proved a dozen times that "other" meds besides our usual psych pills were the ones that delivered true remission...not a fake or manufactured remission, but a return to your former self pre-depression days.
You ask a very complicated question Scott. I don't think anyone on this planet knows the answers. All I am saying is that there are a handful of major depression causers all around us that are completely ignored, and none of them respond to psych meds very well. They aren't doing the right stuff, which is basically removing toxic load from body.
Example. If someone is on 120mg parnate, we can be fairly well guaranteed they are flooded with plenty of serotonin, NE, and DA. But what if there is lead, mercury, pee, or poop, mixed in with it all? Now we are looking at someone on 120mg parnate who feels like crap despite the plentiful supply of neurotransmitters.
While I've covered some of the bases that are personally close to my own situation, we haven't even mentioned things like the sheaths around nerve endings, receptor sensitivity, receptor density, inadequate blood flow in the brain, or inflammation of the brain. All these things bring us full circle right back to where I started...it's something related to the immune system, not a direct fault of the brain itself.
My overall message here is that we live in a toxic era. All that lead from leaded gasoline 40 years ago? It's still out there, everywhere. Mercury everywhere. Lyme diagnosed at only 1/10th its actual rate. Crippling fungi found in simple basement dust. On and on. Throw in the mix what we earthly humans consider an acceptable diet, and forget it, we are sitting ducks.
The pills can work miracles, but in my opinion only address a small piece of the pie. Most people think the rest of the pie is just too hard to deal with, so stay stuck in the small piece, not realizing the rest of it is actually pretty simple and straight forward to detective work with. But it's easier to just keep the appointment with the pdoc next week and try yet another pill that does something to serotonin and dopamine.
When a bunch of psych meds don't do the trick, it is only pure unadulterated logic that says...."you're barking up the wrong tree if you're only looking at brain chemicals".
IMO
Posted by Maxime on September 24, 2010, at 17:57:26
In reply to What will a pill do? - What will a pill not do?, posted by SLS on September 23, 2010, at 22:49:08
It will not make you feel happy.
It will be expensive.
Posted by SLS on September 24, 2010, at 17:57:35
In reply to Re: What will a pill do? - What will a pill not do?, posted by bleauberry on September 24, 2010, at 17:14:08
Hi Bleauberry.
You wrote a lot of interesting stuff. However, I am trying to receive feedback that focuses on what a drug can or can't do therapeutically for treating depression rather than attempt to explain the "how" of the mechanisms by which this might occur.
> When a bunch of psych meds don't do the trick..
What is the "trick" that one would like to occur? How do you know when a drug is working?
- Scott
Posted by morgan miller on September 24, 2010, at 20:54:22
In reply to Re: What will a pill do? - What will a pill not do? » bleauberry, posted by SLS on September 24, 2010, at 17:57:35
I know when a drug is working when I NEED to get out of the house, when I want to workout, when I want to go out and socialize, when I can breath with a loose relaxed chest, when I can think clearly and effortlessly, when my brain in constantly active in a good productive way, when I have plenty of energy, when I can feel all the empathy in the world for other people, when I can cry again, when I LOVE doing things that I LOVE doing, when I can FEEL the good weather, when the sun on my face feels f*ck*ng amazing, when I feel good and relaxed with someone I like, when I can carry on a good conversation without having to rack my brain for the right words, and when I feel ALIVE. I have experienced all of this on a medication. I also had to exercise on a regular basis, avoid drinking too much alcohol, and get great workouts at the gym or running on the road, the medication alone was not enough.
Posted by morgan miller on September 24, 2010, at 20:57:33
In reply to Re: What will a pill do? - What will a pill not do?, posted by morgan miller on September 24, 2010, at 20:54:22
> I know when a drug is working when I NEED to get out of the house, when I want to workout, when I want to go out and socialize, when I can breath with a loose relaxed chest, when I can think clearly and effortlessly, when my brain in constantly active in a good productive way, when I have plenty of energy, when I can feel all the empathy in the world for other people, when I can cry again, when I LOVE doing things that I LOVE doing, when I can FEEL the good weather, when the sun on my face feels f*ck*ng amazing, when I feel good and relaxed with someone I like, when I can carry on a good conversation without having to rack my brain for the right words, and when I feel ALIVE. I have experienced all of this on a medication. I also had to exercise on a regular basis, avoid drinking too much alcohol, and get great workouts at the gym or running on the road, the medication alone was not enough.
See, I'm obviously not feeling or functioning that great on medication right now, I just read my last sentence, ha ha. I meant to include eating good food regularly and enjoying spending time with friends that I loved as 2 things I needed in order to get the full experience of the "good life" on medication.
Posted by SLS on September 25, 2010, at 5:34:44
In reply to Re: What will a pill do? - What will a pill not do?, posted by morgan miller on September 24, 2010, at 20:54:22
Hi Morgan.
This is an excellent description of what I also experience when I respond to treatment. Amazing, isn't it?
> I know when a drug is working when I NEED to get out of the house, when I want to workout, when I want to go out and socialize, when I can breath with a loose relaxed chest, when I can think clearly and effortlessly, when my brain in constantly active in a good productive way, when I have plenty of energy, when I can feel all the empathy in the world for other people, when I can cry again, when I LOVE doing things that I LOVE doing, when I can FEEL the good weather, when the sun on my face feels f*ck*ng amazing, when I feel good and relaxed with someone I like, when I can carry on a good conversation without having to rack my brain for the right words, and when I feel ALIVE. I have experienced all of this on a medication. I also had to exercise on a regular basis, avoid drinking too much alcohol, and get great workouts at the gym or running on the road, the medication alone was not enough.
I wish I responded to exercise the way you do. I wish I could exercise at all. I have begun an exercise regimen twice in the past two years for about 6 weeks each before I had to stop for lack of motivation and energy. I received no antidepressant effect. Maybe I'm doing something wrong.
- Scott
Posted by linkadge on September 25, 2010, at 9:17:32
In reply to What will a pill do? - What will a pill not do?, posted by SLS on September 23, 2010, at 22:49:08
>What will a pill do?
>What will a pill not do?The question needs to be clarified. Are we talking about the current set of medications for mental illness or ideal medications for mental illness?
An ideal medication would restore the patient to their normal level of functioning.
I.e. reduce or eliminate symptoms of the disorder, without inducing other crippling problems.
Linkadge
Posted by Alexanderfromdenmark on September 25, 2010, at 9:20:33
In reply to What will a pill do? - What will a pill not do?, posted by SLS on September 23, 2010, at 22:49:08
From my own experience here is what an antidepressant can and can't do for me.
A pill can improve my sleep and make me less anxious. A pill can't give more energy, motivation, focus, better mood or in any way improve positive emotions. Actually from my own experience pills actually hinder positive emotions through emotional blunting.
Posted by SLS on September 25, 2010, at 9:42:24
In reply to Re: What will a pill do? - What will a pill not do?, posted by morgan miller on September 24, 2010, at 20:57:33
> See, I'm obviously not feeling or functioning that great on medication right now,
What are you lacking right now in terms of remission from depression?
How do you know that this is the result of a lack of effect of the medication rather than an increase in depressogenic psychosocial stress?
> I meant to include eating good food regularly and enjoying spending time with friends that I loved as 2 things I needed in order to get the full experience of the "good life" on medication
Are these effects specific to ameliorating depression only, or are they things that would enhance the quality of life for people in general, even in the absence of depression? In other words, are these things that pills can not do?
- Scott
Posted by SLS on September 25, 2010, at 9:55:42
In reply to Re: What will a pill do? - What will a pill not do?, posted by linkadge on September 25, 2010, at 9:17:32
> >What will a pill do?
> >What will a pill not do?
>
> The question needs to be clarified. Are we talking about the current set of medications for mental illness or ideal medications for mental illness?Good point.
I guess the starting point of the discussion would be limited to existing medications and their capacity to effect an improvement in depression. I revised the questions in a more recent post to limit the effects described in terms of positive therapeutic effect. Adverse effects of medication are certainly evident, but their consideration really does not give evidence of the existence or absence of a therapeutic phenomenon.
- Scott
Posted by violette on September 25, 2010, at 10:01:10
In reply to Re: What will a pill do? - What will a pill not do?, posted by Alexanderfromdenmark on September 25, 2010, at 9:20:33
> Actually from my own experience pills actually hinder positive emotions through emotional blunting.
I had a similar experience, with feeling emotionally blunted, AfD, though i did experience positive emotions. But i felt distanced from myself-relatively little affected me-critisim/praise; failures/accomplishments. Nothing upset me. Nothing angered me. ADs covered up painful emotions that were already there; when I later quit taking them, i regressed so re-tried some...they were no longer effective, or some of the time the side effects were too unbearable to wait the 2 months to see...so the emotions returned.
Though ADs sure got me back to functioning...it was at the expense of further distancing myself from emotions that were begging to be dealt with.
ADs allowed me to go about my life as functional as i was before, but in effect=also enabled me to delay doing the necessary work to heal inner wounds...I didn't know it at the time, just was taking my psychiatrist's advice, which back then, assumed was how depression and anxiety were to be dealt with.
Posted by SLS on September 25, 2010, at 10:06:57
In reply to Re: What will a pill do? - What will a pill not do?, posted by Alexanderfromdenmark on September 25, 2010, at 9:20:33
> From my own experience here is what an antidepressant can and can't do for me.
>
> A pill can improve my sleep and make me less anxious. A pill can't give more energy, motivation, focus, better mood or in any way improve positive emotions. Actually from my own experience pills actually hinder positive emotions through emotional blunting.Emotional blunting is all too common, I'm afraid.
I hope Psycho-Babble or some other resource can help you develop alternative treatment strategies that might produce more global improvements. Whenever I experience one of my brief drug responses, it seems like everything you listed as being resistant to treatment improves all at once.
- Scott
Posted by morgan miller on September 25, 2010, at 21:45:23
In reply to Re: What will a pill do? - What will a pill not do? » morgan miller, posted by SLS on September 25, 2010, at 5:34:44
> Hi Morgan.
>
> This is an excellent description of what I also experience when I respond to treatment. Amazing, isn't it?
>
> > I know when a drug is working when I NEED to get out of the house, when I want to workout, when I want to go out and socialize, when I can breath with a loose relaxed chest, when I can think clearly and effortlessly, when my brain in constantly active in a good productive way, when I have plenty of energy, when I can feel all the empathy in the world for other people, when I can cry again, when I LOVE doing things that I LOVE doing, when I can FEEL the good weather, when the sun on my face feels f*ck*ng amazing, when I feel good and relaxed with someone I like, when I can carry on a good conversation without having to rack my brain for the right words, and when I feel ALIVE. I have experienced all of this on a medication. I also had to exercise on a regular basis, avoid drinking too much alcohol, and get great workouts at the gym or running on the road, the medication alone was not enough.
>
> I wish I responded to exercise the way you do. I wish I could exercise at all. I have begun an exercise regimen twice in the past two years for about 6 weeks each before I had to stop for lack of motivation and energy. I received no antidepressant effect. Maybe I'm doing something wrong.
>
>
> - ScottI don't think you're doing anything wrong. I just think that you mind and body are not where they need to be to benefit from the right kind of exercise, which I am sure you have tried. I guess this is where medication and other treatments will hopefully get you to functioning well enough to feel good after sticking with a strong well balanced exercise routine. If you have the money it might be worth trying Bikram Yoga for a month just for the hell of it. I find Bikram to be very invigorating and rejuvinating. It's a totally different kind of workout.
Morgan
Posted by morgan miller on September 25, 2010, at 21:54:56
In reply to Re: What will a pill do? - What will a pill not do? » morgan miller, posted by SLS on September 25, 2010, at 9:42:24
> > See, I'm obviously not feeling or functioning that great on medication right now,
>
> What are you lacking right now in terms of remission from depression?
>
> How do you know that this is the result of a lack of effect of the medication rather than an increase in depressogenic psychosocial stress?
>
> > I meant to include eating good food regularly and enjoying spending time with friends that I loved as 2 things I needed in order to get the full experience of the "good life" on medication
>
> Are these effects specific to ameliorating depression only, or are they things that would enhance the quality of life for people in general, even in the absence of depression? In other words, are these things that pills can not do?
>
>
> - ScottI think pills can make it easier to do these things and experience pleasure in doing them.
The eating right I have no problem with, though I do not experience pleasure from food like I used to. It's the hanging with friends and feeling well enough to enjoy it that has been an issue lately.> > See, I'm obviously not feeling or functioning that great on medication right now,
>
> What are you lacking right now in terms of remission from depression?Hmm..energy, focus, lucidity, comfort, lack of interest in doing things I used to enjoy mainly due to that lack of physical and mental comfort, proper stimulation, and a well functioning reward/pleasure system.
> How do you know that this is the result of a lack of effect of the medication rather than an increase in depressogenic psychosocial stress?
I think it is a combination of the two.
Morgan
Posted by morgan miller on September 25, 2010, at 21:58:16
In reply to Re: What will a pill do? - What will a pill not do?, posted by Alexanderfromdenmark on September 25, 2010, at 9:20:33
>A pill can improve my sleep and make me less anxious. A pill can't give more energy, motivation, focus, better mood or in any way improve positive emotions. Actually from my own experience pills actually hinder positive emotions through emotional blunting.
That sucks. I'm sure you've tried several antidepressants. Have you ever tried any supplements/herbs that have had a positive impact on emotions, mood, energy, motivation, or focus?
Posted by SLS on September 26, 2010, at 6:10:49
In reply to Re: What will a pill do? - What will a pill not do?, posted by morgan miller on September 25, 2010, at 21:54:56
Hi Morgan.
You have a talent for being able to describe affective states. This should assist you in being able to identify effective treatments. In addition, Psycho-Babble profits from your insights.
In light of the pleasure you can draw from performing certain activities, perhaps your depression would qualify as having an element of mood reactivity. Older literature suggests that MAOIs can be of benefit with this presentation. Maybe Effexor, too.
- Scott
Posted by Dinah on September 26, 2010, at 9:07:55
In reply to What will a pill do? - What will a pill not do?, posted by SLS on September 23, 2010, at 22:49:08
Anxiety was so much a part of my mood problems, and I think there are some pretty good medications out there for anxiety.
Sometimes Risperdal can bring me out of an obsessive loop or emotional morass in almost the same way my migraine medications work. One minute there is pain, the next minute there isn't, and it's so extreme you can feel the exact moment. Not always, but sometimes.
Klonopin gives immediate relief from acute anxiety but at the cost of sleepiness. It's nice to know I have it, so that I don't need to live in fear of acute anxiety.
Provigil keeps me awake. Sometimes, especially if taken at the same time as Risperdal, it also helps me focus.
I've had hormonal related depressions a couple of times. With my postpartum depression, luvox did help the overstimulation a lot, although I think it lent its own sort of low level chronic overstimulation. It also led to flatness. It certainly didn't make me feel good or happy.
I think perhaps my issues are more easily treated with medications than others, since they're mainly related to anxiety/agitation.
Therapy helped a lot with my overall functioning, but I'm not sure how much I could have taken in without the anti-anxiety meds.
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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
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