Posted by Elizabeth on November 18, 1999, at 0:47:02
In reply to Re: Marplan success stories?, posted by Scott L. Schofield on November 17, 1999, at 10:25:41
> > LOL. You and I have something in common, then.
>
> Yeah. This sucks. (What does LOL mean?)"Laughing out loud." (i.e., "you have just said something that amuses me greatly.")
> > I know the study well. I take it you have atypical features?
>
> Yes. Although when my depression did not remit satisfactorily, Dr. Quitkin used an interesting term: atypical reactive-type with endogenomorphic characteristics.That seems contradictory. I wonder what he meant by it?
> > What is Quitkin like personally, if you don't mind my asking? I've read some of his work and am a great admirer.
>
> Remain an admirer from afar.Yes...?
> Each successive mania can be worse than the one previous. The damned thing seems to sink its claws deeper and deeper (kindling).
This is my experience with recurrent depression also: the episodes get worse and closer together.
> Not only that, but the following depression(s) can be more resistant to treatment.
That happened to me, sorta: I stopped Prozac after taking it for 2 or 3 years, then when I tried it again it no longer worked (and I went through a long succession of meds).
> I wish the doctors who treated me ten years ago knew this. Not that it's their fault, but they really f'd me big-time.
I know...it's so frustrating.
> A few years ago, a contributor from alt.support.depression posted a list of bipolar subtypes that he said was being considered for DSM-V. I believe there were five (possibly six) subtypes. One of them described the drug-induced-only mania.
I remember seeing that list somewhere also. I wonder who we should ask to get the inside dirt on DSM-V .
> I think this was discussed as a possible type III as early as 1990. His list "bumped" it to a type IV. I should mention that a mania can also be precipitated upon discontinuation of an antidepressant. This has happened to me twice.
Yes, I've read and heard reports of that. I had a sort of mixture of hypomania and anxiety when I d/c'd Nardil the first time.
> Dangerous stuff. I never liked worms.
"Nobody loves me, everybody hates me, ..."
> > Huh. I've always thought it was risky to throw antidepressants at a bipolar individual (including bipolar III).
>
> Risk vs benefit. Bipolar depression is a mother. I'm lucky that MAOIs budge me at all. I'm not terribly optimistic.Well, "depressed" and "optimistic" usually aren't on speaking terms with each other.
> I've been out of work and out of mainstream for nine years. I hate being on the public rolls. I'm not a lazy person.
I've been having serious troubles since '94 or '95 (and I'm only 23). It does seem to have been getting better in the last year, but it's still up and down.
> > Have you had this mood disorder all your life? Mine only really surfaced in adolescence.
>
> Ditto.This seems like the norm.
> > "As tolerated."
>
> And you tolerate this?What am I supposed to do? It's not like there's a way of predicting what dose a particular individual will need.
But anyway, more specifically, I'm supposed to go up to 30 mg (as tolerated) until I next see my pdoc (Tuesday). This is assuming the pharmacy even gets the stuff by then (as of 6pm today it hadn't come in).
> > Spontaneous hypertensive episodes [not related to food-drug interactions].
>
> Did this occur at the beginning or later on? I've read that it is not uncommon to see this at the beginning, but it disappears quickly (if you're still around to find out).It was high enough that I wasn't about to risk waiting; and actually I did try slowly increasing the dose but found that whenever I took 20mg at a time or more, my BP would shoot up about 30 minutes after taking it.
> Get better.
You too.
poster:Elizabeth
thread:15234
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/19991108/msgs/15426.html