Posted by Scott L. Schofield on March 17, 2000, at 23:40:37
In reply to Amisulpride w/ Stimulant (anyone?), posted by Ant-Rock on March 16, 2000, at 18:08:23
> My name is Anthony, and many of you (Adam,Scott,JohnL) have helped me with important questions and showed great empathy to my posts in the past. I've also tried to help others when I've felt that I could. Today I could use some help.
> A few years back I had a severe adverse reaction to the drug Amoxapine, while being treated for low-grade chronic depression. This reaction was so strange and severe, no doctors I've met have ever heard of anything like it. I became overwhelmed with extremely intense feelings of grief,unstoppable crying for days; my body went weak, legs felt like rubber, and this lasted for over a week. Pure Hell. I never before had an abnormal reaction from AD's. Frankly, I was terrified. Understandably, no one around me knew what to do.
> As this bad trip came to an end, emotional symptoms lessened but my body was never the same. The energy has been sapped out of me. I'm left with apathy,no sex drive, (Sorry this is so long). Docs were of no help since they never had dealt with this before, and I certainly haven't found any relavent info researching this drug.
> Anyway, I knew some damage was done seeing that the weakness and fatigue have to this day not subsided and depression gradually worsened. After going to neurologist and endocrinologist I'm left with: Borderline low cortisol. It sure feels like my body has no adrenalyn or ability to call on reserves, but the endo doc said he wasn't certain he could contribute my fatigue to the cortisol outcome.(I find this strange).
> So as not to ramble further, My psychiatrist agreed for me to try ritalin, which I started 3days ago(10mgs/day). I also received an order of amisulpride today and was wondering if these two drugs can be combined. I figure the amisulpride might do the opposite of amoxapine and maybe help. I've read all the posts favoring low-dose amisulpride.
> Thanks again for any advise you can give me, because I have hit a lot of brick walls and after a while it takes a toll!
>
> Anthony
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Dear Anthony,
I remember replying to your post of January 30, 2000, at 13:36:12.http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20000128/msgs/20118.html
I would certainly like to reaffirm the sentiments I expressed then.
AndrewB has given you some very sound recommendations, and he has surely done his homework.
BTW - brilliant musings, Andrew.
As far as the cortisol thing is concerned, I can't make it past the chicken vs. the egg dilemma. I have little doubt that abnormalities of cortisol dynamics are involved in depressive disorders, but I have always thought of them as being more the result of rather than the cause of depression. It seems to me that the cascade of events would begin higher up and work its way down through the HPA (hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal) axis. On the other hand, Cushing's Disease provides a paradigm for the reverse. Perhaps a self-reinforcing dysfunctional interaction is established between the two systems. We'll see. (hopefully)
The degree of fatigue that you describe can very easily be ascribed to the diagnosis of a severe retarded-type depression.
Just to chuck something else out there - I have recently run across some stuff that suggests there are biological overlaps between depression, chronic fatigue syndrome, and chronic pain disorders (fibromyalgia). Hypocortisolemia has been associated with fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, and possibly atypical unipolar depression. Currently, there are investigations underway testing the efficacy of using low-dose hydrocortisone in the treatment of chronic fatigue syndrome.
PLEASE let me know how you do with the amisulpiride treatment. It looks as though there may be some important commonalities to both our cases. I have put amisulpiride near the top of my short-list. Are you bipolar?
Good luck!
- Scott
poster:Scott L. Schofield
thread:27223
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20000312/msgs/27418.html