Posted by dmlvt on December 12, 2006, at 13:25:01
In reply to More complex than we are giving credit....., posted by willyee on December 11, 2006, at 12:07:19
I really wonder how many cases of depression or other diagnoses are actually caused by something that's never tested, something that cannot be tested, or something that is just plain never suspected.
How many pdocs order any blood tests before going to their pharmacological tool kit?
I tried hard over a few months to completely wean myself off of drugs. I changed my diet radically, continued the supplements that I take, added some new supplements, and thought I was doing great. Eventually, my wife and I both realized that I needed to be back on the AD for now, along with Ativan and Ritalin.
Next month, I see my pdoc a few days before my annual physical. I'm going to tell my pdoc that I'm really not happy with where things stand. I'm going to ask him his thoughts about possible underlying causes of the depression and anxiety and ADHD symptoms.
When I have my physical a week later, I'm going to ask my doc to test my total and free testosterone, TSH, and T4 - free and total. Those are the minimum tests that I'd like to see done to look for possible biological causes of the mental symptoms. I certainly show symptoms that are consistent with either a testosterone deficiency or hypothyroidism, and either of those conditions can create or exacerbate mental health problems.
If all of those tests come out OK, I'm going to go back to the pdoc and tell him that I basically want to start from scratch with the brain meds. I don't want to start with an SSRI or SNRI as a given. I'm curious if a combo like Provigil and Emsam might be better than Ritalin, Cymbalta, Wellbutrin and Ativan.
I agree that in some ways, the SSRIs (or SNRI in my case) seem to help by simply numbing me to the pain I was feeling.
DML
poster:dmlvt
thread:712584
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20061212/msgs/712872.html