Posted by SLS on May 29, 2012, at 8:07:22
In reply to Re: What Is Passive Suicide? » Twinleaf, posted by Cecilia on May 29, 2012, at 5:29:16
> Twinleaf, I don't know how many meds or attempts at therapy Phillipa has engaged in. I do know how many I have,
Of course, I don't know what treatments you have tried so far. I sometimes wonder if the majority of psychiatrists lack the imagination to treat difficult cases like yours.
Have you already tried the MAOI + TCA + lithium strategy? How about Wellbutrin + Abilify + Lamictal? Effexor + TCA? Even if you have tried these, I am guessing that I can come up with a rational treatment strategy that you have not yet tried. However, that does not negate the litany of treatment failures that you have thus far experienced. My treatment failures have been demoralizing. However, I did not give up as long as I felt that there were logical alternatives that I had not yet tried. Perhaps you no longer feel that there are any remaining alternatives for you. Perhaps you no longer give a damn even if there are.
I pretty much gave up last November when I felt that I had tried everything. It was my first time to feel this way. It was logical to give up and try to accept that my remaining years would be lived in solitude and without any reward for surviving. Well, my doctor didn't give up. He thought that I should try a drug called prazosin (Minipress). It is an old drug indicated to treat hypertension. He said that my descriptions of childhood traumas might indicate that there is a PTSD component driving my depression. I thought that he was reaching too far for an explanation. I almost didn't try prazosin because of this. Happily, I was proven wrong. All I could think to say was, "Well I'll be damned." I have been improving ever since.
I am not suggesting that you to do anything. I am not suggesting that you are somehow weak for giving up. Of course, I hope that this is only a temporary state of mind for you. However, if it is not, that's okay, too. I can understand that you are the victim of learned helplessness. This is a very real consequence of an unrelenting depression. I understand if you feel hopeless. It is very possible that there are to be no treatments that exist in your lifetime that will help you. Without knowing your treatment history, I am doubtful that this will be true, though. There are just too many permutations of drug combinations to lead me to believe that you have tried EVERYTHING. Of course, there are treatments that do not involve medication. I wouldn't know if any of these would be indicated in your case.
These are the medications that I am taking currently:
Parnate 80 mg
nortriptyline 150 mg
Lamictal 200 mg
Abilify 10 mg
lithium 300mg
prazosin 12 mgNone of these drugs are redundant, and they all seem to complement each other. When I attempt to discontinue any one of these drugs, I relapse. When I try to reduce the dosage of any of these drugs, I relapse. It only took 31 years to get it right. I am extremely fortunate.
When one is depressed, it is difficult to find any positive energy to work with. This lack of positive energy begins on day 1 of depression. It is just the way that our psychobiology works. It is a heroic feat to maintain a positive attitude in the midst of the depressive state. I can't account for how anyone would maintain such an attitude as the years of depression and failed treatments accumulate.
- ScottSome see things as they are and ask why.
I dream of things that never were and ask why not.- George Bernard Shaw
poster:SLS
thread:1018788
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20120522/msgs/1018834.html