Posted by Greg on July 26, 2000, at 19:50:31
In reply to Re: Update on meds and thoughts, posted by dove on July 26, 2000, at 15:57:20
Hi Dove!
My God, with the dosage you were taking it's no wonder you were a zombie all the time! The reaction I described was to 200mgs, 600 would have put me into a coma, after eating all of the food in the house first of course. I can't even fathom it! The thing that is concerning me the most about the Teg/Despiramine combo is the sleep effects. My doc was very clear about about the Desp making me very drowsy and to make sure I took it just before going to bed. But he said nothing about the Teg doing that. The first night I slept horribly, waking with the stomach cramps, but last night after halving the dose to 100 (and not stuffing myself all night) I slept really well and was able to shake off the morning fog with little effort. No mood swings or anger today either, although I have trouble believing that the med could have worked that quick. I remain cautiously optimistic. Tonight will tell the tale I guess.
Your experience with the Teg sounds like a total nightmare! Did your doc insist that you continue taking it even though it was having this reaction on you? I'd a had to been killin' somebody! I think that your not wanting to eat surprises me the most. I absolutely gorged myself, couldn't get enough food. I'm glad the Teg isn't a part of your life anymore.
I think the thing that upsets me most about this whole deal is that I was really feeling good for months, and now suddenly the bottom drops out! It really pisses me off! I don't want to feel this way, dancing thru the house one minute, biting someone's head off the next. I talked to a good friend of several years at work today and told her what I was going thru. When I was done, she looked at me and smiled and said "Sounds just like PMS to me". I couldn't help but laugh. Life teaches me lessons everyday, whether I want to learn them or not....
I hope things continue to improve for you. You are always in my thoughts and knowing that I'm in yours makes me feel better already!
Hugs,
Greg> Hello again Greg :-)
>
> Affirming St. James' input about drug interactions, I too count on the meds interacting with each other in order to take smaller dosages, have less side-effects, and to obtain better and wider results. I was on Amitriptyline, Adderall, Wellbutrin, and Prozac all at the same time. If you run this combo through a drug interaction checker I think you'll find some "serious" interactions. Unfortunately, it didn't do a whole lot of good for me, as I degenerated into a suicidal mess, unable to even look at myself in the mirror. I don't know enough about Desipramine to say definitively whether or not it is as dangerous as combining Amitriptyline w/ Prozac.
>
> Tegretol... I hate this med with a passion, as it brought me out of my dream world into the darkest pits of depression. I was a depressed, detached zombie. I dropped out of college, got pregnant, and sat in the dark for days on end. I never laughed, never felt any joy, and was scared to death that I was actually going to die due to sitting on the floor, in a corner, with no lights, with no food, for days and days at a time. So... I'm happily surprised by your significantly more positive reaction to the med :-) I should also note that I was prescribed Tegretol for migraine black-outs (black-out as in fainting and hitting the floor really hard and possibly epileptic in nature.). At that time I was taking no ther meds and my initial dosage was some where between 450mgs and 600mgs. All I did was sleep and sleep at first, and when I woke up, all I did was behave like a vampiric zombie.
>
> I'm not being very positive with regard to the mood-stabilizer Tegretol, but on a more positive note I just started an anti-seizure med Neurontin (Gabapentin) for my own extreme mood-swings. Initial dosage was 600mgs, taken all at once before bed (with my all-in-one dose of Amitriptyline and Serzone, and I'm *still* struggling to fall asleep at night. Yikes!!!). I've been super-duper surprised by my reaction to the mood-stabilizer, I was *so* afraid that I would turn into zombie woman again (like with the Tegretol) but instead I feel truly tinged with mania for the second time in ten years.
>
> I had this feeling momentarily when I increased my Wellbutrin I believe, but it only lasted 24 hours. Whereas, this Neurontin induced manic feeling has lasted since last Thursday, and I can definitely tell the difference between this aggravated-agressive-hot-tempered, but optimistic and in love with people and the world "high" versus the really mellow subdued "UP" that I experienced with Verapamil (Oh how I miss it). I've been dxed w/ bipolar for a while now and my p-doc was totally centered on ridding me of my depression before starting a mood-stabilizer. My p-doc move to sunny Cali last month and it was my new p-doc (although temporary because he's going to retire in a few months) who said I really need the mood-stabilizer in order to beat the depression.
>
> I am having some short-term memory difficulties, can't keep track of all the loose ends I need to attend to, lose track of time in hours not minutes, and am experiencing big angry downs when the Neurontin has worn off, so-to-speak. I really want to split the dosage in half, in order to cover the daylight hours better, but my doc wants me to take it all at once. I do metabolize meds at double the normal speed, this being part of the problem with my negative response to Prozac (nausea and the shakes in late afternoon and evening and super adrenalin-filled *rushes* for the first three hours after I took it in the morning.). I've even had blood tests done, especially when I was taking Tegretol, that would convince my doc that I wasn't taking the med at all, and she would up the dosage, telling me that I was either lying or I needed more to actually do the job.
>
> We're all so unique and yet, fundamentally the same under our thick and thin skin. Best wishes and thoughts are keeping vigil for you Greg!!!
>
> dove
poster:Greg
thread:41333
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20000717/msgs/41472.html