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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 3 of 3. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by Squiggles on March 25, 2003, at 9:02:22
Hello everyone,
It is with a slight sense of humiliation that
i write here again, as i was banned a few times.
I will try again, as i need the information
for a close relative of mine who is at times
suicidal on account of a series of failed, AD
tries. The one drug that does work has a great
number of side effects. I believe she has gone
through about 18-20 ADs, mostly SSRIs. She has
a very difficult and cognitively taxing occupation
and needs to be sharp. This last drug, Serzone
is proving to be another failure.I am hoping that she will ask for Remeron, as it
seem appropriate for heavy unipolar depression.
I just hope it is availabe in Canada. If anyone
has had good results with it, i would appreciate
your feedback.She is very tired from going from one drug to
another, and i fear that she may not be able
to withstand this indefinitely. The insomnia
and anxiety along with the heavy mental work
is taking its toll and i do fear the worst.As for me, I managed to put an end to a 3-yr. bout
of daily diarrhea by reducing my lithium dose
(only one third on Sundays) for a month. I think
that helped. However, i did something stupid, from
which i am recovering now and have learned my lesson,
and to make a long story short, here is the post
reposted from sci.med.pscyhobiology where i hope
to get a reply. These are pharmaceuticals questions.I am sorry this is such a long post, but i have
been elsewhere for a while:_____________________________________
_____________________________________"Lithium withdrawal and reinstatement:
I have had experience with clonazepam withdrawal a couple
of years ago, which was excruciatingly awful, resulting in
seizure and necessity of reinstatement with an addition to
the pre-withdrawal dose.That is history.
The interesting thing is that this time, I decided to
cut 300mg lithium of my normal daily 900mg dose ONLY on
Sundays. I did this for a month and a couple of weeks.I did it because i had diarrhea for three years. I was
successful, and stopped the diarrhea, unless of course
it was a coincidence with the clonazepam withdrawal reaching
its limit.Then, I became foolishly bold, and cut 300mg of the daily 900mg
lithium dose on 2 consecutive days. It was a mistake. The
result was "cluster headache" in (remarkably) the same areas
of the head - top flat pressure, and left inner ear heat and
buzzing. I reinstated almost as soon as i felt these effects
as i knew that they were the prodromal signals of further trouble.However, it took 4 days for these painful symptoms to go away.
Thank God, I am ok now. The clonazepam withdrawal symptoms lasted 2
yrs., without much improvement and leading to stroke/seizure.QUESTIONS:
1. Was it the reinstatement of the lithium ( i also take clonazepam
but did not touch that dose) that brought me to level ground
four days later?2. Were the four days of reaching level ground a result of
reinstating the lithium dose or of the time it took to reverse
the "damage" of the withdrawal?3. Would the withdrawal have been stopped faster and earlier
if lithium or clonazepam had been increased?4. Were the head sensations (similar to K withdrawal) an
indication of a brain change state from taking the drugs for
so long, a habituation which would eventually return to steady
state (even after 24 yrs of taking the drug), or the indication
of the underlying bipolar disorder in its essence?5. If it were the last possibility, i.e. bipolar underlying disorder,
why did it not feel like this upon initial loading of the drug?
That is, why was the initial state of what was presumed to be
bipolar disorder so phenomenologically different in subjective
sensations. For example, there was then anxiety, insomnia, depression,
but certainly no such sensations in the head.Well, i hope i have not bored you to death. Please excuse my lay
language. Any enlightenment in this area would be heartily
welcome."
Thanks for reading.Squiggles
Posted by Essence on March 26, 2003, at 6:30:31
In reply to desperate times, posted by Squiggles on March 25, 2003, at 9:02:22
Hi Squiggles;
I have been on Remeron since January 2002 (30 mg) with good results. It lifted me out of a 18 mos depression that left be debilitated and on the sofa for that time. Start up was a bit rocky and twice I thought it was pooping out on me. I stuck with it though and have found that it's a drug that keeps getting better the longer your on it. The only down-side for me was that it didn't help with anxiety. I had to add Clonazepam to the mix. I sleep well, wake rested and have energy. For the first 10 months I didn't experience any weight gain, then in October of last year due to a personal family crisis I started binge eating so the weight gain was my own fault and not drug related. I did gain 15+ lbs in two months (Oct & Nov)and in January started seeing a dietitian and have lost about 2/3 of the weight that I had gained and am still losing. As for being sharp, I do find this med hinders word recall and short term memory for me. But that may be unique to me. Hope this helps. Ess
Posted by Squiggles on March 26, 2003, at 7:32:47
In reply to Re: desperate times » Squiggles, posted by Essence on March 26, 2003, at 6:30:31
It helps a lot Ess.
Thank you. I am sorry about the anxiety part --
that is not good, though the monograph i read
says that it is one of the lesser anxiety producing
ADs. One good thing it has over Serzone in this
are though, is that you can actually ADD a benzo.
With Serzone, it is "contraindicated". I am
optimistic that this may be given a try.Thank you for your feedback and good luck with
it. It may take months before it is really shows
its mettle.Squiggles
This is the end of the thread.
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