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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 7 of 7. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by francesco on February 3, 2004, at 5:26:06
I have taken lithium for just five days. I feel dulled. I want to come back to alternatives and I've just bought hypericum. Does anybody know if it can interacts with lithium ? I'm planning to stop lithium this evening. Thanks
Posted by TeeJay on February 3, 2004, at 17:35:23
In reply to lithium and st. john's wort interactions ?, posted by francesco on February 3, 2004, at 5:26:06
Hi francesco,
I've been reading your postings with interest for a while. LIke me, I can see you are having trouble finding something which actually makes a difference to how you feel.
If you dont mind me saying so, I think you might help yourself by giving things a bit more time. For example the lithium, ok, it might not help you, but it just might make you feel much better if you give it a bit of time.
Just an idea and not wishing to sound as if i'm preaching or anything ;-)
Oh, have you thought of perhaps taking a herb which counters the dullness like ginseng or somilar?
Regards
Teejay
Posted by francesco on February 8, 2004, at 12:23:17
In reply to Re: lithium and st. john's wort interactions ? » francesco, posted by TeeJay on February 3, 2004, at 17:35:23
Thanks for answering. You're right, I don't give meds the time to work. I'm scared of them and this is weird since I have been able to take Anafranil for years. I'm changing meds every week. My mental abilities have deteriorated, I'm abusing alcohol and I have devoloped severe anhedonia. Moreover I have a prostatis that is driving me crazy and I fear that meds can worsen it. I just don't know what to do, I don't know if I have to quit meds or taking them ... I think I have made a mess with my brain and I don't know know who to trust to recover ... I started st. john's wort but it's making me nauseous. I hope to discover that I have some kind of physical illness that will explain my over-reactions to meds. Sorry for this lonely post, I feel hopeless and I'm scared. There was a time when I thought to know a lot of things ... now I don't know anything.
> I've been reading your postings with interest for a while. LIke me, I can see you are having trouble finding something which actually makes a difference to how you feel.
>
> If you dont mind me saying so, I think you might help yourself by giving things a bit more time. For example the lithium, ok, it might not help you, but it just might make you feel much better if you give it a bit of time.
>
> Just an idea and not wishing to sound as if i'm preaching or anything ;-)
>
> Oh, have you thought of perhaps taking a herb which counters the dullness like ginseng or somilar?
>
> Regards
>
> Teejay
Posted by linkadge on February 8, 2004, at 18:34:04
In reply to Re: lithium and st. john's wort interactions ? » TeeJay, posted by francesco on February 8, 2004, at 12:23:17
Lithium will depress you at first. Its antidepressant effect kicks in much later.
However, lithium is the most broad spectrum psychotropic available, having efficacy in depression, mania, psychosis, anxiety, alzheimers. It is a powerful neuroprotectant, and significantly increases total grey matter over time.
When you're sick you need to trust somebody who can see farther than you can at the time.
Linkadge
Posted by TeeJay on February 8, 2004, at 19:13:59
In reply to Re: lithium and st. john's wort interactions ? » TeeJay, posted by francesco on February 8, 2004, at 12:23:17
Hi Francesco,
Just typed in a lengthy reply to you and my machine froze so I'm now having to type it all in again :-(
Sorry to hear you feel so alone and desperate, I've been there many times myself. It should give you some comfort to know that i'm currently feeling rather better. It should eencourage you because no matter how bad you feel now, you WILL feel better and the bad times really do get forgotten soooo quickly too once you start improving. ITs actually quite scary just how quickly you forget just how bad you did feel. I'm sure I'll have more bad times along my long recovery road, but days like the last couple make the fight worthwhile.
I'd suggest ditching the alcohol. I started drinking quit a bit around christmas and the anhedonia and depressive symptoms became quite bad after a while (alcohol is a natural depressant when used regularly) and so I packed it up. It took a while and I felt a little worse for a few days, but after those first few days, there was little doubt that I started to lose the serious anhedonia.
Changing meds every week or so is no strategy at all in my opinion. Apart from your lithium, why not take a bit of a breather from all the stuff you've prescribed yourself? I've done this myself in the past to allow my body chance to stabilise on its own without being swamped with stuff. It kinda allows me to step back and re-evaluate as its hard to evaluate your symptoms when you rattle everytime you take a step if you see what I mean ;-))
I have a feeling selenium is supposed to be good for the prostate (if my memory serves me correctly anyway).
If I could offer you any advice at all, it would be to stop worrying. Its easy to get into a state where one is worrying about worrying, and if one isnt worrying, then its a case of worrying about why you aren't worrying! LOL Relax, get out in the fresh air and just enjoy being alive....it might not sound like much, but show yourself how good it is to actually be alive and you just might start to believe it after a while ;-))
Take care Francesco and keep the postings coming.
Teejay
Posted by francesco on February 9, 2004, at 6:36:30
In reply to Re: lithium and st. john's wort interactions ? » francesco, posted by TeeJay on February 8, 2004, at 19:13:59
> Hi Francesco,
>
> Just typed in a lengthy reply to you and my machine froze so I'm now having to type it all in again :-(
>
> Sorry to hear you feel so alone and desperate, I've been there many times myself. It should give you some comfort to know that i'm currently feeling rather better. It should eencourage you because no matter how bad you feel now, you WILL feel better and the bad times really do get forgotten soooo quickly too once you start improving. ITs actually quite scary just how quickly you forget just how bad you did feel. I'm sure I'll have more bad times along my long recovery road, but days like the last couple make the fight worthwhile.
>
> I'd suggest ditching the alcohol. I started drinking quit a bit around christmas and the anhedonia and depressive symptoms became quite bad after a while (alcohol is a natural depressant when used regularly) and so I packed it up. It took a while and I felt a little worse for a few days, but after those first few days, there was little doubt that I started to lose the serious anhedonia.
>
> Changing meds every week or so is no strategy at all in my opinion. Apart from your lithium, why not take a bit of a breather from all the stuff you've prescribed yourself? I've done this myself in the past to allow my body chance to stabilise on its own without being swamped with stuff. It kinda allows me to step back and re-evaluate as its hard to evaluate your symptoms when you rattle everytime you take a step if you see what I mean ;-))
>
> I have a feeling selenium is supposed to be good for the prostate (if my memory serves me correctly anyway).
>
> If I could offer you any advice at all, it would be to stop worrying. Its easy to get into a state where one is worrying about worrying, and if one isnt worrying, then its a case of worrying about why you aren't worrying! LOL Relax, get out in the fresh air and just enjoy being alive....it might not sound like much, but show yourself how good it is to actually be alive and you just might start to believe it after a while ;-))
>
> Take care Francesco and keep the postings coming.
>
> TeejayThanks for the kind reply, you've been very encouraging. I think I'll quit the alcohol and st.john wort too. For me it's very difficult to follow a route whatsoever, actually I quit the lithium after a couple of days. Every time I take a new med I start wondering about the way they'll change my personality and if I feel different I just quit them. The last trials had been awful. I took an italian compound that mixes Parnate and stelazine for six days and I got early very confused. Now I'm wondering if stelazine had permanently damaged my brain. My hand are trembling but, of course, other explainations are possibile. I have a love-hate relationship with meds, my psychiatrist agrees with you that I have to stay off meds for a while. After the first days of lithium I began to act in a very stupid way, telling people things that I normally wouldn't tell. When I take meds I'm scared about not to know what will happen to my brain and behaviour. I was very pro-meds in the past, because they helped me a lot under certain respect, now I just don't know if taking them is the right move. Every med is a new personality and I've changed too many personalities in the last months. My psychiatrist seems to think I'm ultracycling and that my reactions to low doses of meds are too excessive not to be dued to nocebo effect. I don't know, I think that my general health is not so good as it was in the past and that this explains why I'm feeling so crap when I take meds. The last time I tried Anafranil 25mg for ten days I had a flu that lasted ten days and that ended up after I quit it. The last time I tried Prozac I had to quit after only ten days because I felt suicidal and I spoke like a zombie. This 'side effect' disappear when I quit it. When I don't take meds for a while I usually feel quite good but I still have adhd-like syntoms. When I take meds I easily get depressed. I 'must' concentrate because I have to study for a PHD, but I can't stand depression feelings because they're not part of my nature. Today I feel better and your post has been very helpful. Yes, better times will come, I'm just 28, is too early to give up. Thanks a lot again and keep posting
Posted by TeeJay on February 14, 2004, at 20:03:32
In reply to Re: lithium and st. john's wort interactions ? » TeeJay, posted by francesco on February 9, 2004, at 6:36:30
Hi francesco,
You're very welcome, it was a great pleasure posting up what I hoped were a few uplifting words. Its odd (but nice) how a few words from a stranger can be so helpful isnt it?
I can understand your remarks about how meds and even some herbs and vit regimes can seem to affect ones personality. I'm sure some of the more powerful meds do do this to a point, but I believe depression, anxiety and other mental disorders tend to rob us of the self confidence in our own identities and this allows us to start questioning ourselves all the time and also brings on a bit of what i'd call "identity paranoia" ie we start worrying about who we are and hence become super sensitive to any minute changes to what we do or how we think.
I'm no qualified doc or anything, but what has helped me is to take a trip down memory lane. I've dragged in lots of my old favourite music from BEFORE I got ill (well its what the internet is for isnt it???), and of course this has brought back lots of old memories like old girlfriends, cars, holidays etc etc, ie the things that helped make me, me! An amazing therapy as it helps to reaffirm ones identity.
The other thing i've done is to consciously make an effort to dump fretful and destructive self criticisms from my mind. Its odd, as at first my brain actually missed these behaviours almost as though I was addicted to them (I actually think addictive mechanisms play a powerful roll in depression and anxiety), but like most addictions it doesnt take too much effort for the cycle to be broken.
Anyway, I'm rambling :-)))
Talk to you soon! Regards
Teejay
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