Behold, the little pills that fill my gullet. Arleen had asked me what anti-depressants I am on. I am on Luvox used primarily to treat obsessive compulsiveness. And Lexapro for depression. I don't think the Luvox is working so well for the obsessive compulsiveness, but great as an anti-depressant. I can still drink a 12-pack of cokes in two hours and smoke 3 packs of cigarettes in 12 hours so the obsessive compulsiveness is still there.
If you are a consumer of psychiatric care, what medications are you on and what works for you? It is a painstaking trial and error process to find the right combination of medications. It took me and my doctors years. And there is still room for improvement.
14 comments:
I have a friend with OCD. I will find out what works for her. Her's is pretty well controlled.
Also, a study several years ago found that 60mg or more of Prozac curbed the obsessive/compulsive drive of bulimia. That ultimately helped me.
Eating disorders and OCD are very similar ... just a thought.
I do not know much about OCD but for depression zoloft and welbutrin seem to work just fine ;-)
Have you tried behavior modification for the OCD? I understand it works really well for some people and you can improve it quite a bit if not cure it altogether with the right tools. Maybe there is a dr near you that can show you.
that's the hardest part, the trial and error on our bodies as we try out the ones that we hope each time will make us more real each time we take them to swallow..
so much easier on the doctors, after all, they just get writers cramp from all the trial and errors.
Merry Christmas Andrew!!
elizabeth
I am currently on Zoloft for depression and Trazadone to help me sleep (don't take the sleeping pill very often). My doctor also recently attempted to put me on Welbutrin also however the side effects were awful and I stopped taking it.
Good Luck finding what works for you.
200mg of Seroquel for schizoaffective disorder. I'm not entirely sure it works since I had a psychotic break in 2007 while taking it. But, it probably does work indirectly by forcing me to sleep.
I am on Zoloft for depression and it works off and on. I'm thinking of asking the doc to try something different.
Thanks for the info, Andrew. :-) My daughter has schizoaffective disorder, and it has taken years with her, too, to find the right combination. What's worse is finding a med that works for one thing, only to have it cause something else. So now she's on Geodon (anti-psychotic), Cogentin (controls the shakes that Geodon gives her and also helps calm her panic attacks), and Wellbutrin for depression. The added blessing in the Goedon/Wellbutrin combination is that she lost a lot of weight that her previous anti-depressants and anti-psychotics had caused her to gain.
I really wish I could go back on the Cymbalta. I was feeling pretty decent for awhile.
So that's why you go over to your parent's house for you 'two cokes'! Merry Christmas, Andrew!
I love your Christmas blog design....Merry Christmas!
I have been on many different anti-depressants and combinations of medications for my depression for years. The most recent combination was Wellbutrin, Lexapro and Klonopin. I have a pretty severe anxiety disorder, too, so the Klonopin works wonders when I need it. I have to take at least 1mg for it to even work, while most folks take half that to make them sleep. Right now, I'm blessed to be off of all medications. I am struggling a bit though, and after the holidays will probably go back to the doctor and go back on the Wellbutrin, at the minimum. The holidays are always so stressful me. I'm so glad that you are doing so well, Andrew. You are such an inspiration!
I have dysthymic depression + major depression (episodes) + generalized anxiety disorder... all coloured by Asperger Syndrome. I also have some minor repetitive compulsions.
Over the last 16 years, I have taken Luvox, Prozac, and Effexor. I took Effexor for the longest - about 12 years.
When Effexor stopped being as effective, I took the highest dose of Effexor along with Wellbutrin, low-dose Elavil (for headaches), and Buspirone plus Remeron for anxiety.
I'm still working on the right doses/meds. After having some problems with controlling my emotions I weaned myself off of everything... Except for the lowest dose of Effexor. Effexor causes weird addiction, where you get brutal side effects if you try to stop.
I'm not fixed, but I'm surviving.
i suffer from a sub-category of bipolar disorder known as cyclothymia, it's heavier on the depressions and not so much on the manias, although i have had some humdingers in my time. i've tried just about every antidepressant there is, and most gave me side effects that were almost as debilitating as the depression itself. finally settled on wellbutrin for many years, but eventually, it stopped working. i switched to cymbalta a month ago, hoping that the pain relieving benefits would also be good for my MS symptoms. it is also used to treat general anxiety disorder, although not in my case. it's probably too soon to judge yet, but so far it definitely has helped with my chronic pain and *most* of my depression symptoms. the disorganized thinking is still really bad though, and it makes it pretty much impossible to get work done.
my husband has chronic depression and is doing well on wellbutrin for now. he suffered through two years of constant stomach aches before he settled in with it, though. he tried a whole list of other antidepressants before that, but they hurt his stomach to the point where he was debilitated with pain. he tends to have a sensitive stomach, anyway. i dread the day when the wellbutrin stops working for him and we have to go through this mess again. ugh. i can't even tell you how much i dread that. especially since i'll probably have to drag his depressed and negative-thinking butt every step of the way.
My son has OCD with depression and takes Luvox, which is great for the depression and does curb SOME of the OCD symptoms. But remember that OCD is also behavioral in nature, so some behavior modification is necessary in conjunction with the medication. The combination of behavioral therapy and Luvox seems to be the right combination for him, because he knows he can't depend solely on the pills.
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