new meds
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Cammy Offline
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#1
new meds
So I was on Mirtazepine (Remeron) for anxiety and panic attacks. It was working great until my body suddenly decided to make it a trigger for major migraines. I tried reducing the dose, taking it every other day, you name it, but nothing worked. I consulted with a P doc and he gave me an Rx for a very old fashioned tricyclic drug called Nortriptyline HCL. It will take a couple of months to have it work and to increase the dose until therapeutic blood levels are realized, and after all that it may not work. It seems that my many years on SSRIs have made me super sensitive to anything that increases the serotonin levels in my brain. Mirtazepine is an SNRI, so even though it had the "N"part working for me, the part that increased the serotonin would wake me up with headaches so painful that I was literally blind with the pain. Not good. I hope this old tricyclic works. So far, after a few weeks, all I've noticed is daytime grogginess, but I can still feel the underlying anxiety. Darn. However, we still have to give it a few more months before we can really tell.

So, if any of you out there have any experience with anti-anxiety meds, I'd love to hear from you. I do have Clonazepam for emergency use, but you mustn't take benzos all the time as they are highly addictive and take a dreadfully long time to taper off of. Anyone here with any anxiety issue experience, your input would be appreciated. Thanks so much.
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07-16-2017, 01:53 PM
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Cammy Offline
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#2
RE: new meds
Well it is too bad these meds aren't working right now because I am definitely now in the depression pit, which I affectionately refer to as the Abyss, as well as dealing with the anxiety. It astounds me that I don't have a persona that is immune to this, because this would be a great time to switch. It is so frustrating when you are doing everything you're supposed to do to help yourself and things still keep slipping into the pit. I suppose, however, that things will eventually get better seeing as they always have in the past. This can take months, however, and this is the hard part - finding ways to hang on until some light manages to start creeping in.

That Christian site that is supposed to be great for sharing ideas and giving mutual support did exactly what I was afraid they would do if I reached out to them. Instead of trying to encourage me, they dove right in to the fact that my words were not properly backed up by scripture and thus the entire basis for my thinking was biblically incorrect. Seriously? These are people who pray for each other when someone has a prayer request because they want a different job, but when I ask for help because I am depressed to the point of losing interest in life itself, I get a lecture on not correctly using scripture to back up what I am saying. I am so done with these morons. Holy moly. I am SO glad the people at my church aren't this legalistic and cold hearted. How nasty and mean is that?
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07-17-2017, 03:54 PM
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nats Offline
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#3
RE: new meds
we have someone who spends most of her time in the abyss. she's very difficult to be around and really struggles when she's out, but she's quite cool. nobody on the outside has gotten to know her properly because she's so negative and hard to be around. it's a shame. too many people are very judgemental, and they miss out on so much because of it - like your christian friends.

we're sorry you're struggling and wish we had some advice on meds. we just wondered if maybe you do have someone who deals with it for you, but maybe they don't deal with it by switching it off.
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07-17-2017, 06:38 PM
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The People Offline
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#4
RE: new meds
We have been on benzos for a long, long time. Yes they may be hard to come off but given the fact that I will probably always have anxiety I have no immediate plans to come off them. I did use them in the same way that you do in the past. It wasn't enough though. I am now on.... can never remember the name but it is neither of the above mediations. I had been off AD for a long time and then reached a point where I needed something to help me cope. Pharmacists have suggested changing every 3 months but I don't think that would work for me as I am highly prone to side effects. This one I am on is often use to treat fibromyalgia.
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07-18-2017, 04:01 AM
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Cammy Offline
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#5
RE: new meds
I find that these depression meds take so darn long to get working. I went for a blood test to see what my therapeutic blood level was, and they wouldn't do the test because it has to be done an hour before I usually take the drug. That would mean being in the lab when there's a ton of people and I can't do that, so I'm going to have to try and manage my meds on my own. What else is new? If I don't feel better in another week or so, I'll increase the dose on my own. No crowded labs for this girl - forget it. They just don't realize how nuts I am and what they're asking me to do. No one thinks about crazy people when they make all these lab rules.
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07-27-2017, 12:46 AM
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just peachy Offline
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#6
RE: new meds
hi cammy I am not your dr and I am not trying to be one I mention all this only as info that may be helpful to u from my experiences on those meds and ...I ts really funny cuz I have been on all of those drugs that u wrote about plus I have been on Xanax small amounts they r pretty much the only meds that I have taken on and off in the last 25 to 30 yrs of experimenting with the drugs ..psych drugs I am referring to . that have worked well and helped me a get through the tough times I tried tons of other drugs tha t were in every psych drugs category to no avail all I got was sicker from it all.. .may I suggest something that moas well as ruin yourst people don't realize is if u have ? s ask a pharmacist believe it or not it is the person to ask ..they know a lot more then the drs do about the meds and how they work in your body what there function is and how long they take to go in and out of your body ..cause they have to know how the drugs interact with each other.as well t.hey also pretty much know what a dr does but they work in a pharmacy instead of in an office....I am saying this cuz I have over most of the last 25 yrs have had to rely on them cuz I had lousey drs and psych docs that were lazy and didn't do their jobs properly and just threw a bunch of pills at me ..so they could get paid with no instructions no info about t hem or how to take them ..I found a helpful psych dr he was my dr for 4 yrs then he moved back to Minnesota where he is from.. nortriptiline is no med u want to play around with cammy please only my personal suggestion don't up the dose on your own without a drs supervision it could make u very sick .... .
07-27-2017, 11:56 PM
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just peachy Offline
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#7
RE: new meds
cammy I ran out of room so I will continue ..every persons body takes to and reacts to this drug differently ...the nortriptiline i am referring to ...if u go higher on your own u could ruin your kidneys .the dr does it slowly and knows how high he can go ..he also knows the range it has to be in ..my dr told me my range has to be between 17 and 100 and mine was 17 whenever I did the level at the hospital lab and he said it was perfect ...i only needed a small dose for it to work 50mg for it to work ...he went up to 75 mg and it went off the charts into the dangerous level.so i went back down to 50mg cuz he said it was not a safe..level it was dangerously high he said... .the other thing is the reason not to play around with it on your own is there r other meds that actually make it harder to get the norttriptiline out of your system .and they interact with them ..they r some of the obgyn infection meds cant remember the med names that interact it happened to me it took about 2 months to get the nortriptiline out when i wanted to stop it ..cuz it was being taken with the obgyn meds..together .. all this i wrote was what my psych dr told me when i was on it none of what i wrote was my medical opinion but his .. just so u know i also reacted the way u did in your approach to taking meds ..they do take a long time and they r a lot of work ..that's y with my drs supervision i go off them when i don't feel depressed anymore ..
07-28-2017, 12:44 AM
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Cammy Offline
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#8
RE: new meds
JP: Thank you SO MUCH for the warning JP. I appreciate it very much. I had already decided NOT to play doctor and increase the dose, but I do appreciate your warning. I think that they are starting to work cuz I've been on them over a month, so that's about the right amount of time for things to start kicking in. I would have really pissed off my doctor if I had self-medicated, and I need her (the b*tch) on my side. Eventually, I'll get to the lab and it will likely show that I am in my therapeutic range. Thanks against sweetie - it was SO kind of you to give me this warning.
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07-29-2017, 02:20 PM
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dreamers Offline
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#9
RE: new meds
Have you tried SAMe? it's a supplement. The body's uncle swears up down and sideways it helps his depression and PTSD ( he was in Iraq the first time)
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07-31-2017, 07:42 AM
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