Sephiroth999

Once a day, sometimes twice. About 5 or 6 days a week... The reasoning to taking it as-needed rather than around the clock is just that. So I have more control over the clonazepam than it has control over me. We tried Seroquel (zombie is an understatement) with nothing resembling improvement. The gabapentin is supposed to help me need less klonopin which I do think it does work for this. My pdoc says that if I want to he could theoretically completely wean me from klonopin to Depakote, but Depakote without a stimulant and/or antidepressant makes me not very functional. I think I'm going to ask for nortriptyline next time I see him as there is in my view not nearly enough anti-depress effect with my cocktail. Somebody mentioned symbyax too, and I know some people that swear by symbyax. Supposedly the Zyprexa is supposed to relax you to sleep while the Prozac get you moving through the day. At this point there are plenty of options.

Lamictal + SOMETHING seems to do the trick. One time it was lamictal+Remeron 30 mg, the other time was lamictal+nortriptyline 10 mg three times a day. I would describe my experience with nortriptyline as Remeron minus the sedation/sleep effect. Buspirone does have a mild antidepressant effect with no numbing. I actually like it.

FYI, I can not tolerate any of the SSRI's, SNRI's or Wellbutrin too many side effects and too emotionally numbing. I did like Remeron and nortriptyline and I might actually ask for one of those it next time. Lamictal at my current dose doesn't really cause much mood elevation so much as it prevents the really bad lows. I really don't have any mania or hypomania either.

Somebody not long back did one of these kinds of "help me with my cocktail" posts. I am in a similar situation here so I thought I would do one. Check my signature below for my meds and dosing schedule. Well, I have a few options. Some way to perhaps get me moving again and not ruminate on something I did 14 years ago. The depression can be summed up in one word "anhedonia". The anxiety can get to the point of social withdrawal. I would describe it as a sense of of "jitteriness" and hypersensitivity, but when I am alone I go into hyper focus and can't really enjoy things. Needing less of prn Adderall and clonazepam would be nice too. My doctor is giving me some wiggle room on where to raise them, but if I do have to without his immediate say so I can only do one of these changes at a time.... 1. raise lamictal from 50 to 75 mg 2. raise risperidone from 1 to1.5 mg 3. go from buspirone 15 mg twice to three times daily 4. go from gabapentin 300mg twice to three times daily Thanks.

buspirone - anxiety/racing thoughts clonazepam- anxiety/agitation lamotrigine - depression/mood stabilization gabapentin - anxiety/jitteriness/headaches Adderall - depression/energy/focus risperidone - agitation/cloudy thinking I would like to cut this down to 3 maybe 4 meds. I'm kind of meh about some of them.

Idea 1. Add low dose (~1mg) risperidone to augment the antidepressant properties of the Effexor (risperidone in very low dose can enhance the depression and anxiety relief from SSRI's and SNRI's) idea 2. lower Depakote and add in 300-450mg of lithium. That high of a dose of Depakote might be contributing to depression and the lithium could give you a lift because it works on mania AND depression while Depakote just mania and low dose lithium needs much less if any monitoring. idea 3. add a tiny bit of Adderall (5-10mg) for depression relief and clarity of thought/focus Also, relating to low dose lithium, this is worth checking out. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22796912

Adderall.

Acupuncture sessions (human pin cushion). Nardil! The dietary restrictions are a pain in the neck but this was the most effective antidepressant I have ever tried.

Do yourself a favor and get the .25 tablets... You can work with your doctor to find the sweet spot ...0.5...0.75... 1,...1.25 etc. .

This med raises my prolactin in an unfair way too. Anything more than 1.5mg a day and it gets about as high as yours. I benefit from very low doses...even as low as 0.25mg helped me when I needed it and no raise in prolactin there but 1mg and over and it starts to show. Good thing I benefit from very low doses of it. I like it so much that I'm actually going to ask for it again. I'm sure he will start me at 0.25mg and go up in .25 increments every few days. I love this med for clarity of thought and intrusive thought patterns. Is it actually helping your symptoms at your current dose? PS: No breast enlargement.

I absolutely love my buspar. It's the only other med that actually helps with anxiety besides benzos...and I have tried everything. Were you able to drastically reduce your benzos on this? If so did it buffer the withdrawal? Some months back my dr. screwed up my klonopin Rx and I had terrible withdrawals which took about 3 weeks to completely recover from. I was on 2mg 3x a day so it was not anything resembling fun when being cut off of it. I am also titrating up on lamictal for "agitation and depression" and use Adderall XR as needed for energy and motivation when I need something stronger than coffee.. Also, if not Buspar...what got you off your benzos?

I am currently undergoing a very slow titration of Lamictal. There is no other way of describing it but it did not worsen or lessen my anxiety, just made what I was anxious about at a distance than actually lowering it at all. It's already having an effect at the tiny dose I am on. I'm hoping when I can get to whatever target dose that it would reduce it. I had panic ever before I ever touched meds and klonopin is the only one that works. Like the kind where it feels like your going to get a seizure or a heart attack. It acts as a buffer with the lamictal too for me. It's really a great med so I would say give it time.