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Quetiapine+antidepressant combination therapy.


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Finally found myself a fairly competent p-doc recommended by a doctor friend of mine, its costing me an arm and a leg but my whole future depends on it :) I had an issue on the california rocket fuel pooping out monthly and I requested for lamotrigine as a mood stabilizer but she gave me quetiapine instead as it according to her works faster than lamictal. Do you have any success stories on seroquel for treatment resistant depression? I`m currently on 200mg Seroquel XR before bed and the p-doc told me to take additional 25mg IR:s when in the need for regarding anxiety. I`ve found 2x 25mg IR to be the most optimal dose for me during the day. I have tried to avoid queatiapine and didnt get any clarification from the doc on the mechanism that this drug should work on depression as its a serotonine antagonist aswell as a dopamine antagonist on larger doses so I fear that my adhd is going to kick in big time because of this. Hope it all turns right, its my third week on it anyway and I`ve been relatively calm now and we meet with the p-doc every two weeks now in the beginning. I could be happier but there is always the option to ask lamotrigine again.

 

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Hey - 

 

I did well on Seroquel for a long time - I found that it did stabilize my mood.  I was on a bunch of other stuff at the time, so it's hard for me to say whether it specifically helped my depression, but I did use it with an antidepressant.

 

When it comes to how meds work, it's not as simple as agonist/antagonist.  Seroquel has some inhibition of norepinephrine reuptake, so that could be part of it.  It also antagonizes specific types of serotonin receptors, so it's not necessarily that it turns down serotonin - it's more complicated than that.  Same with dopamine.  It may have change the distribution of activity in different parts of the brain or different types of cells.

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Thank you for your input, the therapeutic mechanism of psychotropic medications are often unclear to even the inventors of these substances so its best to rely in general experience, personal feelings and success stories so great to hear it has worked for you. I`ll wait and see, the p-doc insisted that quetiapine works fast on depressive symptoms but according to user experiences it can take a while. We are getting in touch next week by telephone with my doc so I think I`m a lot wiser by then :)

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I actually take a quetiapine-lamotrigine combo. The quetiapine helped the depression, but not quite enough and I would start getting more depressed toward the end of the day, so my pdoc slowly added a low dose of lamotrigine. This particular combination has helped me more than anything else I've taken. I don't know the therapeutic mechanism behind either of them, especially the lamotrigine. Sometimes it seems like psychiatry boils down to, "We know it works but we're not sure why."

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Thats exactly what I`m going to ask next, to add some Lamictal to my cocktail. The current combination does work in some extent, it does make things a bit more stable but I would give a score 7/10 for it regarding my mood which was around nine when the California Rocket Fuel worked at its best before pooping out. I`m still a bit anxious but definitely better than I was before the quetiapine, I still would appreciate a slight mood lift :) Quetiapine itself is a trendy option here in northern europe for a variety of psychiatric ailments, Its always the first line medication for things ranging from general anxiety to psychotic symptoms, though I`ve never went even close to being hypo and in my case I would require only some medication to my depressive episodes and lamictal would be a good choice according to my personal studies.

Edited by AugmentedReality
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Damn it, still getting a no from my P-doc regarding lamictal. She called today and asked how I`m doing, I responded that I`m still noticeably depressed and extremely tired. She upped my Seroquel to 300mg/d, wished luck to me and told me to get to the ER if in need to. We are getting in contact next week and in her opinion we need to continue with quetiapine for a while before making any other decisions. Sucks :(

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