rekkid Posted October 25, 2017 Share Posted October 25, 2017 Here's my cocktail: Divalproex (Depakote) ER 500mg Latuda 40mg Fluoxetine (Prozac) 20mg - Just switched from Lexapro Vyvanse 30mg For the last year or so I've been suffering from Anhedonia... and it's slowly taking over everything. I first noticed it with music. I DJ and produce music and it was/is a major part of my life and I LOVED doing it. I would spend all my free time putting together mixes, or creating new songs... then it became tiresome and a bore. I would sit at the computer and just not do anything. Soon I would be sitting in my chair in front of the tv and think, "Why bother... its not going to be fun or entertaining or do anything for me". Then it moved to video games. I would think about playing games instead of watching TV, but just couldn't be bothered because I felt no passion. I'd rather just stare at the TV. And for the last couple of months, it's moved onto my work. I love what I do, and love my job... but I just dont have a passion for it... I dont have a passion for anything! Maybe I'm just in a depressed state... I dont fell too sad... its just I dont feel at all anymore. I just got my PDoc to switch me over to Prozac to see if that might help. I just dont know about this doc. I've complained to her for about a year now. And the only thing we've tried (from my suggestion) was cutting back on my AD meds... which didnt work because my anxiety went through the roof... so we went back up. Now, again from my suggestion, we're trying Prozac. I forgot to mention... that I dont think it's depression... before the meds I was severely depressed but still passionate and interested in things... Music was my only savior from depression. Now it kills me that I cant enjoy it anymore. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iceberg Posted October 25, 2017 Share Posted October 25, 2017 Could it be the Depakote ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blahblah Posted October 25, 2017 Share Posted October 25, 2017 Maybe Depakote or perhaps a tolerance to Vyvanse? I've never tried Latuda. Prozac made me completely numb, emotionally flat-lined . Yes, it took away the crying/sadness and anxiety, but left me mindlessly bored & anhedonic. I feel that with meds and combos, always a compromise, pick your poison. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jt07 Posted October 26, 2017 Share Posted October 26, 2017 It's really impossible to tell. It could be one or all your meds or it could very well be your mental illness itself. My depression manifests itself mainly as apathy, anhedonia, and lack of motivation. Those are very difficult symptoms to treat, but I have found some relief with Abilify. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KnickNak Posted October 26, 2017 Share Posted October 26, 2017 6 hours ago, rekkid said: Fluoxetine (Prozac) 20mg - Just switched from Lexapro Could be this. I had a weird reaction with Prozac all of sudden I felt dead inside. But it's best to talk to your pdoc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikl_pls Posted October 27, 2017 Share Posted October 27, 2017 I can definitely empathize... I can't write music anymore. It's been about two years since I wrote my last song. I think it could either be the Depakote or the Prozac. My dad was a zombie when he was on the combination of Depakote and Lexapro. When he got off it, he was a completely different person. I don't know what your diagnosis is, though, so I don't know why you need the Depakote. (Bipolar?) Prozac and Lexapro are both SSRIs, but Prozac also blocks 5-HT2C receptors, which disinhibits release of norepinephrine and dopamine release, making it a norepinephrine-dopamine disinhibitor (NDDI) as well. Lexapro is a clean and pure SSRI without any extra pharmacological properties. Had you tried up to 40-80 mg of Prozac (or for all I know, you have!), perhaps it would've been more activating. Otherwise, perhaps either trying Zoloft, which is also a weak dopamine reuptake inhibitor (but you're on Vyvanse, which is much stronger) or trying an SNRI might help. Another thing that might help would be to raise the dose of your Vyvanse, if it's safe to do so. I've heard mixed things about Latuda doses... Some say higher doses of Latuda are needed for the benefits to be gained, like 60-80 mg at least, and some say it's like Geodon, wherein lower doses are more activating (20-40 mg). You could discuss this with your pdoc. Yet another possibility would be to add the mood stabilizer Lamictal, which would have to be especially titrated due to the Depakote. I hope you can find a solution, I know it's tough. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rekkid Posted October 27, 2017 Author Share Posted October 27, 2017 I have a feeling it's the Depakote, myself. I think the anhedonia started around the same time. But I've been better since taking it, I dont want to get off of it. I had severe anger issues, and the depakote seemed to help. My latest official Dx is cyclothymia. I was on AD for about a year for depression (Zoloft and then Lexapro). I was diagnosed by a nurse practitioner with Bipolar and put on Latuda. Then started seeing my Pdoc and she lowered me down to cyclothymia and put me on Depakote. I think @Blahblah is right... you got to pick your poison. Have no feelings, or have all the feels. My mom died earlier this year, and I felt nothing. A bit of shock because it was sudden and out of the blue... but still thats all. My Tdoc said its because she moved literally half-way across the world 6 years ago and even before that hadn't much contact for years... but still... I should have felt something... should have shed a tear... something! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ion Posted October 27, 2017 Share Posted October 27, 2017 On 10/25/2017 at 11:39 PM, jt07 said: It's really impossible to tell. It could be one or all your meds or it could very well be your mental illness itself. I agree. Anhedonia for me is one of the largest symptoms of my depression and the one that responds least to any treatment. It wasn't always a major factor but it has increased over the years I've been depressed. It's possible your cocktail just isn't working well enough. Of course it's also a side-effect for some meds/people. I would suspect the Lexapro or the Depakote, but I don't have experience with all of the meds you are on. I found Lexapro's cousin Celexa really increased my apathy. I took Depakote a long time ago, but I think it was quite zombie-ish. I'm currently trying to find a good combination of meds for anhedonia. It's a really tough one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
browri Posted November 4, 2017 Share Posted November 4, 2017 Keep in mind that your passion for things can be driven by the "upside" of a mood swing. Depakote is going to smooth out those waves. So the anhedonia could be a symptom of your depression, something that's being actively caused by a medication, or you could simply be feeling what it's like to just be "normal" (whatever that means lol). If I were to put my finger though on a medication actually CAUSING anhedonia, I would pick the Prozac and the Latuda. Increasing the Vyvanse could improve the anhedonia. I had issues with anhedonia and apathy on Lexapro especially and also on Prozac albeit to a slightly lesser extent. I don't feel that way on Trintellix though. Next to no side effects once you get through the adjustment period. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrianOCD Posted December 3, 2017 Share Posted December 3, 2017 (edited) On 10/25/2017 at 4:20 PM, rekkid said: And for the last couple of months, it's moved onto my work. I love what I do, and love my job... but I just dont have a passion for it... I dont have a passion for anything! Maybe I'm just in a depressed state... I dont fell too sad... its just I dont feel at all anymore. I just got my PDoc to switch me over to Prozac to see if that might help. I just dont know about this doc. I've complained to her for about a year now. And the only thing we've tried (from my suggestion) was cutting back on my AD meds... which didnt work because my anxiety went through the roof... so we went back up. Now, again from my suggestion, we're trying Prozac. I forgot to mention... that I dont think it's depression... before the meds I was severely depressed but still passionate and interested in things... Music was my only savior from depression. Now it kills me that I cant enjoy it anymore. I learned very much this year that we have to catch depression early or it just gets worse. If you struck at it when song creating became tiresome and boring it wouldnt have progressed. (assuming you can get at it with something) I had similar issues to you. I love my job, but suddenly I was missing days. It started with just 1 or 2 days here and there, suddenly I was only going in a few times a week. Self-employment. Then I realized nothing was stimulating me at home either, nothing was interesting. So my sleep started getting worse. I sleep more when I'm depressed...well when I'm happy too. (I just like sleep ) That lack of passion for anything though...ya it's depression...The way I usually gauge it is, if I lose interest in one or two things, ok I'm just bored of those. It's when I lose interest in everything around me that I know this is depression. I'd recommend Effexor if you find Prozac isnt doing the trick. It always seem to do the trick....shitty part is it has that one horrible side effect of messing with libido and sex drive that I'm still struggling to overcome. Edited December 3, 2017 by BrianOCD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iceberg Posted December 3, 2017 Share Posted December 3, 2017 Depakote caused similar problems for me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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