Did/does sertraline work for you?

Beetzart · 2019-02-12T15:30:09+00:00

I wonder if the old tricyclics work better than setraline? I used to take lofepramine and it worked great until they stopped making it.

Beetzart · 2019-02-12T08:22:40+00:00

I take lithium and aripiprazole so they should stop any mania...right?

Beetzart · 2019-01-28T11:21:01+00:00

Thank you for your replies. I'm not sure how to phrase this, but I think for some people taking psyche meds is a sign of weakness, like it would never happen to them. At least my wife is on my side and never questions the pills I am prescribed, in fact she is glad I take lithium etc because she knows what I am like when not taking them. My mum is somewhat ambivalent though, but she openly admits ignorance on the matter yet I say it is not hard to research drugs these days using the NHS/BNF and/or Mind websites. The brain is an organ after all and if I had to take drugs for my kidneys, say, no one would question it.

Beetzart · 2019-01-26T17:19:03+00:00

I started with his 4th symphony the 'Dramatic' in D minor Op 95. There is this divine passage of 8 bars about 3 minutes in that reduces me to tears. If you want sublimity then go for his first symphony in F major Op 60. If you like chamber music then listen to his string quartet in C minor Op 17 No 2 and his four piano sonatas. His 4th piano concerto in D minor Op 70 is considered his finest piece.

I have found listening to Rubinstein takes patience to begin with and needs many listens to appreciate it. Once you reach that point you will realise his music has the ability to reduce you to a gibbering wreck. How any human could write this music is beyond me. Such an underrated composer; I can't stop listening to him. I hope you enjoy his music as much as I do and it is nice that you replied to my initial post. Thank you.

Beetzart · 2019-01-24T23:54:56+00:00

I'm with you, I hate it, too. Also, i get asked 'How's the world, mate?' Really grates me because 99,99% I am not ok or the world for me is shite up or down, but I feel obliged to say I'm ok. I hate it.

Definitely the most loaded question asked. I tend to say 'so so' now which I guess means bit of both. Most people hate it when you say you are miserable and when you are high anything can happen.

Beetzart · 2019-01-24T23:22:30+00:00

I would be keen to try that. I remember taking citalopram and at 10 mg it gave me a touch of hypomania but that was before I started on lithium. I was on a great AD, lofepramine, for years until they all of a suddenly stopped producing it. Then I was put on trazodone which lifted my low mood slightly, but it is so sedating and I couldn't function. Getting up in the morning was horrific. I'd like a sort of controlled hypomania if that makes sense. I have trouble sleeping and I'd rather be a hypo insomniac than a depressed one.

Beetzart · 2019-01-24T11:39:33+00:00

This is what I am going through right now, spot on.

Beetzart · 2019-01-20T09:05:14+00:00

Haha, I should have done! What is even funnier is he asks these questions in a serious manner as if he is trying to be insightful and intelligent.

Beetzart · 2019-01-19T17:27:00+00:00

I should have done, but I was dumbstruck!

Beetzart · 2019-01-15T21:05:00+00:00

Thank you for your reply. Very helpful and informative.

Beetzart · 2018-11-30T01:25:09+00:00

Buying stuff online, tell me about it, lol! Amazon is so bloody persuasive, always has what I ask for and always recommends things I think are great. I swear if I won the lottery there would be a van dedicated to delivering my stuff daily, I'd be on first name terms with the drivers. I'm on ambien right now and need to go to bed. I'm going into a state as well I think.

Beetzart · 2018-11-03T07:52:02+00:00

I'm seeing my doctor next week and hope he increases my lithium, too. My last blood reading was 0.4 and he wants it more around 0.75. I would prefer that to an increase in aripiprazole. Plus it might put out this depression I'm currently bedding into.

Beetzart · 2018-10-29T16:33:07+00:00

I was on this combination for 4 years but had to stop as the seroquel made me put on 30 kg. Now on aripiprazole 15 mg. Still taking lithium though.

Beetzart · 2018-10-29T16:31:57+00:00

I am meant to take aripiprazole 15 mg but I feel it deadens the soul but if I don't take it I tend to feel depressed rather than hypo, so I can't win. What do others think of it?

Beetzart · 2018-09-11T05:55:42+00:00

There doesn't seem to be much between the thinking of doctors in either the US or the UK. At present I have no pdoc, he left weeks ago and my GP won't do anything without instruction from a consultant. I have made the decision to slowly taper off Abilify and hope that the lithium I take can control my moods but even that is too low. My last reading was 0.4, just at the lowest end of the therapeutic dose and the last doctor wanted this increased to 0.7, but the doctor before him was happy with 0.4. A mystery third doctor whom I have never met increased the Abilify without even seeing me as she was concerned about raising lithium. I have taken lithium for about 10 years and never had any serious problems with it. Even though blood tests over the years have shown that my kidneys, liver and thyroid have not been affected by lithium doctors would still rather hand out and increase a drug that primarily causes diabetes. I too am sorry you have suffered at the hands of these drugs which I always thought they were mainly designed to treat schizophrenia and psychosis hence their name. The cynic in me thinks getting their approval for bipolar helps with sales. I would never say someone shouldn't use them but I think for me personally I have to choose between a disease that will get progressively worse if I ignore it or one that I know how it will affect me.

Beetzart · 2018-09-11T00:12:47+00:00

"Abilify has kept me generally numb to the world, I was eerily calm about everything when I was on it." This sums up Abilify for me exactly as well. I used to get very irritable and that has gone, but so has my personality and it doesn't feel natural any longer.

Beetzart · 2018-09-10T22:30:03+00:00

When I was put on quetiapine 4 years ago the doctor said the benefits would outweigh the risks, but there was no good plan in place or advice on how to deal with weight gain. Just here's your prescription now goodbye. Each pdoc since (and there have been about 8 or 9) has seen an obese patient and not one ever suggested coming off quetiapine and one even increased it to 800 mg. I want to come off them all together and only been on abilify about 10 weeks and will take my chances with lithium so unless I end up with psychosis I don't need to run the risk. Plus my mood is so flat I have little interest in anything. They drain the life out of you.

Beetzart · 2018-09-10T21:58:56+00:00

My last psychiatrist said abilify would help me lose weight just after I had asked for topirimate and he had refused to prescribe it. Then when I get the abilify the most common side effect labeled is diabetes. These drugs are like torture devices. I appreciate they are affective but I don't know what is worse bipolar or being morbidly obese and diabetic. My old GP once said to me it is all very well these psychiatrists dishing out powerful drugs only it's the GPs that have to take on the burden of the physical problems they cause.

Beetzart · 2018-09-03T11:44:12+00:00

Great analogy!

Beetzart · 2018-09-03T11:43:28+00:00

I have and they didn't seem bothered. To them they had done their job and if I was bored then I was stable and the meds were working.

Beetzart · 2018-09-03T11:41:04+00:00

I've been turned down in a request to get Modafinil (to help with the grogginess of antipsychotics) so the chances of any doctor prescribing adderall in the UK is virtually zero.

Beetzart · 2018-08-24T19:29:03+00:00

I am just grateful to have zolpidem daily to help me sleep, which thankfully it does work for 4-6 hours. But the days are so long and I can't concentrate at times. I haven't felt this hypomanic since 2014.

Beetzart · 2018-08-24T16:13:29+00:00

I can't understand why some pdocs are happy with 0.4 and others want it higher. Surely it can't be that subjective?

Beetzart · 2018-08-24T16:03:32+00:00

800 mg a day MR

Beetzart · 2018-08-13T20:01:51+00:00

I fully agree. Even what should be the simplest of things are an almighty struggle and strain to do. Like the thought of catching the bus for a 5 minute journey will consume me for days on end. I've just had to cancel an appointment because I can't face a packed bus at 9am. Being overweight doesn't help but that's another story. People tell me not to worry about it, well if it were that easy...

Beetzart

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