Hey guys. Used to post here a bit but can't for the life of me remember my account. I'd really appreciate some help if possible!
Got sucked in by the allure of psychedelics last year and inevitably got burnt. Had a lot of downtime this year, had to defer from uni and shit, and I've still got stuff going on. It's more mental stuff i.e. feeling really spaced out like I'm still tripping 24/7, screwed memory, etc. than all the visual shit that gets me down.
I've seen a couple of psychs through the year but they've been pretty steely about acknowledging HPPD. I was put on Cymbalta and it took me from being constantly anxious to being emotionally dead, and I'm not sure which was worse. Not to mention it worsened a bunch of the symptoms I was having. One psych kept pushing antipsychotics on me and I flat out refuse to go there. I'm not experiencing psychosis at all and when I was given Seroquel for sleep last year it made me feel absolutely horrible. As I understand it it's pretty unanimously agreed that antipsychotics and SSRIs have more cons than pros in HPPD and can very often have a long-term negative effect on symptoms, yet they're all anyone I've seen has wanted to prescribe me.
I'm looking to get on an antiepileptic called Keppra/levetiracetam as it's far and away the most effective and sustainable drug used to treat HPPD (it's established that HPPD has a lot to do with irregular electrical activity in the brain similar to epilepsy). There's one study that's been done on it - predictably there's very little scientific literature on HPPD - as well as a ton of anecdotal praise out there. It's definitely the first port of call in HPPD of course - naturally Americans have a much,much easier time of getting access to it - and a lot of people have experienced improvement and in some cases complete remission of symptoms on it. Even if it doesn't work at least I'll have the closure of knowing I've given the "best" treatment a shot.
Anyhow basically I'm hoping that someone can recommend an open-minded/understanding/lenient/progressive psychiatrist in the Sydney area I might have better luck with.
Thanks guys!
Got sucked in by the allure of psychedelics last year and inevitably got burnt. Had a lot of downtime this year, had to defer from uni and shit, and I've still got stuff going on. It's more mental stuff i.e. feeling really spaced out like I'm still tripping 24/7, screwed memory, etc. than all the visual shit that gets me down.
I've seen a couple of psychs through the year but they've been pretty steely about acknowledging HPPD. I was put on Cymbalta and it took me from being constantly anxious to being emotionally dead, and I'm not sure which was worse. Not to mention it worsened a bunch of the symptoms I was having. One psych kept pushing antipsychotics on me and I flat out refuse to go there. I'm not experiencing psychosis at all and when I was given Seroquel for sleep last year it made me feel absolutely horrible. As I understand it it's pretty unanimously agreed that antipsychotics and SSRIs have more cons than pros in HPPD and can very often have a long-term negative effect on symptoms, yet they're all anyone I've seen has wanted to prescribe me.
I'm looking to get on an antiepileptic called Keppra/levetiracetam as it's far and away the most effective and sustainable drug used to treat HPPD (it's established that HPPD has a lot to do with irregular electrical activity in the brain similar to epilepsy). There's one study that's been done on it - predictably there's very little scientific literature on HPPD - as well as a ton of anecdotal praise out there. It's definitely the first port of call in HPPD of course - naturally Americans have a much,much easier time of getting access to it - and a lot of people have experienced improvement and in some cases complete remission of symptoms on it. Even if it doesn't work at least I'll have the closure of knowing I've given the "best" treatment a shot.
Anyhow basically I'm hoping that someone can recommend an open-minded/understanding/lenient/progressive psychiatrist in the Sydney area I might have better luck with.
Thanks guys!
but i guess when you're the type of person who can be fucked to become a registered psychiatrist you've probably got your head screwed on (and firmly up the ass of Big Pharma).