Do I need to see a neurologist/psychiatrist/endocrineologist/naturalpath?

[streetsurfer]

I need someone to manage my depression/adhd/bipolar/borderline/phobias/general fuckedupedness and I am sick of these General Practice Doctors looking at me with their fucking dead eyes and cold hearts when I ask for help while they try to shove yet another SSRI down my throat.

I am also sick of Psychiatrists speaking to me as if I am not in the room, twitch when I show some level of inteligence by asking something vaugely technical then try to shove yet another SSRI down my throat and get me the hell out of there so they can down their 3pm oxycontin.

What do I do? Do I need to see all these specialties seperetly to get wholistic treatment?
What investigations do I need to have done? Spect, Mri, Fmri??? Bloodwork, allergies?
How do I find someone that actually gives a shit, keeps up with the latest research, knows what they are talking about and if they dont has the guts to say "I don't know I will try to find out/this is why it is not particually relivent etc ... in short quantify their statements.

And the big one, not wait for absolute carved in stone emperical evidence from double blind placebo trials that will never happen because the drug is unpaitentable/out of patient. ie Pirecetam/natural treatments

I really need someone I can trust, any advice please?

 

[Sphinx (Afterlife)]

U cant trust anyone.

Depression isnt a neuro condition, its you being an idiot to yourself

once you make the mental change everything works out fine but your lookin for somone else to do that for you just like the other 500 million SSRI medicated dipsticks

someday people will learn the only one, and thing, that controls yourself is you and you can make you feel anyway you want you just dont know it, keep chasin pills and doctors, wont work

 

[paranoid android]

U cant trust anyone.

Depression isnt a neuro condition, its you being an idiot to yourself

once you make the mental change everything works out fine but your lookin for somone else to do that for you just like the other 500 million SSRI medicated dipsticks

someday people will learn the only one, and thing, that controls yourself is you and you can make you feel anyway you want you just dont know it, keep chasin pills and doctors, wont work

Spoken like someone who has obviously never suffered from a debilitating mental disorder. Getting rid of depression or any other mental illness is not like turning off a switch. For people that have major depression a anti-depressant can be a life saver. You cant just say to yourself that you wont be depressed anymore, it just doesn't work that way. Who the fuck would want to be depressed anyway?

Ssri's are not the answer for everyone. If you have bipolar you shouldnt be taking any ssri without taking a mood stabilizer with it because it can drive you right into mania.

In regards to the OP you need to find a psychiatrist that will actually listen to your problems, not just drug pusher. They are hard to find but they are out there, i actually managed to find one relatively easy.

General practioners are the worst for just handing out ssri's. Most of them know very little about mental disorders so they just hand out whatever the drug company gives them.

 

[streetsurfer]

Oh ok, so I should just, "Snap out of it" huh? Man, I never thought of that.
Well, while I go hang a shit and snap out of my lifelong
illness, maybe you will find this interesting...

Meaning of NEUROBIOLOGY
Definition: the branch of biology that deals with the anatomy and physiology and pathology of the nervous system


Interesting site, guy who use's a SPECT scanner to see what parts of the brain are and are not active in various situations for people with ADHD but there are also scans there of people with several other conditions

http://www.brainplace.com/bp/atlas/

But this alone isn't enough to prove it to be a neurological condition, that is only physiology

for that I would need to demonstrate phisical differences in the brain, well, I found this...







Dysfunction in the neural circuitry of emotional self-regulation in major depressive disorder.

An inability to self-regulate negative emotions appears to play a pivotal role in the genesis of major depressive disorder. This inability may be related to a dysfunction of the neural circuitry underlying emotional self-regulation. This functional magnetic resonance imaging study was conducted to test this hypothesis. Depressed individuals and controls were scanned while they attempted to voluntarily down-regulate sad feelings. The degree of difficulty experienced during down-regulation of sadness was higher in depressed individuals. Furthermore, there was greater activation in the right dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, right anterior temporal pole, right amygdala, and right insula in depressed individuals. These results suggest that emotional dysregulation in major depressive disorder is related to a disturbance in the neural circuitry of emotional self-regulation

Hippocampal and amygdalar volumes in dissociative identity disorder.

OBJECTIVE: Smaller hippocampal volume has been reported in several stress-related psychiatric disorders, including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), borderline personality disorder with early abuse, and depression with early abuse. Patients with borderline personality disorder and early abuse have also been found to have smaller amygdalar volume. The authors examined hippocampal and amygdalar volumes in patients with dissociative identity disorder, a disorder that has been associated with a history of severe childhood trauma. METHOD: The authors used magnetic resonance imaging to measure the volumes of the hippocampus and amygdala in 15 female patients with dissociative identity disorder and 23 female subjects without dissociative identity disorder or any other psychiatric disorder. The volumetric measurements for the two groups were compared. RESULTS: Hippocampal volume was 19.2% smaller and amygdalar volume was 31.6% smaller in the patients with dissociative identity disorder, compared to the healthy subjects. The ratio of hippocampal volume to amygdalar volume was significantly different between groups. CONCLUSIONS: The findings are consistent with the presence of smaller hippocampal and amygdalar volumes in patients with dissociative identity disorder, compared with healthy subjects

Prefrontal cortex and amygdala volume in first minor or major depressive episode after cancer diagnosis.

BACKGROUND: Major and minor depressive episodes in cancer patients are frequent and are frequently seen as the first depressive episode in a patient's life. However, the neurological basis of these depressive episodes remains largely unknown. METHODS: Subjects were 51 breast cancer survivors (BCS) who had no history of any depressive episode before the cancer diagnosis (11 BCS with a history of a first minor depressive episode after cancer diagnosis, 11 BCS with a history of a first major depressive episode after cancer diagnosis, and 29 BCS with no history of any depressive episode after cancer diagnosis). We analyzed the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and amygdala volumes in a 1.5-Tesla Magnetic Resonance Imaging scanner. We characterized the structural correlates of depression using two complementary approaches. The first was voxel-based morphometry (VBM) that allowed us to scan the entire brain for reactive gray matter deficit. The second was classical volumetry focusing on the amygdala. RESULTS: Voxel-based morphometry revealed no brain region, including PFC, for which volume was significantly different among the three groups. There were trend-level differences in the left amygdala volume in the manual tracing method among the three groups. The left amygdala volumes in the subjects with a first minor and/or major depressive episode were significantly smaller than in those with no history of any depressive episode. CONCLUSIONS: It might be suggested that amygdala volume was associated with a first minor and/or major depressive episode after cancer diagnosis.

Neurobiology and pharmacotherapy of social phobia

During anticipation of public speaking, heart rate was elevated in patients with social phobia compared to controls. Norepinephrine response to the orthostatic challenge test or to the Valsalva maneuver was also greater in patients with social phobia. While normal beta-adrenergic receptor number was observed in lymphocytes, a blunted response of growth hormone to clonidine, an a2-adrenergic agonist, was reported. This suggests reduced post-synaptic a2-adrenergic receptor functioning related to norepinephrine overactivity in social phobia. Decreased cerebrospinal fluid levels of the dopamine metabolite homovanillic acid have also been observed. There are relatively few reports of involvement of the adrenal and thyroid functions in social phobia, and all that has been noted is that patients with social phobia show an exaggerated adrenocortical response to a psychological stressor. Recent advances in neuro-imaging have contributed to find low striatal dopamine D2 receptor binding or low dopamine transporter site density in patients with social phobia. They have also demonstrated the involvement of the cortico-limbic pathways, including the prefrontal cortex, hippocampus and amygdala, which show an increased activity in different experimental conditions. These brain regions have extensively been reported to play an important role in the cognitive appraisal in determining the significance of environmental stimuli, in the emotional and mnemonic integration of information, and in the expression of contextual fear-conditioned behaviors, which might be disrupted in the light of the phenomelogical aspects of social phobia

Social Phobia again.....

Oxytocin modulates neural circuitry for social cognition and fear in humans.

In non-human mammals, the neuropeptide oxytocin is a key mediator of complex emotional and social behaviors, including attachment, social recognition, and aggression. Oxytocin reduces anxiety and impacts on fear conditioning and extinction. Recently, oxytocin administration in humans was shown to increase trust, suggesting involvement of the amygdala, a central component of the neurocircuitry of fear and social cognition that has been linked to trust and highly expresses oxytocin receptors in many mammals. However, no human data on the effects of this peptide on brain function were available. Here, we show that human amygdala function is strongly modulated by oxytocin. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging to image amygdala activation by fear-inducing visual stimuli in 15 healthy males after double-blind crossover intranasal application of placebo or oxytocin. Compared with placebo, oxytocin potently reduced activation of the amygdala and reduced coupling of the amygdala to brainstem regions implicated in autonomic and behavioral manifestations of fear. Our results indicate a neural mechanism for the effects of oxytocin in social cognition in the human brain and provide a methodology and rationale for exploring therapeutic strategies in disorders in which abnormal amygdala function has been implicated, such as social phobia or autism

Comorbid ADHD is associated with altered patterns of neuronal activation in adolescents with bipolar disorder performing a simple attention task.

OBJECTIVES: Bipolar disorder is increasingly recognized as a significant source of psychiatric morbidity in children and adolescents. Younger bipolar patients symptomatically differ from adults, and frequently present with comorbid disorders, particularly attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The neurophysiological relationship between these two disorders, however, remains unclear. In this study we utilized functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to compare activation patterns during performance of a simple attention task between bipolar adolescents with and without ADHD. METHODS: Eleven bipolar adolescents with comorbid ADHD and 15 bipolar adolescents without comorbidity were recruited to participate in fMRI scans. A single-digit continuous performance task alternated with a control task in a block-design paradigm. between-group comparisons were made using voxel-by-voxel analysis. Follow-up correlations were made between performance and activation. RESULTS: Group performance did not significantly differ in percentage correct (p = 0.36) or discriminability (p = 0.11). ADHD comorbidity was associated with less activation in the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (Brodmann 10) and anterior cingulate, and greater activation in posterior parietal cortex and middle temporal gyrus. Comorbid ADHD was associated with substantial differences in patterns of correlation between performance and voxel-by-voxel activation. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that comorbid ADHD in bipolar adolescents is associated with activation of alternative pathways during performance of a simple attention task. The pattern of differences suggests that bipolar adolescents with comorbid ADHD demonstrate decreased activation of prefrontal regions, compared with bipolar adolescents without ADHD, and preferentially recruit portions of posterior parietal and temporal cortex.

1:
Hippocampus function predicts severity of post-traumatic stress disorder.
2:
Hippocampal and amygdalar volumes in dissociative identity disorder.
3:
Dietary-free glutamate: implications for research on fear-overconsolidation and PTSD.
4:
Functional imaging of mood and anxiety disorders.
5:
Smaller volume of anterior cingulate cortex in abuse-related posttraumatic stress disorder.
6:
Gray matter density reduction in the insula in fire survivors with posttraumatic stress disorder: a voxel-based morphometric study.
7:
Regional differences of the prefrontal cortex in pediatric PTSD: an MRI study.
8:
Trauma modulates amygdala and medial prefrontal responses to consciously attended fear.
9:
Quantifiable change in functional brain response to empathic and forgivability judgments with resolution of posttraumatic stress disorder.
10:
Evaluation of the hippocampus and the anterior cingulate gyrus by proton MR spectroscopy in patients with post-traumatic stress disorder.

11:
Amygdala response in patients with acute PTSD to masked and unmasked emotional facial expressions.

12:
Segmented hippocampal volume in children and adolescents with posttraumatic stress disorder. Decreased anterior cingulate volume in combat-related PTSD.
13:
Effects of psychotherapy on hippocampal volume in out-patients with post-traumatic stress disorder: a MRI investigation.
14:
Cortisol, learning, memory, and attention in relation to smaller hippocampal volume in police officers with posttraumatic stress disorder.
15:
Effects of traumatic stress on brain structure and function: relevance to early responses to trauma.
16:
Disturbance in the neural circuitry underlying positive emotional processing in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) An fMRI study.
17:
Impaired memory and general intelligence related to severity and duration of patients' disease in Type A posttraumatic stress disorder.
18:
Size versus shape differences: contrasting voxel-based and volumetric analyses of the anterior cingulate cortex in individuals with acute posttraumatic stress disorder.

Dickhead






http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?CMD=search&DB=pubmed


http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/...uids=16324896&query_hl=26&itool=pubmed_DocSum


http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/...uids=16339042&query_hl=19&itool=pubmed_docsum

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/...ve&db=PubMed&list_uids=15538306&dopt=Abstract

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/...uids=16213471&query_hl=12&itool=pubmed_docsum

 

[streetsurfer]

Oh, and just for you Sphinx Mwah!

Sphinx's UFO Photo
http://www.bluelight.ru/vb/showthread.php?t=253908

Past-life identities, UFO abductions, and satanic ritual abuse: the social construction of memories.

Spanos NP, Burgess CA, Burgess MF.

Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

People sometimes fantasize entire complex scenarios and later define these experiences as memories of actual events rather than as imaginings. This article examines research associated with three such phenomena: past-life experiences, UFO alien contact and abduction, and memory reports of childhood ritual satanic abuse. In each case, elicitation of the fantasy events is frequently associated with hypnotic procedures and structured interviews which provide strong and repeated demands for the requisite experiences, and which then legitimate the experiences as "real memories." Research associated with these phenomena supports the hypothesis that recall is reconstructive and organized in terms of current expectations and beliefs

 

[BilZ0r]

I think you need to get to a psychiatrist that isn't shit. i.e. at a good teaching- hospital.

But it's highly likely that there is nothing that can be done. The human condition is a varied thing.

I suspect if you said that list of things to most doctors, they'd end up putting you on anti-psychotics...

What happened when you were on SSRIs?

 

[Dr. Beat]

Spoken like someone who has obviously never suffered from a debilitating mental disorder. Getting rid of depression or any other mental illness is not like turning off a switch. For people that have major depression a anti-depressant can be a life saver. You cant just say to yourself that you wont be depressed anymore, it just doesn't work that way. Who the fuck would want to be depressed anyway?

Ssri's are not the answer for everyone. If you have bipolar you shouldnt be taking any ssri without taking a mood stabilizer with it because it can drive you right into mania.

In regards to the OP you need to find a psychiatrist that will actually listen to your problems, not just drug pusher. They are hard to find but they are out there, i actually managed to find one relatively easy.

General practioners are the worst for just handing out ssri's. Most of them know very little about mental disorders so they just hand out whatever the drug company gives them.

I agree with you 100%

 

[BigBenn]

How old are you?

 

[streetsurfer]

28yo, my history of this seems to go back to when I was a week old. No obvious cause.

I really belive it is an endocrine dysorder, something to do with the pituetry gland I am so sure, I am going to a gp tomorrow, to get bloodwork done, anything I have all the usual endoccrine ones in mind, anyone have any thoughts ..... ?

 

[Diacetylus]

Wanna know what I think? I think the best way to see a good, I mean highly reputed specialist/psychiatrist is by being overly dramatic to the doctor. I am not saying you should lie, but just exaggerate your predicament a bit. Get a family member/parent to go in with you and testify to the doctor that your life is in shambles. Get your mum/dad/partner to tell them that you never get out of bed, have little interest in anything and extreme apathy... get your loved one(s) to say that they are extremely concerned that you will do something irrational and they are scared for your life. It may be stretching things a bit, but if you want help, the only way they are going to treat you seriously is if they feel your life is in danger.

I did this. I was in a bad state, but was no where near what my parents said I was. I was definitely depressed and anxiety-ridden, but was very far from suicidal. They couldn't see anything wrong with me, but because my folks were so concerned and did happen to exaggerate my current mind-frame a bit they sent me off to get assessed by the C.A.T. which stands for: Crisis Assessment Team. To them, I was experiencing a Crisis, which is what they categorise someone who has been or is going through a nervous breakdown. The fact that I was so young (as you are), they treated this as an emergency and I didn't have to wait on any huge-ass queue as is usually required.
My well-being was now in the public health's hands and if things got worse, they were considered responsible, so they got the best of the best to treat me. I was one of their major priorities.

I must say, I absolutely loathed some of the spotlight attention I got. But, it certainly helped.
They instantly got me onto some of the best and most highly certified specialists. A group of psychiatrists, psychologists and a very, very good doctor. They put me onto some medication, which was SSRI's and a low-dose daily Diazepam regimen and then slowly tapered me down when was appropriate (although, I'm still on the citalopram).

Here I am now. I'm not completely 100%, but I am in pretty good boots now and it took time, but you finally get there. To the imbecile that said SSRI's, or other medications don't help. Well, they most certainly aren't a "magic-pill" that once you instantly pop, you feel better. But, they do over time give you more motivation and even if it is somewhat "fake", left me with a better outlook on life and my current situation than was before. Once the "doom and gloom" is lifted, even slightly, that will make your depression slightly easier to cope with. That's what is crucial for a little kick-start.

After that, it is critical (imo) to look into Cognitive Behavioural Therapy. This is what the psychologists are for. They will basically teach you how to change the way you think. Not everyone has the willpower and/or determination to do this however and it can get frustrating for some. At first, I didn't think it was going to make a difference, but after a while, you even just kind of subconsciously take in the advice you are given by the psychologists and they really do explain things in a concise, easy-to-absorb way that makes alot of sense.

I seriously think that it is imperative you get seen to straight away though. You need to get on top of this ASAP, otherwise it will just get even worse and worse and possibly cripple you and before you know it you'll be forty something and when you're older, it's much harder.

I wish you the best. I hope my info helped. It's not much, but just a little advice on what I seriously think you should look into.

 

[AlexxRed]

^^^^^^^
I am very interested in cognitive behaviour therapy, primarily for ADD & Stress management. I figure it can only help.

Do you mind if I ask where abouts & how you undertook it? Was it one on one or group based? Also just wondering if you have any knowledge re: literature or anything that you have found a useful source of information.

Cheers

Alex

 

[Diacetylus]

^Are you in Australia? If so, try calling your local public hospital and they could perhaps arrange to make a referral to a psyhiatrist and psychologist. If you are in Melbourne, I went and got my treatment at a place called WAIORA, which is in Armadale on Orrong Road. It is totally open to the public, but you might need a referral from your doctor. If you are not working, the services you need are free, but you need to fit their criteria.

If you are working, you will unfrotunately have to pay for the psychiatrist and psychologist and the psychologist is just as expensive as any other. You're looking at $120.00 for an hour, but it is worth it. But, I understand that not everybody has this money. The psychologist will provide the Cognitive Behavioural Therapy sessions, which basically consists of you and the psychologist face-to-face, firstly discussing your issues and how you plan on tackling them and then from there on he/she will give you advice based on your current predicament. They will more than likely do an assessment test, where you just fill out this multiple choice questionarre so they can get an understanding of your thought patterns and I even had one of those "Ink-blot tests" (haha, just like in the movies).

Basically in the first test they ask you some shitty questions like "do you hear voices, blah, blah, blah", but they're not all directed towards Schizophrenics or people in a depressive state, I remember there being quite a few questions in there related to anger, compulsion and a whole myriad of other problems.

As for the group sessions: yes, I had 17 weeks of that. Once a week, so 17 sessions all up and it was pretty good. You can relate to other people and discuss your problems and the psychologists that run the sessions give you little basic hints/tips and a little written homework that probably only requires 5 minutes of your time. This was for anxiety, but they have a whole menu of different group therapy and this literally costs nothing.
I don't mean to sound harsh or shallow, but you will possibly meet some real crackpots in your group and then you will come to realise how sane and normal you really are and how easy off you have it compared to other people. (I know I did).

Find a good doctor first though and tell her that you need his/her referral for a good psychiatrist. If you want to go through WAIORA, just let the doctor know and they will write out a letter and refferal for you. Ohh and btw, WAIORA is affiliated with The Alfred Hospital in Melbourne too. So, there is always good communication between health professionals.

Check out this page for more details, contact details, etc...
http://www.alfred.org.au/departments/psychiatric_services.html

You will see a Dr. Rob Shields on the list under the psychiatrists, well he was one of the psychiatrists that treated me and he was very good. The name of the psychologist, that's not on the list is Jeff Kelly.

Goodluck.

 

[AlexxRed]

^^^^^^
Cheers for the feedback. Much appreciated! I'm actually in the midst of pretty full on post grad study & like any good student pretty broke.

However there is a very strong Psychology department at my university that runs an stress/anxiety/worry research clinic which does group behaviour therapy & if you participate in their research I think it's free.

As for the one on one with a psychologist I did not realise it was possible to get this through the public service so just contacting my local public hospital I might be able to find out about that? Is it like being bulk billed?

I do a see a specialist for ADD who bulk bills me.

Thanks

Alex

 

[uacvax]

what are the americans to do

 

[mitogen]

stuff to do when you're depressed: exercise, sex, meditation, green tea (l-theanine)

to the OP,

Most people have been talking about drugs or CBT in this thread, but there are a couple of really simple things that can really help depression. Personally, I find sticking to any regime (except for taking drugs regularly... ) pretty difficult.

Do you exercise much? Doing something that gets you sweating and gets your heart pumping, ideally every day can make the world of difference. It lets you forget about your day to day life and worries, and unlike taking drugs to escape, you have the knowledge that you are doing something for your health that you will definitely benefit from. It can also give you a nice endorphin release, which can make you feel relaxed and content after the exercise. My parents always tell me to exercise when I'm depressed, and although I don't usually do heavy exercise (I mainly just walk a lot, or ride my bike in the summer,) and often don't take their advice, when I do I find it helps quite a lot. Problem is that you usually don't feel like doing *anything* when you're that down.

Also, have you ever tried meditation? This is another thing that I can never really seem to keep up a routine with, but when I do get into it for a month or so I notice the effects quite a lot. There are programs (ie brainwave generator) which play binaural beats which can really help you get into the meditative state. I swear by bwgen - if only the crack worked on my computer. To be honest I'm actually considering purchasing either bwgen or a program like it, because I find it so effective. The bwgen website hosts hundreds of user-designed presets, some of which are really great. Most of them admittedly suck though. The main problem with binaural beats is that its really hard to wear earphones while going to sleep / sleeping unless you sleep exclusively on your back. But yeah meditation can definitely cut through anxiety, and also provides a means to take your mind off the negative thoughts that must plague you. It also teaches you to really take notice of what you are thinking - even when you're not meditating. Noticing what you are thinking can help you in eliminating negative thought patterns - a process which most people familiar with depression and working through it will recognise as very important.

Sex can be really therapeutic if you have a girlfriend/boyfriend. Otherwise a good wank can be a great start to the morning.

One more thing - this time drug related: green tea contains an amino acid (not one of the 20 or so amino acids used in proteins, mind,) called l-theanine which has some really interesting properties. I'll look it up and start a thread on it actually. We've talked about it here in ADD before I think. It can be bought as l-theanine pills, but they're pretty expensive compared to green tea. If you ever found green tea really relaxing and wondered whether it was just the fact that you are sitting down taking a break with a hot drink, or something more (besides the caffeine content, which is actually higher than people think in tea,) it could be the L-theanine.
I find green tea to be an elixir, and its excellent for studying or sitting down to write an essay, working etc.

What I'm trying to say really is that there are some pretty simple things that you can do in your life that can really help with depression. I was put on SSRI's (paroxetine then citalopram,) for about 2, maybe 2.5 years from the age of ~16-18, and I'm damn sure that it did some pretty permanent things to my brain. Whether it was simply that my brain was still developing or not I don't know. I had some pretty serious sexual side effects from SSRIs like not being able to orgasm with anything else than my own hand - that effect probably gave me more depression than the SSRI's ever alleviated, and also got wierd headrush/possible minor seizures.

Since I went off SSRIs, (I am now a few weeks away from being 22,) I have tried taking them again just to see what would happen. The effects were very interesting: I did not tolerate them at all. I would get this wierd feeling very similar to MDMA-induced Mondayitis: lethargy, 'not knowing what to do with myself,' occasional waves of mild euphoria, and then back to the bad feelings, and extreme insomnia amongst other effects. As part of a bit of self-experimentation I tried to take 20mg citalopram every day for a week, and only got up to day 3 before I decided it simply wasn't worth it. I *loathe* insomnia. I have also tried taking 10mg to see if the insomnia would go away but it didn't make much difference. Has anyone else experienced this from SSRI's? When I was put on them as a teen I got a few side effects when I was starting out, but I definitely tolerated the drugs.

Other interesting drugs that you could investigate with your doc are venalfaxine, (effexor, http://www.dr-bob.org/tips/venlafaxine.html) and perhaps amineptine (Survector, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amineptine) Do they actually still script this? what about tianeptine? I think I remember seeing amineptine on www.antiagingsystems.com which is incidentally a fascinating site. You can get piracetam, deprenyl, all sorts of 'smart drugs.'
Venalfaxine is apparently pretty addictive actually.

On another note, I think one of the reasons I started taking opioids was self-medication for depression/anxiety. I take 70mg methadone daily now and I find it to be an excellent depression medication. Getting into junk because you're depressed ain't exactly the smartest thing to do, as it will invariably lead to more depression over your future state.

So, good luck. I've been there before, and there was a light at the end of the tunnel. Just remember, being depressed isn't "all or nothing," which is a common depressive thought pattern. No matter how depressed you are there will be *something* good in your life (unless you're a prisoner at Guantanamo Bay or something.) Focus on that.

 

[streetsurfer]

Ok, so at the moment I am taking Dexamphetamine for adhd and effexor for depression, I have just started lamictal for a mood stabiliser

I am really shit with all these drugs and am convinced their are better alternatives the powers that be don't want me to have so I am looking at importing some to Australia for personal use

I belive a have hypocampal cell loss and a fucked up amygdala due to long term major depression/anxiety so I need something to stop cell loss or even reqrow cells

At the moment I am looking at Pirecetam and aniracetam for concentration depression with choline.
Tianeptine for depression and to hopefully have some kind of neurogenesis effect. http://www.servier.com/pro/Neuroscie...on/stablon.asp
Bacopa monniera for depression/anxiety

How does this sound? opinions?

 

[Revrent_mike]

The word you're looking for is "Psychopharmacologist".

But it is easier to say it than to find a good one.

My own experience with depression was hard fought. Many doctors, many drugs, and nothing seemed to work until I took matters into my own hands. My research led me to Selegiline (deprenyl,eldepryl) a parkonsons treatment. With the first dose I could tell I had hit on something. After 3 years I finally began recovering. My symptoms disappeared, and most important I could once again THINK!

Since then, I havn't found a single doctor who even knows about selegiline. And when they do look it up and find out it is not under patent and can be purchased for pennies, they claim that it could not possibly be the thing that caused my recovery.

But I am now depression free, and off of the daily grind of Neurontin, Lexapro, Sansert, Toprol, Imitrex, and of course Vicodin.

It turns out that the normal 1st response to depression, SSRIs (prozac,et.al.) only really works on 25% of the population. Another 50% get some symptomatic relief but must augment their treatment with more psych-meds. The SSRIs only treat depressions that are rooted in a serotonin imbalance. In my case, mine was rooted in a dopamine imbalance (which may or may not mean I have Parkinsons disease).

What truly baffles me is since Selegiline is so clean, fast-acting, and side-effect free, why don't they start the partient on a trial of 2-3 days of Selegiline in order to rule out the dopamine connection. After all the SSRIs don't show conclusive results for week and even when they do work, they impose a flat emotional curve on your personality. And in cases like mine, I could have avoided 3 years of misery with the old addage,"take 2 selegilines and call me in the morning".

Mike

 

[streetsurfer]

Hey Mike, I was previously on selegiline and did exactly the same as you and treated myself. I had an instant and dramatic response also but the trouble was I was scriped ritalin at the same time and I combined them and got addicted to the massive high it caused.

So anyway I went off both of them, tried other meds and went back on selegiline but it didn't really work...until last week when instead of taking it orally, I disolved half under my tounge. Instant releaf of my depression and clearness of thought. It truely is a wonder drug.

But unfortunetly it doesn't help or even makes worse my add. I am happy but dreamy and unfocused. Combining the two totally kills the effect of the dex. I am trying to work out how best I should do it

 

[Revrent_mike]

But unfortunetly it doesn't help or even makes worse my add. I am happy but dreamy and unfocused. Combining the two totally kills the effect of the dex. I am trying to work out how best I should do it

Perhaps you can keep the selegiline and find a milder substitute for the ritalin - - modafinil or something more specific to target the adrenaline imbalance.

 

[yellodolphin]

well depression is essentially a neurodegenerative disorder so it could have to do with more then one of the problems you have. Depression affects the brain physiology in more ways then not just having enough serotonin. Stress is probably one of the worst things for depression as it imbalanced the HPA axis, it makes sense because stress percipitates depression usually. First thing you should do is eliminate any sort of intense stress or your brain wont be in a mode where it can recover. Also help it recover this is how ssri's work they increase neurogenisis increasing brain cells, but exercise does this also.