How have meds aided you in actual recovery?

[kev]

Meds seem to work very quickly for me but tend to poop out after a few weeks.

Provigil - helped enormously at first for energy and confidence, works marginally well now

Celexa - cured my depression for a day or two, now it just prevents severe depression

Klonopin - never had a great response to this, but it helps a tiny bit with physical anxiety... drowsiness is a problem

risperdal/abilify - saved my life (two episodes of psychosis).... fortunately I don't have to take it all the time because the side effects are more than a nuisance

[ch3cooh]

Originally Posted by BusterBluth

How long have you been taking laxapro and have you always taken it with the vyvanse (can you distinguish the relief you've seen from each drug individually)?

Yes.

I've been on both for 4 weeks now. The place I feel the most difference with the Vyvanse is, obviously, work. When I need to do something I can sit down do it from beginning to end. Even if I stop to take a little break or my rhythm gets thrown off it's not an hour long struggle to get back on track. The Lexapro I notice a lot more in social situations. I'm out of my own head and my inner monologue is much quieter. Also my feelings of hopelessness and my general blue feelings are beaten back pretty well. I still feel down from time to time but it generally passes after a couple hours instead of ruining weeks like it used to.

[GnR]

Originally Posted by ch3cooh

Yes.

I've been on both for 4 weeks now. The place I feel the most difference with the Vyvanse is, obviously, work. When I need to do something I can sit down do it from beginning to end. Even if I stop to take a little break or my rhythm gets thrown off it's not an hour long struggle to get back on track. The Lexapro I notice a lot more in social situations. I'm out of my own head and my inner monologue is much quieter. Also my feelings of hopelessness and my general blue feelings are beaten back pretty well. I still feel down from time to time but it generally passes after a couple hours instead of ruining weeks like it used to.

Nice to hear about the Lexapro. I just took my second 10mg pill. This is my first SSRI so I'm hopefull.

[crayzyMed]

Originally Posted by euphoria

• Benzos: -10 (slowed me down, gave a false sense of calm and didn't really address my problems, just made them not matter -- very counterproductive)

• GHB: -10 (same as above, with an added prosocial effect for the first few months, was still very counterproductive overall)

• Fluoxetine: 5 (better for depression than anxiety, gave a push towards positive thinking which was useful)

• Escitalopram: 5 (a bit weak if you ask me, but gave a similar benefit to fluoxetine with more emphasis on anxiety relief -- quenched some of the inner restlessness of my mind)

• Selegiline: -5 (too much anxiety)

• Escitalopram + low dose selegiline: 8 (still too much anxiety from selegiline, but otherwise, destroyed depression & schizoid symptoms without SSRI side effects)

• Escitalopram + bupropion: 8 (same as above)

• Mirtazapine: 4 (a weak but side effect free med, aside from initial sleepiness)

• Sertraline + mirtazapine + carbamazepine: we'll find out soon enough

CNS depressants are really not good for me, that's one of the things I found out from all those drug/med trials. Another thing I realised was that I am much more human with more serotonin.

How many times a day did you take GHB?

[Escopeta]

Klonopin - 10: Before this med, I hid in the back of the classroom, hoping to never get noticed. 2mg later, I'm in the front of the class actually wanting to participate in whatever class discussion going on. Only drawback is that is slightly worsened my depression if not on an anti-depressant.

Xanax(non XR) - 9: At 1.5mg or above it destroys my anxiety. Some moderate prosocial effects as well. Though, it's half-life is just too short. Probably great for PRN use. The XR version is not quite as effective. It feels blunted by comparison, but it still works at the right dosage.

Adderall - 9: The single most pro-social med I've ever used. Kills high anxiety, not quite sure about severe anxiety though. Also lessens performance anxiety. The crash was the only drawback to this med. Seems to have a decent synergy with Effexor XR as well.

Nardil - 9, thus far: The single best anti-depressant I've ever used for a range of things. SA, GAD, Depression, and OCD tendencies have all gone down roughly 70% at this point in which I'm taking it, which is only 3 weeks and at 45mg. Its effects are getting better with everyday use. I've also been significantly more pro-social.

Effexor XR - 8: I've gone as high as 150mg. Moderately effective for SA, but very effective for GAD and depression. This and Klonopin together have very good synergy. Also made more slightly more pro-social. If I remember correctly, also reduced physical anxiety.

SSRIs in general have not been that effective for my SA, but I really haven't committed to any single one for more than a couple weeks so it's not really fair to judge.

[euphoria]

Originally Posted by crayzyMed

How many times a day did you take GHB?

About 3-5 times during the day (college/work), followed by a terrible crash which prevented doing anything in the evening. My health took a nosedive during this period, most noticeable was extreme dehydration (similar to alcohol) and probably resulting electrolyte imbalance (could've contributed to seizures). That was from GBL mostly, not GHB.

[crayzyMed]

Originally Posted by euphoria

About 3-5 times during the day (college/work), followed by a terrible crash which prevented doing anything in the evening. My health took a nosedive during this period, most noticeable was extreme dehydration (similar to alcohol) and probably resulting electrolyte imbalance (could've contributed to seizures).

Hmm strange, i've taken GBL daily for months without any negative effect, it did never work for my social anxiety tough and never made me more social just worked to make me euphoric in the evening. Never noticed a crash or any negative effect, just slightly tired when it wears off but that was when it was time to sleep for me.

But i've heared of more ppl having bad reactions to G tough.
If anything i personally felt healthier.

[KurtG85]

Originally Posted by GnR

We all know that medication helps us cope with our day to day lives. But how would you rate them as far as being tools to work through your core issues. On a scale of one to ten, one being that they get you through the day and nothing more, ten being they are integral to your journey to true recovery.

Thats a great question to post; cheers, props, etc.

Maybe for some people its fairly cut and dry, but just defining what our "core issues" are is a huge mystery in itself for most people I think (while docs are usually your best shot, outside of yourself, at determining what your 'core issues' are, they are still often wrong, I would say the majority of the time). This makes the judging of how integral meds are to addressing core issues extremely subjective (to whatever mindset I may be experiencing at any one time) and abstract. In other words what exactly about my personality, behavior, emotions, perspective do I need to alter in order to be happy and functional in life? Perhaps whatever my "core issues" are absolutely need to be addressed biochemically due to them being unalterable through logic. For example maybe an individual hears voices telling him he is worthless all the time; its very likely this individual can't stop hearing things that aren't there simply through therapy or logical thought. Alternately maybe an individual simply needs to reevaluate exactly what it is they think they need in order to be happy in life and until they do this no med in the world is going to help them. Defining what exactly a persons 'core issues' are is an extremelly individual, personal, and complex task that many never even really accurately arrive at. It may not be pleasant to think about but perhaps the core issue simply comes down to (currently) unalterable genetics.

For me, in terms of how integral I think meds have been in working towards my 'recovery', I would rate them a 10. That is because without them I would have almost surely committed suicide by now and hence would never even had a chance at recovery. In terms of how much they help me at actually facing the issues I have I would rate them at a 5. They allow me to take emotional/stressful lrisks I would otherwise likely have never been able to take, risks which are necessary for personal growth. They also in general greatly improve the quality of my every day emotions and hugely reduce stress. On the other hand though, the particular meds I am on (obviously all meds are different) also deaden a lot of my emotions, motivation and drives which seemed to push me forward onward to acheiving and growing when I am not on any meds at all.

Of course, it all depends on the med in question and that meds unique reaction to the unique person (with their unique issues). Grouping all meds together as if they were one and rating their effectiveness would make absolutely no sense, obviously.