Jerry- any ideas? I need meds!!!!

I suffer with depression. "chronic" "major" "medical" whatever! The other major disorder is PTSD. I am physically disabled with chronic myofascial neuropathic pain, peripheral neuropathy, myelopathy, tmd, menieres, rotoscoliosis.

Naturally, I have sleep problems as well.

Currently, I have no meds for either the depression nor the insomnia.

I have allergy to most medications, ALL generics. I've tried psychotropics: amitriptyline, elavil, triavil dc, norpramine, pertofrane, tofranil, librium, sinequan,dalmane, paxil, wellbutrin, effexor, serzone, desyrel, trazedone. I'ved also tried lunesta, ambien, ambien cr, and rozerem. The muscle relaxers have also reacted to me: methocarbamol, norflex, flexeril, valium, dayto=anase, l-tryptophan, skelaxin and robaxin. (I ended up taking allergy drops to be able to take the robaxin, however even then it caused a heart murmur. )

(I've been disabled nearly 20 years, as you can tell by some of the old meds)

I've tried some herbals such as valerian root, and passion flower. They helped at first, but I didn't increase dosage afterwards. (I'm open to tryin again if I have some guideline as to how much of what for how long to try...)

Do you have any ideas of what to try???

Medicines I can take are Demerol (brand name only!), Cortisone (decadron), Levaquin, and Toredol. (and a new anesthetic my DMD uses...I need to get the name of it!!!)

The hallucinations of the Lunesta were nice, but the night terrors were not. It did knock me out, but for too long: my pain meds "ran out" and I always woke in much worse physical condition than if I had not slept at all and had taken pain med.
The Ambien worked the first night only. The CR was very bad, and included sinus infections and aspiration (which resulted also in aspiration pneumonia.)
Rozerem caused the typical allergic reaction for me: tightness of airway, wheeze, sob. It did knock me out.

Most of the psychotropic allergic reactions were paradoxical. The serzone, given at half the lowest dose in a hospital setting for safety, OD'd me.

I've tried delaying a demerol dose and sipped (literally a few sips) some cognac... which helped. Prior to having any meds to help me the first years after the injury, I used beer to help. The downside to that was my muscles spasmed worse once the buzz wore off (and weight gain )

Wow! Sorry to hear of your struggles. I hope you find something that works for you.

(TY)

A few other meds I have tried for pain and seizures are: cymbalta, topomax, & gabitril (all with horrendous type side effects!)

Hi Sky,

Your post sounds very similar to what I have gone through. Your list of AD's are similar except that I have many more to add to my list on top of Thorozine (for depression) along with compozine (for my nausea from the migraines). Both put together caused me to have parkinson's symptoms that lasted so long I began to think the parkinsons was real. I also had another AD I can't remember the name of that caused my joints to become so stiff I couldn't sit up in bed. I was in the hospital for that one. My pdoc knows that when he tried something new, he always had to put me into the hospital in order to monitor the reactions.

My migraines were almost 24/7. The only relief were the demerol shots from the ER that would last about 8 hours....then back to the migraines. I would end up in the ER every 3 days & of course they thought I was "drug seeking" rather than "pain relief seeking". Toredol had no effect & morphine & its derivitives make me itch all over without any rash, but itch from head to toe. When they did my neck fusion, thinking that would cure my migraines (no such luck), they put me on the duragesic fentynal patch. The 100ug/hr wasn't enough & it wasn't even breakthrough pain, the pain never went away. It wasn't until the dose was put up to 2 of the 100ug/hr patches that I finally got complete relief. It has been working for the last 3 1/2 years without any migraine pain at all. I know how I felt with the chronic migraine pain. All I could do was lay in bed....in my dark room....no sound, no light, no smell, nothing. I lived that way for about 5 years.....I had no life at all. I never even had a head ache before taking the AD's......the migraines were the usual side effect from most of the AD's that didn't have a worse side effect. I kind of think that the OD's I did with the AD's, might have caused the chemical imbalance that is now causing the migraines. I wouldn't think that it would cause that kind of long term effect, but who knows what effect OD's can have. I know that 1 OD caused me to go into a coma & stop breathing....ended up in ICU on a breathing machine.....so I am sure that long term effects could also come from that. I had the depression before the migraines, but my depression got worse with the constant pain. Having no life & no pain relief for so long really increased my depression level. Then not being able to take any AD meds just made things worse.

I finally came across the Seroquel. It really knockes me out (I can sleep for over 8 hours after taking 300mg). With no migraine pain, The only problems I seem to have now are the nightmares & flashbacks from the trauma I went through with my Mother just 1 1/2 years ago. The PTSD seems to be more a problem but I do find that at times I wake up after sleeping off the seroquel into a feeling of depression & anxiety attacks. When that happens, I take a much lower dose of the seroquel & it helps me feel much better. My pdoc is great about my meds......works with me on the doses I find that work & doesn't demand that I take things that don't work. I know when I was in the medical hospital with the anemia & mal nutrition (anorexia) at the time my mother died, the pdoc from the hospital insisted that I take AD's to help me with anorexia. The 2 I tried ended up causing the start of a migraine again (even with my high dose of fentynal). I stopped taking them immediately....which really pissed off that pdoc (but he was a real jerk anyway).

I don't know if you have ever tried the fentynal patches.....they work for 72 hours without having to take any pills. It keeps the pain from becoming the rollercoaster. I have to take the brand....generic doesn't work....but it is really awsome to have no pain. Before going through the trauma, not having pain really helped me with my depression level. Like you, valium & any benzos never worked. I remember taking 100 10mg valium's one time. My psycholoist called the peremidics & they took me to the ER.....I talked my way out of the psych ward.....it was like I hadn't taken any....so they couldn't prove anything excpet with a blood test. That proved that benzos had absolutely no effect for me. My pdoc tried a different one when I was going through the trauma & it had no effect either.....wasn't until I tried some left over seroquel from several years prior that I had any relief from the anxiety attacks & it also helps me sleep without the nightmares...guess because in knocks me out so well.

I don't know if you have tried any of the meds that have worked for me. I know that Lyrica is also supposed to be a great new med on neuropothy (especially for the pain with diabeditis).

Hope you can find some relief....I know how horrible it is to be in constant pain. I don't think that there is anything worse than that. Depression can't be controlled even by meds when pain is constant.....until the pain can be controlled, depression & anxiety can't be solved either (as far I my experience has been). I am afraid that it is going to be impossible to find a pain specialist that is as wonderful as the one I have now once I move to Kentucky. The pain med I am on is a high dose of narcotic & the pain specialist I have is willing to go against the DEA by showing that my quality of life has been so much improved by the med.....he is the exception rather than the rule for sure. I know they told me that they have a group that knows about pain specialists across the country to help me find a new one once I move, but I have a feeling that I will be traveling back to Calif, once a month.

I hope your pain can be controlled soon....I am sure it could help your whole quality of life too. If you have any questions, you can PM me if you would like.....I know this reply got way to long....sorry about that....hope it might be able to give you some suggestion about meds that have worked for me.

Debbie

If

TKs...

I'm also allergic to aspirin, aceteminophen, bendryl, ephinephrine, susphrine, vanceril, isuprel, medihaler, metaprel, alupen, theophylline, porventil, ventolin, quibron, penicillin, ampicillin, ledercillin, tetracycline, terramycin, doxycycline, vibramycine, erthromycin, ilosone, bactrim tetnus, datril, tylenol. tempra dramamine, visteril, ornade, indocin, percocet, methodone, lidocaine, carbocaine, novocain, versed, methocarbamol, and a few others...

I've used compazine a few times... in emergencies.

LOL....lets compare allergies....lol

My list of allergies is Penicillin, Keflex, Cipro, Benadryl, codeine, asprin, compazine, reglan, albuterol, foradil, lidocaine, novacaine. I had horrible reactions to all the old migraine meds. They caused horrible heart problems that made them impossible to take. I have such bad reactions to all AD's, I just lump them all together as something I can't take. Some of the major reactions were migraines, anorexia, parkinsons symptoms, joints that couldn't move, I am so allergic to smoke (especially cigarete smoke & fire smoke). I get pneumonia & have asthma attacks from that. We had a bad forest fire 2 years ago that sent it's smoke into our valley (a hawk flew into some power lines & broke them, starting a fire). It was horrible for several days. I ended up in the ER cause I couldn't breath. The breathing treatment they did with albuterol ended up messing up my potassium level (way too low). I got up from the gurney to go to the bathroom & collapsed on the floor. That was when they took the blood test & found my potassium was dangerously low. My own GP ended up putting my into the hospital for what was to be 3 days of breathing treatments every 4 hours. Well, they started to give me the foradil because I couldn't use advair & I my throat got so swollen I lost my voice. I ended up in the hospital for 10 days because my GP wouldn't let me go home in worse condition than when I came in. I realized it was an allergic reaction to the foradil & it took 3 days for the reaction to go away after stopping the med. Then when I was in the hospital last year for the anorexia, I ended up with horrible infections. For some reason, the infection came from the central line site they figured out. the worse part of the central line was that they did it without any numbing because of my allergy to the lidocaine/novacaine which they use to numb the site before they do the little surgery to insert the line into the vein. That was painful for sure......it doesn't pay to be allergic to some things. They found out about that alergy when they did the PICC line just before I left the hospital for my mothers funeral. I am continually finding out more & more allergies all the time.....I am now afraid to take anything new without being in a hospital situation....& I can't afford that.

It really stinks being allergic to everything doesn't it??????

Debbie

Yeah.

Oh, I've also tried Lexapro.

Recent studies say that someone needs to try 4 different antidepressants before they can say they don't work, or they can't take them. I certainly qualify for that... now when will they find something that will work for me ???

Hi Sky,

I am hesitant to give any suggestions because I would feel horrible if they caused you to have an adverse reaction. But, here goes...

I've taken Vitamin B-50 Complex for about 8 years to combat depression . It truly has helped me. The few times that I forgot to take vitamins for a few days in a row (usually with a change in routine), my husband was able to notice pretty quickly that I was moodier and too easily able to cry. The main B's that are needed in relatively high doses are B6 and B12 (about 1000-2000% of RDA). When I first started taking Vit B, I took a B50 in the morning, then took an individual B6 and B12 at lunch or in the afternoon. I did this for about four years, then cut back to just the B50 complex. During times of great stress, I still supplement with extra Bs again. Please do some research on the internet as to the dosage you would feel comfortable taking. The B vitamins are water-soluble, not fat-soluble, so it is much harder to overdose. The Bs won't accumulate in your body like the fat soluble vitamins will. But, there are temporary side-effects if you take too much of anything.

I learned about taking magnesium to help with both depression and PTSD in January of this year. My daughter (who is only 2) has PTSD (trauma that occurred before her adoption) and has a terrible time sleeping. I also have PTSD, so learning about magnesium is helping me too. Here is a good resource: http://www.coldcure.com/html/dep.html. If you buy a magnesium supplement, do not buy one that has calcium included (the calcium prevents the absorption of the magnesium).

Most important info from that resource:
"For brevity and simplicity: (a) magnesium oxide and magnesium hydroxide are ineffective and (b) magnesium glutamate and magnesium aspartate are potentially harmful."
"Dosage depends on the ligand, the thing to which the magnesium is attached. In the case of magnesium taurate, the ligand is "taurate". Absorption is largely a property of contact of the magnesium ion with the lining of the stomach and intestines. If magnesium is lightly bound to the ligand, then the acidity of the stomach can "ionize" the magnesium from its ligand and convert it to magnesium chloride (from the stomach acid hydrochloric acid) and finally into a positively charged ionic form for transfer into the blood where it is then picked up by various other ligands for transport to cells. Stomach acid can reduce the magnesium compound to the ionic form for metal complexes that have low to modest chemical stability, releasing both the magnesium ion and the ligand. The following magnesium compounds have sufficiently low stability that they offer very high absorption and are well tolerated. Magnesium acetate, chloride, citrate, gluconate, glycinate, lactate, malate, succinate, sulfate, tartrate and taurate are all very good, ionizable sources of magnesium. Intravenously, hospitals give magnesium sulfate. Magnesium chloride would be best, but it is very hygroscopic and difficult to properly package, but it makes a wonderful oily skin lotion when present in more than 25% concentrations in water and is readily and beneficially absorbed."

I buy the ALTA Health Products brand of Magnesium Chloride 518 mg for $9.76/100 tablets from The Vitamin Shoppe chain store. I take one tablet before going to bed. If you find that the magnesium causes your digestive system to run a little too fast (think Milk of Magnesia, a different form of magnesium), then take a Taurine supplement. I only had to take Taurine every three days for the first week or so. Now my body has adjusted and I don't take any Taurine at all. My daughter can't swallow pills very well yet, so she uses the Peter Gillham's Natural Vitality Natural Calm in the Raspberry-Lemon flavor. This is easy to adjust dosage because it is a powder (her's is only 1/8 teaspoon calculated by her weight), and doesn't taste bad.

To really help sleep , I use melatonin periodically. My daughter uses melatonin every night. The best working one that I have found is "melatonex" and comes in a small blue package with 30 tablets of 3 mg each. If I can get 10-12 hours of sleep in before having the alarm clock go off, I will take 1/2 a pill. The pills are scored and are time-release, which makes a difference if you are prone to waking up in the middle of the night already. If you can't get this brand or prefer a spray over a small tablet, I really like the NutraSpray Melatonin timed release 1.5 mg sublingual spray. This stuff works so quickly if you take it as directed (hold liquid under tongue for 30 seconds) that I'm falling asleep within 20 minutes.

BTW, in case anyone thinks that I am putting my daughter in danger by giving her these supplements, I have consulted with and was given the approval of her pediatrician and her trauma therapist. I also take whatever I give her first to see how my body responds to it, then watch her carefully to see how she responds to it. She was only getting about 5 to 6 hours of sleep at night when she was 18 months old due to PTSD hypervigilance and nightmares. After beginning to take the supplements, she slept pretty soundly for 12 hours a night and had two massive growth spurts soon after that. That is when I learned that sleep is necessary for the young body to be able to function and grow properly. Also, her mood and her ability to begin to attach to us really improved at that point. Things are soooo much better after one year of sleep and she readily sits down to take her "medicine" every night before bedtime. Ok, I'll stop being defensive now.

Hope this helps!

Elizabeth

oh... yeah I tried melatonin too just recently bad.

Hi Sky--

Sorry for my late response. I've had a couple of exams in these past couple weeks. I'll get caught up here this weekend!!

Jerry

bump

</font><blockquote><div id="quote"><font class="small">Quote:</font>
_Sky said:
I suffer with depression. "chronic" "major" "medical" whatever! The other major disorder is PTSD. I am physically disabled with chronic myofascial neuropathic pain, peripheral neuropathy, myelopathy, tmd, menieres, rotoscoliosis.

Naturally, I have sleep problems as well.

Currently, I have no meds for either the depression nor the insomnia.

I have allergy to most medications, ALL generics. I've tried psychotropics: amitriptyline, elavil, triavil dc, norpramine, pertofrane, tofranil, librium, sinequan,dalmane, paxil, wellbutrin, effexor, serzone, desyrel, trazedone. I'ved also tried lunesta, ambien, ambien cr, and rozerem. The muscle relaxers have also reacted to me: methocarbamol, norflex, flexeril, valium, dayto=anase, l-tryptophan, skelaxin and robaxin. (I ended up taking allergy drops to be able to take the robaxin, however even then it caused a heart murmur. )

(I've been disabled nearly 20 years, as you can tell by some of the old meds)

I've tried some herbals such as valerian root, and passion flower. They helped at first, but I didn't increase dosage afterwards. (I'm open to tryin again if I have some guideline as to how much of what for how long to try...)

Do you have any ideas of what to try???

Medicines I can take are Demerol (brand name only!), Cortisone (decadron), Levaquin, and Toredol. (and a new anesthetic my DMD uses...I need to get the name of it!!!)

The hallucinations of the Lunesta were nice, but the night terrors were not. It did knock me out, but for too long: my pain meds "ran out" and I always woke in much worse physical condition than if I had not slept at all and had taken pain med.
The Ambien worked the first night only. The CR was very bad, and included sinus infections and aspiration (which resulted also in aspiration pneumonia.)
Rozerem caused the typical allergic reaction for me: tightness of airway, wheeze, sob. It did knock me out.

Most of the psychotropic allergic reactions were paradoxical. The serzone, given at half the lowest dose in a hospital setting for safety, OD'd me.

I've tried delaying a demerol dose and sipped (literally a few sips) some cognac... which helped. Prior to having any meds to help me the first years after the injury, I used beer to help. The downside to that was my muscles spasmed worse once the buzz wore off (and weight gain )

</div></font></blockquote><font class="post">

Hey Sky!

I have to be honest and say that I don't have the expertise to even begin to suggest much - but I have some observations and some suggestions:

First - there's a big difference between being allergic to a medication and having a strong adverse reaction to a med. My first thought upon reading the list of meds you're allergic to prompted me to think: there must be a common ingrediant - perahps in the filler - that you're allergic to. Have you been tested for these drug allergies? When you have an allergic response - your body's immune system sends out its troops to combat the allergen. Mast cells are the troops - and your body responds to an allergen by releasing histamine, etc.

Do you think that some of the meds you've listed as being allergic to - are more likely causing adverse reactions? Don't get me wrong - I'm not questioning your medical history - I'm just trying to get a better understanding.

I wish I had a better response for you - because it sounds like it's been a rough ride trying to find something that will help that doesn't cause an allergic reaction, etc.

Keep posting -

Jerry

yeah. But thanks for the try! hehehe Yes I'm allergic to a filler, but after I had a compounding pharmacist to set about to find out WHICH fillers, his boss pulled him off the task as too expensive

I was only able to take the robaxin because I also took allergy drops at the same time... titrated and adjusted as my allergy altered to taking the med..it finally because so bad that I couldn't take the drops and had to go off the med.

I think some of the reactions are just the terrible side effects, but some are definite allergic reactions (airway closure, sinus, itching etc)... but maybe, IRL the "side effects" are general common allergic reactions ? lol

Ok I'm going to work harder on trance to sleep. Thanks for consideration!

I don't know if this was on your list. I take Xanax to sleep. Also have a friend with treatment-resistant depression. She's had ECT (no result there, but it has helped another friend a lot). She's researching other options like VNS (I believe it's called) where they put a device in your neck & stimulate it. There are other treatments that are coming into the forefront for this. Sorry I can't remember all that she is looking into, but maybe a search of "treatment resistant depression" would help.

I can imagine the frustration & hopelessness you must feel. I've been so lucky to find meds to treat my bipolar. I wish you the best. Do you have a pdoc that is up on the latest stuff? Mine was & got me onto new meds "off label" early that worked.

I take a calcium, magnesium, zinc table twice a day. I didn't realize the calcium blocks the absorption of the magnesium. Why do you think they put them together if that is the case?

I also have pernicious anemia &amp; used to take monthly B-12 shots for it. Doc now has me on 2,000 mcq of it orally daily (due to new research that says this is helpful) &amp; my blood tests have been normal. Pernicious anemia causes depression (I have bipolar too so I really didn't need that), fatigue, memory loss &amp; if not treated in the long term it can cause insanity so it is very deadly (which is what pernicious means). It was found through blood tests at my yearly physical. My husband claims they didn't catch it in time, because I've reached the insanity stage!