[cafegrrrl]

My counselor told me that she was talking to the shrink (i signed a release for her to do so) and that she told him that she thought my dx was no longer depression but some form or another of bipolar. My family doc also told me about a year ago that he thinks my dx is bipolar too, not just unipolar depression anymore.

Apparently though, the shrink (whom i have yet to even meet), told the counselor that it was just unipolar depression because I took anti depressants and they worked in the past.

I did take anti depressants for 6 yrs without any problems. However, when i changed jobs, I couldn't afford them anymore and stopped taking them for 6-9 months. That was a big mistake on my part, lesson learned. My doc was able to get me samples of the same meds I used to take(Effexor) but they messed me up. And it was the lowest dose (37.5 mg). I couldn't eat, sleep, or do anything really for 3 days and nights. That was a year ago. We've been playing with anti depressants ever since then and we have yet to find any that work and/or I can tolerate.

The counselor also said something about the shrink possibly wanting to give me the same meds I was once on but in a higher dosage. If the lowest dosage had me flying and unable to function at all, how will an even higher dosage be managable?

Maybe I didn't get the entire story from the counselor for whatever reason. But, I'm scared of the shrink being wrong and the doc and counselor being right about the dx. And if the shrink just prescribes a higher dosage of anti depressants on their own (and he's wrong about the unipolar depression dx), then what's going to happen? This just doesn't seem right to me and i'm getting scared...

[serafim_etal]

There are some meds that have fewer side effects at hgher doses...it's counter intuitive. I don't know all the meds that this s true of, but remeron is one. At the lowest dose of remeron, I was excessively sleepy and seriously HUNGRY (not good when one is diabetic). My pdoc warned me about this and we increased the dose in less then a week. At the increased level the hungriness went away and the sleepiness eased but was still there. This was okay because we were using it partially for sleep. My pdoc explained to me that if we increased the dose agan, it was likely that the sleepiness would go away too. Very weird...but when I went off the med, tapered down, the hungriness reappeared at the lower dose! So it is possible that side effects would be less at a higher dose.

Ask your pdoc about it.

[yutzman]

I don't recommend 'dabbling' with meds...37.5mg is not the required dosage for an adult on this med. It took 3 times this amount to effect my depression as a starter drug. but you need to commit...............

[cafegrrrl]

[quote=serafim_etal;830847]There are some meds that have fewer side effects at hgher doses...it's counter intuitive. I don't know all the meds that this s true of, but remeron is one.

Yeah i was wondering if that was true of anti depressants too. I know caffeine works like that for me too...too much and it just knocks me out.

[cafegrrrl]

Originally Posted by yutzman

I don't recommend 'dabbling' with meds...37.5mg is not the required dosage for an adult on this med. It took 3 times this amount to effect my depression as a starter drug. but you need to commit...............

When i was on Effexor before, I was able to take it. Just not anymore without ending up in the ER..otherwise I'd still be taking it. I'm just getting so tired of playing the pill game.