Low Dose Antipsychotics – Do They Help?

Posted by Natasha Tracy | Oct 13, 2010

I am very medication-reactive. Not so much with the positive effects, but I can almost guarantee you I’ll get all the side effects.I get every side effect for antidepressants, every side effect for antipsychotics and every side effect for pretty much anything else.

And sometimes, just for good measure, I’ll get side effects that doctors say “aren’t possible”. They are my favorite. And those overractions are often on the lowest known effective dose of the medication.

But if you add a low dose, lower than thought effective, of an antipsychotic, can this be helpful?

Everything You Wanted to Know About Seroquel But Were Afraid to Ask

Posted by Natasha Tracy | Aug 19, 2010

There is so much to know about Seroquel, and really, you’re so right to be afraid.

Over the last week-and-a-half I’ve been writing at HealthyPlace about the full prescribing information for Seroquel. I’ve done this to make a point – the full prescribing information for Seroquel or any drug is a treasure trove of knowledge. The full prescribing information really let’s you know what you’re getting into bed with and in the case of Seroquel, you’re getting into bed with a very dangerous substance. (That’s OK. I mean really, the only people worth getting into bed with are dangerous.) And whenever you take a (psychotropic, psychiatric) medication it’s worth knowing the risks. Seriously. Like, really worth it. And the risks of taking a medication are laid out in black and white in the prescribing information.

Antipsychotic Seroquel Information

I discuss Seroquel prescribing information section by section:

Part I: Drug stats and Seroquel warnings, dosage and indications

Part II: Seroquel warnings and precautions

Part III: Seroquel side-effects (adverse reactions)

And just to be clear, I’m not attacking Seroquel here. Seroquel just happens to be the highest grossing psychotropic medication and that’s why I picked it. Prescribing information and all its nastiness is available for any drug. I do think though, particularly everyone on an antipsychotic should look at its full prescribing information. I’m not suggesting these are bad medications, but what I am suggesting is that they are very dangerous and you need to be made aware of it before you stay on them for years.

Unusual Bipolar / Depression Treatments

Posted by Natasha Tracy | Jul 29, 2010

I’ve been “living the bipolar lifestyle” for over a decade now, and due to my general obsession over all things factual, I’ve done lots and lots and lots of research on bipolar treatments. Lots of research on lots of psychotropic pharmaceuticals specifically, but I’ve looked at, and tried bipolar disorder treatments too. I’ve written about unusual mental illness treatments here from time to time but I decided to put together the top 5 list of bipolar / depression treatments you might not know about for HealthyPlace.

Unusual Bipolar Disorder / Depression Treatments

Included is:

L-methylfolate: A Burbled Article – L-methylfolate as Antidepressant Enhancing Agent
Omega-3: My Burble Article – Diet and Depression / Bipolar
Calcium Channel Blockers – Burblicious – Anticonvulsants as Calcium Antagonists in Mood Stabilization
Thyroid Hormones – I was on Levoxyl, oddly I didn’t write about it.
Light Therapy – somehow I can’t find anything on this either. Which is weird, because I actually like this one.

It’s probably that I just didn’t get the chance to write about the last two. Sometimes I really mean to say something but I don’t get around to actually doing it. Anyway, you can check out the HealthyPlace article for more.

Getting Off Pristiq – Or Not

Posted by Natasha Tracy | Jul 7, 2010

A couple of posts ago I talked about getting off of the antidepressant, Pristiq. I just thought you might like to know I was unsuccessful at getting off the final 50mg of Pristiq. I stopped taking the final Pristiq pill while increasing the antidepressant, Welbutrin and fell entirely apart in withdrawal. I became a swamp of tears, echos of choking sobs and a rainforest (?) of suicidality.

Yeah, so I gave into the withdrawal and just took the Pristiq again. Ah…failure. Failure getting on antidepressants, failure getting off antidepressants, and failing to get better. Sheesh. That’s quite a lineup.

Drugs are bad. Just say no. Or ow. Or please god stop.

Or that might be just me.

How To Get Off Pristiq or Reduce Pristiq

Posted by Natasha Tracy | Jun 26, 2010

Now I’m not a doctor, in fact, I don’t even play one on TV, but I wanted to share a little about me and how I’m handling getting off of, or at least reducing, Pristiq.

Please also read: When to Get Off Antidepressants with Bipolar Disorder

Antidepressant Pristiq – Easy On, Not-So-Easy Off

I’ve been talking the antidepressant Pristiq (desvenlafaxine) for months and it doesn’t seem to be doing much, but honestly, the withdrawal from Pristiq is so bad I didn’t want to attempt getting off of it. As you might know, Pristiq is a metabolite of Effexor and Effexor, another antidepressant, is also a nightmare to get off of. If I would miss a Pristiq dose by even a few hours I would become suicidally depressed. Really. No joke.

No Taper Strategy for Pristiq

So getting off of Pristiq wasn’t on my short list of fun things to do. There is no taper strategy for Pristiq as it only comes in 50 mg and 100 mg tablets and you cannot cut them.

How I’m Getting Off Pristiq

But I seem to be successfully reducing the dose of Pristiq with minimal impact and withdrawal.

Will ECT Work for Me? — Predictors of ECT Efficacy

Posted by Natasha Tracy | May 12, 2010

It would be nice to know ahead of time, if a treatment would work. Unfortunately, no one cal tell the future: not for cancer treatment and not for mental illness treatment like electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) either.

Will Electroconvulsive Therapy Work for Me?

But very smart people try to figure out what might predict the outcome of treatments. Especially treatments like ECT, a hotly debated, and much maligned treatment. That’s the good news. And the bad news.

In a retrospective chart review of depressive and bipolar patients in a Netherlands hospital, of those who received ECT, 65.8% met the standards for remission. The only predictor of response found was duration of index series.

Can’t Not Talk About Shock Therapy (Electroconvulsive Therapy, ECT)

Posted by Natasha Tracy | Mar 10, 2010

I hadn’t planned on discussing my electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) experience with many people. I found it terrible, scarring, not to mention futile and immensely embarrassing; those aren’t generally feelings I like to talk about. I still find the idea of shock therapy, well, shocking. Incomprehensible. Absolutely impossible.

Write About What You Know – I Know ECT

The problem with being a writer is that you write what you know, and you’re driven to write what plagues you most. At least I am. I can’t write about fluffy bunnies and sparkling rainbows, because these aren’t the things that occupy my conscious mind. But ECT. Ironically it erased pieces of my brain only to seemingly permanently occupy others. I’m acutely aware of its happening and yet find it completely unbelievable.

Failure of ECT Seems Worth Writing About

Caffeine and Mental Illness and Caffeine Disorders

Posted by Natasha Tracy | Feb 21, 2010

Caffeine is the world’s most popular psychoactive substance. So many of us love it a la Starbucks, Tim Hortons or just out or our home coffee machine. Me, I love coffee and I’m a fan of caffeine too. Coffee’s the nectar of the gods and nothing will convince me otherwise.

It seems though, caffeine can actually hurt you. I know, I never thought my beloved coffee could harm me, but I suppose anything that you abuse, will abuse you back. So, here is everything you ever needed to know about caffeine, caffeine disorders and caffeine and mental illness but were afraid to ask.

Calcium Channel Blockers (Verapamil) and Bipolar

Posted by Natasha Tracy | Oct 28, 2009

For anyone who is wondering, I am currently trying a calcium channel blocker to control my mood. This is a last-line treatment really as there are conflicting reports as to whether it works at all, but when you’re me,...