thanks Bizi

this one was strange because i didn't have much photosensitivity OR nausea. i was watching tv and really thought it was sinus. but it got really bad and the pain shifted so it was not right on my sinuses, and anyway the sinus med had done *nothing* ... and the timing is right so it is most likely there was migraine activity at the bottom of it all.

i'm not complaining - LESS symptoms are always preferable to MORE!!!! and i'm ok today.

oh, and no nausea today either. so tomorrow i am going up to 100mg of Zoloft.

~ waves ~

It's strange that they start zoloft at 150mg in Europe... And 3 times a day?

I'm so sorry you have to deal with migraines to boot, but I'm glad that your nausea had subsided a little.

-Kay

no not in Europe - i read that they do that in CANADA.... i came across something online - not personal experience.... i'll see if i can find the link again if you are interested. i had never heard that before!!!

i am in Europe and i have always been given Zoloft once a day, here and in the US. and i had never heard of starting at 150mg per day, ever. my pdoc in the US started me at 12.5 mg, but that was the first time i ever took the drug. also he tended to be very cautious with meds. pdoc here started me at 50mg. this time around, i started at 25 mg, to avoid headaches.

yes i am so really relieved not to have the nausea. i hate it. but it only happened that one day, and since i also had the aura it really might not have had to do with the Zoloft. i basically get migraines once a month.... sometimes i get them out of place but...

i am still holding off on supplements until i know if i need to be tested for B12 or what. but i should restart just the magnesium.

~ waves ~

My first trial of zoloft was for 3 months starting at 50mg. When my depression came back, I did a trial for 6 months (also starting at 50mg), but refused to stop it at the end of that period. I went to my PCPs for this, until it became clear that I needed more than they could offer me in the way of MH care.

My xx MHNP kept increasing my zoloft. I read in one of my nursing pharmaceutical books that there are limits to zoloft dosages. Questioning this, she told me that she could give me as much as she wanted until it worked. I think I peaked at 300mg until I told her enough is enough- I was on zoloft for many, many years and it obviously was no longer working.

She responded by adding buspar and effexor, but didn't d/c the zoloft. Total poly-pharmacy. Then she kept increasing the effexor until I became MANIC. She refused to believe that I was BP, despite my psychologist's reports that she believed this.

I was forced by the witch to go to the ER, and they recommended I get a second opinion ASAP. So, I finally fired the witch. My now x NP immediately started treating me for BPII and I was stable with a few exceptions.

I can totally see how international prescribing guidelines could vary since practitioners here vary so much in their treatments and comfort level with certain dosages of meds.

I'm looking forward to seeing the new NP. She also has a med/surg background and that should help. I'm going to ask to taper off the effexor and not take ADs until I cycle into depression.


As far as the vitamins, I agree that it's good to get a better idea of what's going on before you start taking anything. They could alter further testing results.

I'm so glad you're okay today.

-Kay

oh kay, I am so sorry that you had to go thru that!!!!
yikes!
bizi

Dear Kay

that is a really terrible experience... wondering if you ever thought to file a complaint against her..... sounds like your other doctors and psychologist would support you also.....

i concur with only using antidepressants when depressed. and i've also read that whereas unipolars should take them for a few months after initial signs of remission, that for bipolars the better strategy is to take them off as soon as the depression remits, to avoid a manic switch.

i cycled probably more than was usual right after starting meds... the first med given to me was Paxil and i really feel that one started me rapid cycling. i do have to be careful with Zoloft too... basically when i start feeling consistently better it becomes a very short trip to feeling "too much better" ... my first psychiatrist had a time of it ... changed antidepressants 3 or 4 times, different meds, different combos, and by the time i left his area he had decided i couldn't do SSRIs at all... by then i was taking Wellbutrin with a boatload of stabilizers i couldn't get the Wellbutrin formulation that works for me here. i went unmedicated for a while but when the s**t hit the fan i had to get medicated for both sides of the equation again... luckily for the downside Zoloft and i do get along ok, if i'm cautious. for now, it seems ok.

~ waves ~

dear waves I think you are doing well with the being cautious. You seem to have great insight and are observant of the subtlties of slipping that slippery slope of hypomania or rather a mixed mood.
keep up the good work that you are doing.
I have hopes that you will feel better soon.
((((HUGS)))
bizi

thanks Bizi, for having hope for me.

i must admit i am not really all that hopeful myself... i didn't think i'd have to go up to 100mg. maybe it is all situational and the med won't help at all. i thought maybe it could at least help some, because i was dragging, but now i don't know.

* went up to 100mg this morning, day 1 *

my life is a mess. this week i am supposed to call back the recruiter/consultant my friend had put me in touch with. she had got me an interview - by fudging stuff on my resume though. well anyway she was going to offer me training in sorta-kinda-my-field. i feel so horrible about going back to work in that field. i don't know what to do. doing that feels like i'm a cow going to slaughter.

i was supposed to have applied for the other thing i was going to try to do by now. i haven't done a thing. i am "ok" as long as i don't do a thing. i tire easily and never feel like doing anything. i hate doing anything. that sounds so pathetic.

anyway i am afraid to call that woman, and tell her "thank you but no thank you and just forget about me, because i'm now looking at changing fields altogether." i am afraid to burn bridges. she said if i did it she could probably get me a job in that area, but i'd have to commit to that before doing the training.... i feel like i ought to take this opportunity i'm being given. employment versus unemployment, sort of thing.

but i want to have the *UMPPH* to try that other thing (nothing to do with her or with computers). it is something that would feel more meaningful. i just can't seem to get with it... with anything.

~ waves ~

it just sounds like you are going through bipolar depression and i really don't believe pills help much. I don't know how to change a mind set. Circumstances have gotten me out of it sometimes. Things i have never thought of have happened and have gotten me excited....ie new people whom i like...usually i don't think that will happen...or sometimes i think that will happen and it doesn't
i don't know if i am making sense or being helpful. I feel for you
love
bobby

Waves

I think If it were me. I would call the person. Explain that there is something
that you still really would like to do. You are having trouble getting started
trying to do it.

But that until you have done this you don't feel you have given everything a try.

You really would like to give the thing she has a chance, but you can't till
you know you can't do this other.

Saying you hope she can understand.

Donna