Author: tearj3rker
Posted: Wed Jun 06, 2012 9:30 pm
Hey Bunnyman…
I wish I had more time to do a better response, but I agree a LOT about drugs like Venlafaxine worsening addiction. It took my doctor a while to "come around", but now he agrees as well. There’s some new research indicating that SSRI/SNRI medications can actually worsen a person’s impulse control. It’s called "antidepressant apathy syndrome". My doctor said that they have even shown physically that when a person is on SSRI’s that there’s a weakening of the frontal lobe circuit that’s responsible for self-control. This is why many people complain on anti-depressants of not caring about doing chores, paying bills, working hard. There’s this feeling like "it’s all good and happy it’ll be FINE".
It’s hardly surprising that when that attitude is found in a recovering addict, it spells disaster. I can tell you right now that if I were to go back on an SNRI/SSRI, I would lose a lot of self-control with my addiction. It get a feeling like "it’ll be okay, who cares?" because everything all happy joy, and I’m unable to recall negative memories like I should.
What is quite scary, and angers me a lil, is that before they knew this about SSRI medications, they were actually prescribed to treat addiction! It was based on a flimsy piece of theory – addicts use because they’re depressed, give them anti-depressants and they won’t want to use anymore. Sadly there was no real research done into this, and lately it’s been shown that the opposite is true.
When I relapsed at 13 months clean, it was shortly after I got put back on anti-depressants. I had a serious relapse into depression, looking over the cliffs into the ocean every morning thinking when it’d happen. BUT I did not want to use, the thought made me even sadder. Then the moment I got put back on SSRI’s (venlafaxine to be exact), I picked up within 2 days.
Another time I was in rehab, been there 4 months. My depression returned, and I got put on Cymbalta / Duloxetine. Up until then I was a real well behaved resident. Two days after I got put on Duloxetine I got booted out for theft of tobacco (community tobacco but still I didn’t have clearance). It was as if I had no brakes. If a thought came to my head, I’d act.
What angered me about my doctor was that I told him there was a link between SSRI’s and relapse for years, and he refused to believe it, choosing instead to believe I was using it as an excuse. And then when he eventually ackwnowledged it this year (the evidence piled up), he pretended that it was HIM that came up with the link and that it was HIS breakthrough…. Whatever.
As for diagnosis of bipolar in children. I do believe that there is such a thing as childhood bipolar. Looking back, I had symptoms of bipolar as a child. That being said, I think only certain very talented psychiatrists should be allowed to make such a diagnosis, as such an illness manifests in children in a much different way. And knowing how inept some psychiatrists I’ve known can be, it does frighten me a bit that kids may be diagnosed with chronic illnesses when it really isn’t the case.
I was dead set against childhood bipolar, until I saw this, and I saw a lot of myself as a kid in this guy: