YOU ARE NOT ALONE - A companion online community discussion board for The Mental Illness Happy Hour podcast with Paul Gilmartin

Howdy-do.
I've been on meds since the mid-90s. It seems like I've tried most everything. Everything made me feel worse due to side effects. I was on Zoloft until it eventually stopped working, then Prozac which gave me restless legs, sleeplessness, and a list of other things. So, I decided to ditch Western prescription medications completely and learn to cope in other ways. I was doing okay for a while. And, I do mean just okay. All of the sudden I started suffering from anxiety attacks so bad that, in the heat of the moment, went back on anti-depressants; Lexapro and Alprazolam. That was the worse decision I ever made. I ended up having severe heart palpitations, head aches, uncontrollable pacing = worse anxiety. That was from the Lexapro. One of my main questions for the pharmaceutical companies is: Why do you make anxiety medications that "May make you anxious" in the warnings sections area of the medication literature and why didn't my doctor acknowledge that fact upon prescribing it? I was so out of my head for a week that I felt like I was on (what I assume) Meth would be like. I quit cold turkey (to the disapproval of my nurse practitioner) and came off the meds. I decided then that I would never, ever go on Western meds again.

Please note that I AM NOT saying I believe people should not be on presciption medications. I know they are extremely helpful for many people. I am strictly talking about my experiences with the likes of Lexapro, Effexor, Welbutrin, Zoloft, Paxil, etc. I am so sensitive to these drugs that my body just reacts very adversely to them and I needed to find a different source of relief. The Alprazolam made me into a living zombie, which really didn't help when I needed to be able to drive to my work, and, well...work! I don't take it at all now because many prescription medications can have bad side effects when mixed with homeopathic remedies.

What I have discovered now that is really helping me with anxiety, depression, OCD, etc. are 2 things:
First and foremost is meditation. I'd love to hear from others who meditate. I'm not going to go all woo-woo, new agey on you. I just find that to quiet my mind and breathe for even just 5 minutes does amazing things for my anxiety. It doesn't cure it, but it does help to calm it.
Secondly, I've recently started taking SAM-e 400. Within the first couple of days of taking it I noticed a big difference in my mental clarity. I was able to really enunciate and elaborate when talking with others. This is something that I have had a horrible time with ever since I was first diagnosed with Fibromyalgia and depression. Right now I am also noticing that it is balancing my emotions out as well. I am known to cry at the drop of a hat (poor hat!), but am able to restrain the tears and control the emotion much better.

My question to the community: Does anyone else take supplements or homeopathic remedies? What are they and what are you taking them for? Are they working?

Thanks a bunch everyone! Hugs!
serious_oregon

Sorry I can't be a source of much info now, but I might be in about a week. Meds are such weird things...I looked up the mertazipine that Paul talks about on the show sometimes, and realized that's the stuff that made me sleep 20 hours per day back in 1999. Most SSRIs and Effexor and Celexa do nothing at all for me other than side effects. Wellbutrin gave me tremors. Prozac and clonazepam both sent me into suicidal depression (years apart - not at the same time). I do take a small amount of alprazalam, but after this many years and such a low dose it's probably more of a placebo than actually doing anything. I'm taking Zoloft and I honestly don't know if it's doing anything or not. I mention in another recent thread that I started gabapentin (Neurontin) for my chronic pain and it really super helped my back pain AND anxiety right away. Pain free and calm and not stumbling over my words and freaking out whenever someone talks to me. It's actually a milder form of Lyrica, which some people do use for Fibromyalgia from what I've read. Then my psych told me that it needs to be taken for a while before it works for pain, and that any anti-anxiety benefit is probably just sedation. That was not my experience at all, and also not the anecdotal experience of huge numbers of posts I found online, so I don't know what to think because he really is a great doctor and I trust his knowledge. The effects did start to poop out a bit after the first few days, but it was prescribed by my primary doc and I haven't been able to get ahold of her to see about maybe titrating up sooner than my appointment in two weeks.

But back to supplements, I've been researching Phenibut...and it kind of freaks me out but it also kind of sounds like many people get the same effects as from the gabapentin, and in a fit of Ambien-induced lack of good judgement, I ordered a bottle of it. So, if it actually does help with the anxiety and social fears it'll be good for the Portland festival. I've been looking to try some non-prescription (legal) remedies, so I'll be keeping an eye on this thread too.

Sorry to write all this and really not answer any of your questions.

No worries. It's a dialogue about experiences. You're planning on trying something new. That's great. We'll stay in touch and see how it works for you.

I've only been on the SAM-e for a couple of weeks, so I'm still in my initial trial stage. I still wake up with anxiety, but it is much easier to get under control through breathing exercises and meditation then it used to be. I am going to up my dosage (which my herbalist advised me to do in the beginning) after the first 30 days and with a different brand name that has excellent reviews from consumers.

Here's to us and our crazy heads!!! We are awesome and we can do it!

I meditate and do yoga daily. It is wonderful for my anxiety! The difficulty is when the depression is overwhelming -- if I can't get out of bed, I can't do yoga. I take supplements, but mostly for dietary purposes since I still struggle with anorexia. The one I think that helps the most is the omega-3 fish oil even though I hate taking it.

My family is from the Philippines, so when I first started showing signs of depression my family met my illness with Chinese medicine and Catholic penance. I honestly don't know everything they tried -- I just remember funny-smelling herbs and foul-tasting liquids and balms rubbed on various parts of my body. I feel like Western medicine is what saved me, so I'm definitely biased. I saw the same psychiatrist for over a decade and he was always very frank about side effects because he had just started practicing medicine and I was so young (I started going to him when I was 12). I've had bad experiences with a lot of different meds, but other ones saved my life.

I'd like to try homeopathic alternatives because I really don't want to be a slave to pharmaceutical companies, but I'm afraid that getting off my anti-depressants will screw me up so badly I can't get back out of the pit... anything I try would have to be something I can take in conjunction with my prescription meds for a while.

First and foremost, always do what is best for you! I simply wondered if anyone else was able to be successful with alternative medicine. I truly know the importance of prescription medications and would NEVER ask anyone to stop taking them. There was a period where prescription meds helped me, but my body stopped reacting well to most. I still take Ibuprofen on a consistent basis and that definitely qualifies as Western medicine.

However we feel the best is the best method. Hurrah, pals! Thanks for the input

Cheers! I'm trying to incorporate meditation more into the daily fabric of my life since I seem to have so much trouble with sitting and just doing it for 10-30 minutes. So I'll just take a minute or two whenever it pops into my head - and if I'm at work where I can't stop what I'm doing, I try to do my job mindfully for a bit. I don't know if it's helping yet, but I'm continually finding evidence that it should if I keep practicing!

Got the Phenibut stuff today. Tried 500mg and it just seemed to make me sleepy, and took another 500 when I woke up from my nap. Not sure if it's doing anything at all, but will continue to experiment.

Meditation = great. Sleep, exercise, eating, being kind and considerate to yourself = great.

Pharmaceuticals - neither good nor bad. At best, they treat symptoms and not underlying causes. serious_oregon, your story was familiar. I was on several SSRIs one after another and then Effexor for several years. It helped in some ways for a while, but in reality things were getting worse because I could tolerate more because I was numb and didn't need to struggle against it. I finally got fed up and went off cold turkey. A few years ago I went back on an SSRI for about a month and all that happened was weight gain that I still haven't been entirely successful in fighting off.

Homeopathy = 100% bullshit from a scientific perspective. If homeopathic remedies did what their proponents claim they do, it would violate fundamental laws of physics and chemistry. This is not about the little guy vs. big pharma. This is about the way that matter is put together. If something is advertised as homeopathic, you'd be better off spending your money on tap water and sugar pills, because that's all that's really in there.

This is not a slam against all "alternative" remedies. However, the distinction between Western and Alternative is not really a meaningful one. What is important is does something work (and has it been rigorously, statistically validated that it works)? Does anyone have any idea how it does? Is it safe? The same questions and common sense should be applied to anything you put into your body, especially if you are hoping to feel better emotionally/mentally as a result. Anecdotal evidence is not particularly compelling in terms of whether something is helpful or beneficial (think of the placebo effect), let alone safe.

My advice is to be very critical and do your research, and consider your sources and what their agendas (political, social, economic) are. Obviously, pharmaceutical companies exist to make a profit, but do it against the backdrop of government regulation. The manufacturers of supplements and alternative remedies also are trying to make money (they're not doing it out of the goodness of their hearts!), but have a lot less red tape to worry about and there is a lot less information about safety and efficacy. Both of those groups are going to tell you that what they are selling is the best and everything else is bad for you.

Cheldoll mentioned omega-3 fish oil, and that is a perfect example of something that is alternative and traditional and natural in one way, but also has been scientifically validated as having beneficial medical effects. Nevina - not sure I would mix something like Phenibut with Ambien or gabapentin.

I'm not an MD, but I know a lot about the mechanisms by which these drugs and other molecules work in the body and it frustrates me how little most doctors know and care about how they work. How's the patient/consumer supposed to know if the only reliable sources of information are the ones with profit motive?

Stepping down off the soapbox to return you to your regularly scheduled discussion.

weary wrote:My advice is to be very critical and do your research, and consider your sources and what their agendas (political, social, economic) are. Obviously, pharmaceutical companies exist to make a profit, but do it against the backdrop of government regulation. The manufacturers of supplements and alternative remedies also are trying to make money (they're not doing it out of the goodness of their hearts!), but have a lot less red tape to worry about and there is a lot less information about safety and efficacy. Both of those groups are going to tell you that what they are selling is the best and everything else is bad for you.

Wow, I never thought about that. I just see a lot of supplements claim to be "clinically proven" to do this and that so it never really occurred to me that the study was probably carried out by them and only once or something. I definitely need to check more sources for stuff. I also wasn't aware that homeopathic and natural aren't interchangeable... derp.

I also wasn't aware that homeopathic and natural aren't interchangeable... derp.

Homeopathic is a specific kind of woo based on a pseudoscientific principle that water somehow "remembers" things that were dissolved in it, even if it has then been diluted so much that there are literally no molecules of the substance left in the water.

I just see a lot of supplements claim to be "clinically proven" to do this and that

If you read the fine print on the bottle, supplements will say something like "This statement has not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent disease." All the claims are merely marketing and in some cases are stretching the boundaries of legality.

Here are a few links for more info: http://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/02 ... upplements

http://nccam.nih.gov/health/homeopathy

weary wrote: Nevina - not sure I would mix something like Phenibut with Ambien or gabapentin.

Oh yeah, I'm not. I'm in a weird spot with the gabapentin where my doctor upped my dose so I ran out, but my refill date comes while I'm in Portland for five days, so I'm not taking it at the moment...mostly just curious if the great effects I got from the gabapentin in the first couple of days could be reproduced with a "similar" supplement. I haven't taken any more since that first day. Don't want to overdo it. And I researched it extensively from several different sources before trying it. I remember trying l-tyrosine when I was 19 and getting freaked out because my leg muscles started twitching occasionally, and thought I'd damaged myself forever. Since then I've learned to evaluate.

I agree with you on homeopathic stuff, but I also think that if it sparks a beneficial placebo effect in someone, more power to them! And if it turns out to be a "real" effect despite the woo, well, that's great too!

Closing down the laptop and leaving for Portland now yaaaaaay.