Depression: What treatment can I try after so many years?

@wsh66 I have read yours and other's posts on Gene sight testing. I went to a psychiatric nurse and she did the testing and sent it to the lab. I am told "You failed" Obviously no good/bad or otherwise drug came up that would be of good benefit to any other drug. What the heck. I am now on Vraylar. I took 1 1.5 capsule on Wed. May 20 and was told not to take another for 4 days. I took another yesterday May 31. She said she wanted to allow the medication to get slowly into my system. I get that because I have been sooo sick coming off Effexor, put on Triifix , going off 5mg of Lexapro, going on 0.5 Klonapine. During this time -2 months- I have been so ill. My doctor put me on Carafate as stomach and esophagus pain is killing me. I have dry heaves at the drop of a hat.I had stomach surgery 10 years ago because acid reflux was eroding my esophagus and this is why I can't actually vomit stomach contents. Dry heaves so painful. Any input will be appreciated. This psychiatric nurse was referred by a counselor and has a good reputation as far as I can see. I was so excited when she asked to do the Gene sight test. Well. that was another bummer..

This is a new one on me. Did you contact the company to ask what you failed meant? What did your doctor say about that conclusion? Could it be that they didn't get a good sample to test? I'm going to look into this myself and find out what it means.

@wsh66 Thank you for taking an interest in this. What I understood her to say and that just any medicine for me. Nothing stood out. I don't get it either. I do have the test results on my computer and need to fix my printer to get them off. In this small, very limited town I live in. no one even heard of Gene testing.

My brother developed stage four kidney failure from using Lithium for many years. I was on it for some time. Them several years ago I switched doctors. He said I must go off of it because of it's affect on kidneys.

GeneSight testing

miray @miray 67 I am sorry to hear you have the problems that you have. There is a drug that is used as a pain killer and an antidepressant. I take it for depression My mother used it for both pain and depression.. The drug is Cymbalta (brand) aka duloxetine (generic)

When I heard a drug for pain and depression I thought you were going to say amitriptyline. I take it at night for the pain caused by the combination of neuropathy and high compression on my left leg which I have to do. I can only tolerate 25 mg as it is also a powerful sleep aid. I took Cymbalta but not for long. Did nothing for pain and it made me distinctly suicidal so much so that it wasn't even scary because it was obviously a drug effect. I don't guess the drugs anymore yes. I had genesight testing so now I know what pain drugs will work best for me as well as drugs for depression or other mental issues. The testing can tell you based on your genetic makeup which of these drugs your body can properly metabolize and the rate that you will metabolize these drugs at. It seems this is a large part of the battle of finding the right drug.

You may have Treatment Resistance. I have it. Started at age 7 with depression also. My first ECT helped ALOT. Have you had it? I don’t know where you live but I finally got diagnosed by David Dunn MD in Mercer Island, WA. He edited a number of text books at UNiversity of Wa. His resume is over 27 pages long at my last count. He doesn’t take insurance. Your diagnostic opinion will probably cost about $200 but I found getting the correct diagnosis and a suggestion of treatment. After many years of over 25 med tries and many doctors a correct diagnosis was worth a million dollars to me. Ya can’t get an effective treatment without a correct diagnosis.

When I was 23, my friend John had symptoms of severe depressionand/or psychosis. They sent him to have ECT. He had a number of treatments. I picked him up hitchhiking home from one. He was a mess. A few months later I got a call from my ex telling me they had buried John that day. I had not known he had died. Turns out his odd behavior was due to the pressure caused by an aneurism on his brain which had burst and killed him. Your right. An accurate diagnosis is really important.

You need Gene Sight Psychotropic Testing. Search on line, go to there sight and request a test and a list of participating Docs near you, Gene Sight sends you a swab which you return and then they send a report to your designated Doc. Doctors can register with Gene Sight for free over the phone. What the testing tells you is which medications you can metabolize based on your genes. It doesn't guarantee a perfect match but it does tell you what you personally can digest. This is why so many don't find the relief that others might experience from a particular drug. Some Doc are too arrogant to accept help prescribing, some don't have the time to register.

This is the most important step you can take to improve your mental health. It works and there is no substitute as of yet. Mayo does similar work but was late to the game. Gene Sight was first and still best. Do this now and I hope you feel better. Age has nothing to do with depression or what drugs will help. I would also recommend reading a book titled "Feeling Good". Doing so is bibliotherapy and works as well as either talk therapy or drugs. Any two of the three is 2 x better than any one. All 3 together are 3 x better than any one.

Depression is a fatal disease if left un-treated. Love and Blessings and the link, https://genesight.com/