1. < Depression & Anxiety

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

Posted by miray67 @miray67, Apr 22, 2020

I have fought depression and anxiety since I was about seven years old when I had panic attacks. Without revealing my age what can you take when you have tried all the older medicines? It’s been with me for MANY years. Not the panic attacks but long spells of depression and anxiety to the point I am ver shaky most of the time. I’m sure there newer medications than the ones doctors want me to try again. I am now on Paxil again after trying it back in 1995. Seems it does everything except what it’s supposed to do. My present doctor refuses to change it but has reduced the dosage again to 25mg from 37.5. I hate to keep changing doctors and trying over and over. Being confined for so long hasn’t helped, of course. I am in good health for my age, still drive a little and do most everything for my self with weak need and chronic pain.

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summertime4 | @summertime4 | Jun 1, 2020
In reply to @wsh66 "Anyone who is having trouble with the side effects of meds or with meds that are..." + (show)
@wsh66

Anyone who is having trouble with the side effects of meds or with meds that are not working for you should look into gene testing. Often times drugs don't work or have too many side effects because you can't metabolize them. Your particular make up the chemistry of your system, won't let the drugs work. There's a company called Genesight Testing and Mayo Clinic has their own form of gene auditing now as well. Not only will this testing tell you which drugs you would be able to metabolize best it can also tell you if your body will metabolize them too quickly leading too underdosing or metabolize them to slowly leading to overdosing.

It doesn't matter if your doctor is registered with Genesight or not. You go to their website and you put in your zip code and they will give you a list of doctors who have taken the 15 minutes on the phone for free to register with the Genesight company. This is what I had to do . I made an appointment with and visited a doctor on their list.
She gave me a cheek swab. When it was tested in return I went back to see her and she explained the report to me. Once I had my report I took it to my doctor and we adjusted my meds accordingly. That report is now a part of my permanent medical record and I have a copy as well If my doctor had been unwilling to look at my report or respond to my report I would have found a new doctor. Many doctors are under so much pressure that 15 minutes on the phone means that's one or two patients they can't see. I guess some doctors don't believe in the testing or have egos too large to allow the metric like this to suggest what they should prescribe for their patients.

The testing relates to three classes of drugs. Psychotropic meds for mental illness, antidepressants, and analgesics or pain meds.

The days of bouncing around from one drug to another trying to find one that works for you should be over. I don't know for a fact that this testing is perfect but it was perfect for me and for my son. Mine was covered by my insurance my son's was covered by his MA. I believe the most you can pay out-of-pocket is $360 but I could be wrong about that. If I had to pay that much I would still say, cheap at twice the price. I don't know what Mayo Clinic does but I know that the GeneSight company has a sliding fee scale.

The burden of having these conditions which we need to have treated is burden enough. We don't need to have it complicated by having to play guessing games to find out what we should be treated with.

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@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..

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1 reply
Stephen | @wsh66 | Jun 1, 2020
In reply to @summertime4 "@wsh66 I have read yours and other's posts on Gene sight testing. I went to a..." + (show)
@summertime4

@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..

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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.

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summertime4 | @summertime4 | Jun 1, 2020

@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.

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russy | @russy | Jun 1, 2020
In reply to @buyearly "I, too, suffered from depression/anxiety for decades until God led me to the right Dr. for..." + (show)
@buyearly

I, too, suffered from depression/anxiety for decades until God led me to the right Dr. for me, a NeuroPsychiatrist, she correctly diagnosed my problem (Bipolar) and prescribed the correct med for me (Lithium, had to be brand name of Lithobid). I'm very sensitive to meds! She stuck with me and worked with me--that's very important in your doctor. The only other thing which I sense you are doing, is to never quit taking a med unless you talk to your Dr. first. I know from my exp. that God will see you through this--Pray and I will pray, too. I've been been taking my med and symptom free 33 years! Bless you!

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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.

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lsittll | @lsittll | Jun 19, 2020

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)

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Stephen | @wsh66 | Jun 20, 2020

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.

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Zuzu | @eczarniecki | Mar 27, 2021

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.

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Stephen | @wsh66 | Mar 27, 2021

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.

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Stephen | @wsh66 | Nov 29, 2021

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/

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