I really hope someone can help me on this board, as I feel so rotten right now that I'm hardly able to function. I'll try to keep it short and give you my background, so hopefully someone out there has maybe experienced similar symptoms that I have.
OK, I'm 21 now, was diagnosed with depression about 2 years ago. Was put on Effexor XR, eventually bumped up to 150 mg. I didn't really think it helped much, so I decided to gradually taper it off. I got really bad headaches, "lightning storms" in my head, a horrible experience, but I eventually got completely off the drug. I was drug free for a couple of months, but I got really depressed and realized I did need something. Went to a doctor, he put me on 20 mg.of Prozac, and I think it's helped. It's not made a remarkable difference, but it didn't have many side effects and I did seem to be in a slightly better mood. So, the dr. bumped it up to 30 mg, noticed no difference, then bumped it to 40 mg, and I did notice a difference in my mood. I also seemed to have less motivation, but I decided to stick with it. I've been on this for about a month and a half. My dr. recommended counseling, and after 2 sessions, I was diagnosed with inattentive ADD. This made so much sense to me, and I am almost positive that I have it. So, two weeks ago I was put on 10mg. of ritalin, 2-3 times a day. My first week of taking it, I never felt better! I was sleeping 6-8 hours a night and actually felt refreshed in the morning, whereas before I would sleep nearly 10 hrs. a night and feel sleepy the entire day. I'm not in school right now, and my job isn't very demanding (though I hate it), so I didn't have too much chance at seeing if ritalin improved my concentration. I did a crossword puzzle one day, which I have always been bad at, and while I didn't get all of the words, I managed to complete most of the puzzle, and words seemed to pop into my head easier than before. I thought it was a great start, and I was extremely pleased!
Now, here comes the reason for my post. A week ago, I started to feel nautious, and then it's gotten worse every day since then. I can hardly eat anything, probably 200 calories a day, as my stomach will start to make funny noises if I have a piece of food in my hand. I'm very dizzy and lightheaded, and I feel like I'm going to throw up all the time. I went to the dr., and he couldn't really find anything wrong with me, just said I had the stomach flu. I am skeptical that it's the flu, and I don't think they usually last this long. So, I started to look at if my medication is causing these symptoms, but I couldn't see any connection. I know ritalin is an appetite suppressant, but I was eating fine the first week I was on it, and I tried not taking any this weekend and I still felt horrible. So, scratch that off. Then I thought of Prozac, but I figured if I'd been on 40mg. for a month and a half, it couldn't possibly be that, could it?
Now, I'd like to run my theory by you guys and see if it makes any sense. I think that if the ritalin has increased my metabolism, that maybe I don't need as high of a dose of prozac, and that 40mg is too much for me right now? Has anyone else experienced flu like symptoms because of too high a dosage? I'm hoping this is causing me these symptoms, because then I could just switch to 30 or 20 mg. of prozac, I still have some extra. If it's not the cause, and the dr. can't find anything wrong with me, then what can I do? I know this is really long, but I'd do anything right now to make me feel better. It's just so frustrating because I felt so good the first week on ritalin, and how I feel this week is the complete opposite. I'm scheduled to see a psychiatrist in about a week, but I'd like to know if there's anything I can do right now beside lay in bed and drink water.
I just read a post by Evita, who wrote about no meds working for him. He did mention that Wellbutrin did wonders for his depression, but not ADD.I'm not a doctor, and I'm not exactly sure how this works. However, any stimulant like Ritalin, Adderall, and so forth for ADD treatment is an upper as in you're more motivated. Depression medications such as Paxil, Prozac, and Zoloft are downers as in you're less motivated as you said yourself. Wouldn't it be contradictory that they work against each other, or probably balance each other out, and then in the end you really don't get anything out of the two?
I take Adderall myself, and I've noticed I complete tasks a lot faster than I normally would in school for instance or just plain verbally speaking. My mother on the other hand takes Paxil for depression, and I've noticed she's a little slower than normal when talking for example. She has also told me that, she's less motivated, and that simple tasks such as making the bed is dreadful to her, as in the past when they weren't.
Thanks Johnnyboi for your input. I have read about others having success