Depression

Probably a silly question but I could use some support from anyone who has gone hru it. I got T while struggling with depression back in January. I have given Lexapro at the right dosage to work for two months now, but it is just not getting me out of my dark hole. I am working with my psyc to maybe augment it with Remeron to help boost me up. My question for any members who have used medication , was it easier to deal with your struggle when your depression has eased up or lifted?

 

I haven't used any medications after i got T, my doctor didn't even want to give me any sleep aid. what i do is focus on relaxing and keeping my mind off my T. Also i would think it would be easier to deal with it if you don't have to deal with depression or anxiety on top of it - which is know can be hard, but try to stay positive and good things will come

 

Kevin
Sorry for what you are going thru (prayers), my T took me down real hard and real quick; yes, my struggle was/is most definitely easier minus the depression. Have you been able to determine the central cause of your depression? That is the key; find that out and make some headway there -- then get on with the T issue. I know, easier said then done, but at least it is a plan of attack (strategy).

Prayers

Mark

 

I have suffered with depression for years before the onslaught of tinnitus. I am a firm believer that there is a connection between depression, stress and anxiety and tinnitus.

It is always easier to deal with any problem when that is the only problem we have to deal with. It is always easier to fight an enemy on one front than try to on several fronts.

If your doctor recommends Remeron as a treatment for depression I would not hesitate to try it..I personally take Remeron. I have found it does little for the depression but is a great sleep aid and I take it mostly for that effect. I researched R. as much as possible and found that it was not considered ototoxic. This was the main reason I started on it verses other types. Remeron does cause an increase in appetite. I seem to want to snack all the time while taking Remeron.

 

I have battled depression for 25 years, for me it is chemical, not related to any personal issues. While weaning off a new AD I was trying was when I got T. I since went back on my original AD which does not seem to be working. I am hoping if I can find a new AD which can help me out of my original depression I will be getter equipped to start enjoying life again

 

What dose do yountake, I read you need higher doses for depression and lower doses are more sedating

 

Kevin,
I am prescribed 45 mg daily, but I rarely take anymore than the single 30mg tablet at night. I do not even take that on a daily basis. I soon build up a tolerance for almost all meds I take so I must space out my dosage or they become ineffective. I mostly take the R. as a sleep aid. It does not do anything for the depression. I have yet to find a drug in over 30 years that will combat the depression as it should. I hesitate recommending any drug for any reason as what works for one does not for the other.

So far I have had no side effects from the R. other than an increased urge to snack all the time. It also has been the best sleep aid I have found so I will stick with it for that reason alone.

 

Has anyone who has been on antidepressants and lowered or tapered off completetly had a lowering or their T or know anyone who has? Since I have upped my dose of Lamatical I have developed a loud hiss in my left ear.

 

Nope, not I. It didn't lower a thing but again brains are different. Hope Hopwell Junction is alive and well.
I worked off Barnagat Road in Poughkeepsie.

 

Some antidepressants, benzos, especially are ototoxic and can cause tinnitus to get worse. That's rare though, so, sadly you've got it. Tapering off it may help, but I suggest you get come campral, as it's used for that very reason to help taper you off benzos. Good luck.

 

I've been on anti ds for a long time. My doctor added lamatical to it asnd as my dose increased I got the hissing t. I have had pulsating t for a year and was getting much better, this new at is giving me problems. I was hoping to lower my dose and see if it lowers the hiss

 

You can lower the dose, but if it's causing it to hiss, that could be permanent. I suggest going to the doctor telling him your situation and that you want campral to help you get off of the benzo.

 

Danny, I know you mean well and want to help people, but I think you should stop giving medical advice because you're completely off base here for five reasons:
#1 - Lamatical is not a benzodiazepine
#2 - Benzodiazepines are not antidepressants
#3 - There is no decent, repeated evidence to suggest that campral is helpful with either benzo withdrawal or tinnitus; there are low-impact or poorly controlled studies to suggest that which have never been repeated, and other evidence to suggest that it's not true.
#4 - In most cases where tinnitus develops as a direct reaction to a medication, it diminishes once that medication is discontinued.
#5 - Benzos are far more likely to cause tinnitus as an effect of withdrawal, than as a direct effect of the drug.

 

1. I never said Lamictal was a benzo, I was explaining that benzo medications can cause ototoxic damage
2. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0006322395000497
3. You're not qualified to tell anyone that Campral can't help with benzo withdrawal as you're not medically trained, neither am I. It's suggested it can help, just because it hasn't for you, doesn't mean it won't help others, so don't cease and dismiss it yet.
4. Tinnitus can develop with benzo medication and in some cases it does cease when the medication is stopped, but we don't know the statistical information.
5. Some people have had ototoxic damage via low doses of medication and alas no statistical information to prove or debunk such information.

 

why are you doing that in a thread that has nothing to do with benzos

GABA being related to depression has nothing to do with whether or not benzos are considered antidepressants. They are not.

I said that there is no reasonable, repeated scientific evidence to suggest that it is. If we're going the route of anecdotes, I have been an administrator of a benzo withdrawal forum for many years, I have seen dozens of people who have taken campral based on the same bad studies you are looking at, and it never worked for any of them, either. Yes, it might work for someone, and I might win the lottery tomorrow.

We do have statistical data. There are large numbers of longitudinal studies about the short and long term effects of benzo discontinuation. I have read hundreds and hundreds of pages of them over the last ten years. Have you?

 

Fair enough. Can you link me to those studies?

 

I stopped taking lexapro last year and it didn't help. I just got very depressed.

 

You could start by searching pubmed or something for "benzodiazepine longitudinal" and related terms. "Benzodiazepine tinnitus" specifically pulls up a bunch of stuff, too, though of course the bulk of it discusses benzos as a potential treatment for tinnitus, and not a cause.

 

I know nobody here is a doctor, and I see one, but i thought I would see if anyone had any ideas. I have used SSRI's with great success for 20 years. I am on lexapro and doing just okay. I don't want to switch, I have tried most of them and lexapro gives me no side effects, and when it was working it was truly amazing. I am looking for other ways to help. I exercise 4 times a week. sleep pretty well, take fish oil, vitamin B&D, have a serotion boosting shake of blueberries, banana, oats, walnuts & soy milk every morning and see a therapist weekly.I also pray- i would like to say I have strong faith- but I am being tested, this episode of depression has lasted 1 1/2 years. I seem to get better as the day goes on, and by night I am much better, but every morning is a struggle. I have 3 great kids and wife and besides T and depression I am in very good health, I have alot to be thankful but just can't seem to get out of the dark cloud consistently. Any advice or ideas would be greatly appreciated

 

@kevin b
Hi Kevin, you sound like myself. Great family, kids, good job, good life.
But T brought depression and anxiety into my life. Living with this endless dentist drill in my head is just difficult.
Even if I live my life, do my job as good as possible, do sports, live healthy, do my trainer job, life is more coping than living. The mornings are worst and I switched from 30 mg Remeron in the evening to 15 mg in the morning and 15 mg in the evening. Don't know if this has any effect. Depression and anxiety is still high.
So I have no good advice for you, but can tell you, you are not alone.
I really hope, the sound goes down one day or the magic pill will be found.

 

Hi Kevin. I know how you feel. I struggled with depression long before T and I still do, though I wouldn't say it's T related, just the same general funk that comes and goes - on for months, off for months.

I also see a therapist, I took ADs for a very, very short while, but just didn't like it and it's not usually bad enough, long enough for me to want to experiment.

Like Martin, I also do not have any special advice beyond what you're doing - what moves me in and out of depressive "funks" for lack of better term, is a bit mysterious to me - I also have a really great life and am grateful for it all. I can share what seems to help for me:

When I feel myself coming out of a period of depression, it usually seems to be tied to an act of creation - I'm an artist, so that tends to be what makes me tick. It doesn't really matter what I've made - maybe it's an article I wrote, a silkscreen print, a photograph etc. but creating something I really enjoy tends to get me "up." It can be a challenge working up the oomph to make myself do that, but it has its reward.

Maybe making art isn't your thing, but maybe "making" is. I even just enrolled myself in a couple psych courses (for fun) and that actually made me feel better - using my brain in a new way, learning something new, getting busy - anything that gets me out of the the same routine tends to light me up. For me that's art, cooking, gardening etc. for you...who knows? It might be something to think about. I feel my worst when I'm in an unaltered routine for long periods of time, no matter how lovely that routine is.

Feel better soon! You're definitely not alone.

 

If you've been on your current dosage for some time, and Lexapro has worked well for you in the past, have you discussed increasing your dosage with your doc?

 

Thanks martin, it is a tough road. The thing that worries me is that in the past when the depression hit, the SSRI's got me out, usually in a month or two. The lexapro can't seem to get me out and I have no other options of AD's to try. I even quit drinking because I was told it could decrese the effictiveness of the medication.

 

Hi, yes I incraesed from 20 mg which worked well to 30mg. I don't know if I can go higher but I see him in 2 weeks, I will check. though I have read that 30 is usually the highest dose.

 

Yes , you are right, when I get busy I usually feel better, or at least feel better afterward knowing I pushed thru. I was in bed half the day yesterday crying feeling sorry for myself. I finally got up and opened my pool ( my wife usually does it, i wanted to surprise her) and I actually felt good. Unfortunatly my T ramped up at night and I had a shitty sleep. I am also at a crossroads with my meds- my doc added lamatcial a mood stabilizer to my lexapro a few months ago. The higher doses have helped but a few weeks ago i developed a loud hissing T in my left ear, the ringing in my left ear stopped about 6 mon ths ago so I only had the pulsating T in my right side that I was slowly habiutating to- I'd say about 70% of the time it did not bother me. Now I am scared, I am slowly tapering down the lamatical to see if that will get rid or at least lower the hissing, but i scared I will fall deeper int o depression, a shitty catch-22. I know many on this site have much worser T than me, to be honest most would trade with me in a minute, the problem is I gotit in during a severe bout of depression so I am struggling with both. Thanks for the response.

 

@kevin b
I am struggling for 20 months with the question whether I have a clinical depression or a reactive depression in result of T. I had a "burnout" with total exhaustion, migraines, vertigo causing health anxiety. And this health anxiety caused T. So I have also to deal with T and depression/anxiety. I am sure, if there would be no T, many things would be easier to handle. But high tension makes things difficult.

When I was in a clinic after T onset, I filled out forms about depression and there was no sign of depression. So therefore I think it is reactive. Nevertheless, if reactive or clinical doesn't matter. A depression is a depression. Therefore I know what you mean. You want it to stop and feel happy again. You live your life, do things that distract you, follow your hobbies etc. But the sadness does not leave. I myself haven't found a way out of this yet. As soon as I feel a little bit better, T pulls me down again. So handling both, depression and T, is very, very difficult - even on mild T days.

Nevertheless, compared to T onset, I am better. I have no longer panic attacks, can sit still longer, anxiety goes down, can work partly. Of course I want to be 100% fully functional. It is a long journey and high mountain to be climbed.

 

Have you looked into TMS?

http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/psychiatry/specialty_areas/brain_stimulation/tms/
http://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/...-approach-to-treating-depression-201207265064
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/804736

"This is the first study to examine 12-month outcomes of TMS in a large dataset in a real-life setting. We have data on 257 patients that got all the way through the long-term follow-up, and we found that 68% improved and 45% had complete remission at 1 year follow-up," study investigator Linda L. Carpenter, MD, professor, Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Brown University School of Medicine, and chief, Mood Disorders Program, Butler Hospital, in Providence, Rhode Island, told Medscape Medical News."

I don't like SSRIs and SNRIs...any drug therapy for depression has too many side affects for me. But this is a drug free procedure. I might try it. Not sure what it would do with my T. I would have to wear ear plugs because the machine is loud.

 

Hi Martin, Glad to hear you are doing better. I have battled depression most of my adult life. My depression came back again last November before the T came in Feb so I am pretty sure my depression comes first. When my depression lifted for 2 weeks awhile back I could give 2 shits about my T, hardly heard it and when I did I was able to get back on track quickly. Now I am scared because it looks like I might have to increase my dose of Lexapro or worst even try another AD which will take weeks to see if it works and could always possibly make my T worse. I get so much better by late afternoon /early evening that I think i am okay, BUT every morning the depression rips at me. Even at the gym this morning after my workout in the shower I was crying and asking God for strenght and guidance. You are so right, it is a big mountain to climb. My family keeps my going, but then I feel guilty I am not being a good husband and father, so it is a catch-22. Not an easy thing to figure out.
Hope your family is well, i will pray for you
Kevin

 

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Hi Kevin, you're not alone with the depression and anxiety. I'm 50 years old now and have suffered a lot with both in my adult life. It always seems to be at it's worst in the mornings. From a nutritional perspective it sounds like you are doing good things along with the exercise 4 times a week. I've found out in my bouts with this stuff that time sometimes is the factor. Something will start changing slowly but surely in the right direction in a person's emotional health and it will start to stick. I don't really have advice to give on the meds. Maybe a dosage adjustment? Keep your faith in the Lord strong and don't give up. I'll keep you in my prayers my friend..... God Bless... Rich

 

HI Rich,
Yes, time is usually a factor. Like I said what has scared me is that the meds have always worked amazing for me in the past, I feared I have built a tolerance to them. So may people say to work on the "underlying issues", which to an extent is true, but I know I have biological depression, the meds have proven that. It is such a hard place, many people do not understand how powerful depression is and yes I am trying to keep my faith in the Lord, they say true faith comes in times of difficulties, I am certainly being tested. I see my doctor on the 23rd, and though I did amazing for many years on 20mg lexapro and now am struggling with 30, I do have good night hours so maybe 40mg will be the boost I need. Thank you for your words and prayers, they mean alot. If I can ever be of help in any way to you, please feel free to reach out.
God Bless,
Kevin