Depression Forums
Depression Related Forums => Depression Central => Topic started by: SteveW on November 05, 2011, 12:20:46 PM
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Sometimes psychiatry is guilty of over rating its own effectiveness, no more so than in depression. While it's true that
the majority of people who take anti-depressants respond to them there is a stubborn minority who do not. Treatment
resistent depression is often defined as where a person fails to respond to two separate anti-depressants given at maximum
dose for at least 8 weeks each. By this definition something like 30% of people suffer from treatment resistant depression.
Luckily that isn't the end of the story and there are plenty of options for TRD. This article lists pretty well all the
options available in a not too technical way. The only omission is Tryptophan which isnt on the market in America,the
article is american, but is in the UK. The link is
http://www.psychweekly.com/aspx/article/articledetail.aspx?articleid=53
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You might say that I have treatment resistant depression. I am on four different meds and I still experience moments of deep depression. When my med seem to really fail me I have restorted to electro-convulsive treatments. Believe me this should only be a last restort. It is painless but still there can be confusion and memory loss afterwards.
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for the first time in a very long time I would actually say that I am Ill with depression, I have been on different meds, changed the meds levels, seen pyschiatrists and councellors, had CBT, been to group therapy, been to drop in clinics and I seem to be resistant to all of them Nothing seems to be having an effect on my bipolar disorder anymore.
I really don't know what to do anymore and there only seems to be ECT left to try and I would have to go to a specialist hospital to have that and I would imagine be on a waiting list for a fairly long time.
I feel so Ill at the moment and I have had enough of living like this
smirfy
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Is it worth asking smirfy? the wait may be a lot less than you think xx
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yep deffinetally worth asking, I am going to try and get a GP appointment if I can this week. I just hope that I'm not resistant to the ECT aswell because I am sick to death of being Ill
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i'll keep my fingers crossed for you xx being ill grinds you down after a while doesnt it? :(
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Hi There. There is no doubt that ECT can be an extremely effective treatment. There are only so many combinations of drugs
and when they are all exhausted and a person is still in a deep suicidal depression it can be a life saver. Yet you'll be
struggling to find any mention of ECT on this Forum. Partly this is a national difference-I don't think ECT is as common in
the UK as in the USA. Partly it is down to the fact that milder depressions tend to dominate the Forum.
You could do something to correct the balance. Perhaps you could find a good article describing the varieties and effectiveness of ECT and post the link ?
I'd personally be interested in knowing what your 4 drug combination is. There is no telling when I might need it !
Love
Steve Wellam
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I don't know if the four drug combination question was meant for me but my four drug combo is: celexa, wellbutrin, lamictal and abilify. This combo has been working for me for the last two years. Hopefully I will get through another winter without going to the hospital!