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| I cannot help myself from responding to some assertions in this thread
that range from amateurish to dangerous. Everything in this post is my
opinion, except if labeled otherwise. Like the OP, it's hard for me to
keep things concise, too, but I'll try.
1. Why create a false or purely semantic difference between "drugs"
(the Smart one) and "meds" (the Prescription ones) ? The Nancy Reagan
rationale about Just Saying No seems hardly sufficient.
2. Terry (the OP) asserts that tianeptine (a.k.a. Stablon) does the
"reverse" of the SSRIs. Close, but not quite. Terry--you said you
took 37.5 mg tablets--how many per day? In the studies I've read, the
minimum dose of tianeptine is one (1) tablet of 37.5 mg TID with food.
3. Why are amphetamines "out of reach"? You have tried Ritalin
(methylphenidate)--it's really no weaker than the combination of four
amphetamine salts known as Adderall. If you wish to try Adderall,
which I prefer, why not ask your doctor that you've heard that Adderall
has a slightly different effect, and you'd like to compare it to
Ritalin? You can get a script for 5 tablets and then, if they work for
you, go ahead and fill a month's supply prescription. I find Adderall
an invaluable tool, and I'm Bipolar. Supposedly amphetamines will
"destabilize" me. Not true. One has to experiment.
4. Depression can have exogenous causes, endogenous causes, or both.
It sounds to me as if your wife's alcoholism is an exogenous cause.
The poster's opinion that you go to regular AA meetings strikes me as
an *excellent* suggestion. (I was encouraged to find a bipolar
disorder support group--couldn't find one that met when I was free--and
then discovered this online bipolar community in
alt.support.depression.manic, among others. It's been a wonderful help
to me.)
5. The rational basis for the conclusion, made by one poster ("T"),
that you have post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is not at all
clear. T writes:
>First off, you are suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Except in your
>case it's not just Post. It's also present. The PTSD needs to be addressed
>and can be, very quickly and relatively inexpensively, with something called
>EMDR. Please Google EMDR, Google EMDRIA.
Now, let's look at the diagnostic criteria for PTSD given by the
DSM-IV: 1. Did you witness/experience an event that involved "actual or
threatened death or serious injury"? 2. Did your response involve
"intense fear, helplessness, or horror"? It can't have involved
helplessness, since you're helping yourself by posting to this group.
3. Do you have "persistent" re-experiences of the "traumatic event"?
Note the singular: "tramautic EVENT." Living with an alcoholic, while
hugely anxiogenic and depressogenic, seems not to be reducible to an
"event." 4. Do you make efforts to avoid stimuli associated with the
trauma, and do you have general numbing of general responsiveness?
Well I don't know about numbing, but you're certainly not avoiding the
subject of your wife's alcoholism; you're dealing with it in a healthy
way by seeking help and support for yourself in coping with it.
Finally, note the section on differential diagnosis: You've got to rule
out Acute Stress Disorder, Mood Disorder with Psychotic Features, and,
most probably in your case, Adjustment Disorder with Depressed Mood.
I don't mean to be contrary to poor T's post, which I'm sure was
intended to be helpful, but EMDR (eye movement desensitization) is
bullshit. Check out http://www.skepdic.com/emdr.html . One
practitioner of EMDR discovered that hand tapping works AS WELL AS eye
moving:
According to one EMDR practitioner, Dr. Edward Hume,
...taps to hands, right and left, sounds alternating ear-to-ear,
and even alternating movements by the patient can work instead. The key
seems to be the alternating stimulation of the two sides of the brain.*
(Id.)
There has been NO large, well-designed, double-blind, randomized,
controlled trial of EMDR as a therapy that has shown that EMDR is
signficantly superior to placebo.
6. And so forth. You yourself admit that you've spent a small fortune
in "smart drugs." Sir--you are living in conditions that would make
adjustment difficult for anyone. You are seeing your wife become more
and more severe an alcoholic. My opinion is that you quite the
piracetam, and other "drugs" like it, and take the following steps:
(1) Get at least 15 minutes of exercise every day. If you have a dog,
take him/her for a walk. You will get exercise and your dog will love
you even more. (2) Get to a psychiatrist--though decent ones are
admittedly hard to find--and get your medication straightened out.
Rather than a cocktail of this and that, you would do a study of taking
one drug at a time to see which ones hurt, which ones do nothing, and
which ones help. (3) Take that poster's advice about going to AA
meetings. The support of people who have been where you are is
invaluable. (4) Don't waste your money on moving your eyes around to
fix a post-traumatic stress disorder that you do not have.
My opinion only.
Snell
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