Posted by Hugh on February 28, 2013, at 13:47:55
In reply to treatment resistant, posted by quasimotor on February 28, 2013, at 1:25:57
Fourteen months ago, I had some bad muscle spasms in my back, so I started taking a high dose of the muscle relaxant baclofen. It had the unexpected side effect of eliminating my depression and anxiety. Poof. Gone. Unfortunately, after about a week on baclofen, it started causing terrible insomnia. I was awake for over fifty hours. So I stopped taking it. (I'm extremely sensitive to many drugs and supplements, so it's likely that most people wouldn't have the problems with baclofen that I did.) After the baclofen cleared my system and I could sleep again, I started taking it at a lower dose. It didn't help my depression and anxiety nearly as much at the lower dose, and it aggravated my mitral valve prolapse, so I stopped taking it. An interesting book about baclofen is The End of My Addiction by Olivier Ameisen. For many people, it's helped to relieve the depression and anxiety that drove them to addiction, but it's a drug that should be used with extreme caution. Stopping it suddenly can cause seizures.
Some non-drug options to consider: tDCS, neurofeedback, acupuncture, TMS. A new form of TMS called Deep TMS was approved by the FDA in January, and should be available soon. It penetrates much more deeply into the brain than the currently available form of TMS.
poster:Hugh
thread:1039065
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20130222/msgs/1039097.html