Treatment-Resistant Depression

[The Ten of Swords]

I am posting this in both depression and bipolar forums as my diagnosis is unclear at this time.

I am currently on Vyvanse (it has worked--no other med has) but I keep developing a tolerance to it. I am at 70 m.g. now (the top dose), so have a few months left until it becomes ineffective.

My choices are few. ECT is the next thing that they have suggested. However, due to a few brain differences from other people, I am convinced that this procedure will ruin my intelligence and creativity. I will not have it until I have exhausted all other options.

Give me some options and I will be most thankful to you for doing it.

Thank you.

TTS

 

[David Baxter PhD]

We prefer that you don't start duplicate threads: It just confuses the replies you may receive.

As I understand it, Vyvanse is a stimulant primarily developed to treat ADHD. However, like other stimulants, it may also have anti-depressant properties and that is, I aqssume, why it's prescribed for you.

When you say "it has worked--no other med has", what does that mean? There are an awful lot of choices these days for medications to treat mood disorders so it's hard to believe you've tried all of them.

You say that your doctors have suggested ECT. If you have not responded to several other medications, this might indeed be a logical thing to try, but I understand that many potential patients worry about the procedure. What I can tell you is that today ECT is not like what you may have seen in movies. The primary side-effect is some loss of recent memory but for depressed patients that's not always a bad thing. Yiou might want to talk to your doctors to get more information about this procedure (there is also more information elsewhere in the Psychlinks forums).

I would also recommend that you talk to your doctors about possible combinations of medications. Sometimes with treatment-resistant mood disorders, 2 or more medications used in combination may be effective where the same medications individually are not effective.