Member Comments are provided by individuals and reflect their personal opinions only. Under NO circumstances should you act on any advice or opinion posted in this forum. ALWAYS check with your personal physician before taking any action regarding your health! MedHelp International and our partners, sponsors and affiliates have no obligation to monitor any comments posted on this site, or the content and/or accuracy of such exchanges. MedHelp International does not endorse the views of any user.
Mental Health (Expert Forum)
Diagnosed with BPD and psychotic depression
Answered by
Roger Gould, M.D. - Mental Health, Wellness
Questions posted in the Mental Health forum are being answered by Dr. Roger L. Gould, author of the Mastering Stress and Depression program and affiliated with the UCLA. Department of Psychiatry. Topics covered include anger, attention deficit disorder (ADD), bipolar disorder, dementia, electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), learning disabilities, memory, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), panic, personality disorders, phobias, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), schizophrenia, stress, transitions, and work problems.
Diagnosed with BPD and psychotic depression
by scrabble, Jan 31, 2001 12:00AM
I currently take 400mg of wellbutrin, 1000mg of depakote, 1mg of Risperdal and 50 mg of trazodone. I have finally gotten relief from many symptoms because of this combination approach in medicines. However, I have persistent and constant feelings of detachment, unreality and perceiving things in a way that I am almost sure are incorrect. I say "almost" because part of the time I don't know if it's real or in my head. When I look at things everything looks distorted to me, like it is lit all wrong or like I see shadows around everything I look at and I amnot sure if this is what everyone sees. I have a very hard time conveying this feeling and what I see to the psychiatrist, so I am not certain it is being taken seriously or not. The feelings I feel seeing eveything so distorted, sometimes the objects seem to shake, itslike I just want to getout of my body for a break from it. I am not so depressed or out of control as I was in my teens and twenties, I'm 30 now, so I don't think suicide will become an option again, but I get these urges to do drastic things to take my mind of what everything looks like. I get very nervous and agitated, which only makes the sensation worse. Add to this that I often hear voices arguing or calling my name and it is very noisy, weird and confusing. The more upset and anxious I get about it, the worse these symptoms get, but they never go away, even when I amin a situation that is totally happy... My question is, what is wrong with me and is this normal and what can I do about it?
Doctor's Answer
by Roger Gould, M.D., Jan 31, 2001 12:00AM
, Jan 31, 2001 12:00AM
It is critically important that you have good communication with your psychiatrist because together you two have to make a very important decision.
The dilemma is the following; The medications you are taking may be exactly what you need, and if so, you and your doctor have to experiment with the doses to get rid of some of these side effects.
Its also possible that the medications are causing some of the problem. That is,the medications may have been necessary at one time, but are no longer as necessary at these dosages because you have continued to develop and have more experiences in life and can cope better, and therefore diminish your stress and anxiety load.
I would encourage you to bring this dilemma to your psychiatrist and together work out a medication reduction or alteration trial to find out whether you will be better with less mediation or have more trouble with less medication.
The dilemma is the following; The medications you are taking may be exactly what you need, and if so, you and your doctor have to experiment with the doses to get rid of some of these side effects.
Its also possible that the medications are causing some of the problem. That is,the medications may have been necessary at one time, but are no longer as necessary at these dosages because you have continued to develop and have more experiences in life and can cope better, and therefore diminish your stress and anxiety load.
I would encourage you to bring this dilemma to your psychiatrist and together work out a medication reduction or alteration trial to find out whether you will be better with less mediation or have more trouble with less medication.
I seem to experience a feeling of being seperated from my body, my head and body seem to feel somehow not in touch with each other, I have visual illusions all of the time, the only reprieve that I have from them is when I sleep, if I can sleep.
These visional illusions that I have range from seeing faces in carpets to a whole room starting to shift, the ceiling may start to appear to rotate upward, dark things, dark patterns ,shadows, become three dimensionally produced. I have a near constant feeling of floating that with all these other mind effects leave me feeling very unstable, frightend, insecure, paraniod, suicidal, and most of all, very lost and unsure in this world.
I have taken several antidepressants and have had alsorts of therapy but nothing seems to help. The doctors here in the uk can't seem to help, and no ,atter how positive I try to be this stays with me my every waking hour.
I seem to experience a feeling of being seperated from my body, my head and body seem to feel somehow not in touch with each other, I have visual illusions all of the time, the only reprieve that I have from them is when I sleep, if I can sleep.
These visional illusions that I have range from seeing faces in carpets to a whole room starting to shift, the ceiling may start to appear to rotate upward, dark things, dark patterns ,shadows, become three dimensionally produced. I have a near constant feeling of floating that with all these other mind effects leave me feeling very unstable, frightend, insecure, paraniod, suicidal, and most of all, very lost and unsure in this world.
I have taken several antidepressants and have had alsorts of therapy but nothing seems to help. The doctors here in the uk can't seem to help, and no ,atter how positive I try to be this stays with me my every waking hour.