medication sensitivities?

[Amy4891]

Is it common to have a bad reaction or get bad side effects at the lowest doses of almost every psychotropic medication tried? I have tried 6 different antipsychotics, I had bad side effects at the lowest dose, and can't take them. 4 SSRI antidepressants, bad side effects at lowest dose, can't take them. I also can't take Welbutrin, Depokote, Effexor, vistaril, This can't be normal right? I can tolerate a few medications at small or regular doses, but do not control my BP or anxiety symptoms these include buspar (did absolutely nothing that i noticed), lamictal could take 200mg, but not 300mg when tried an increase. Trazodone did ok on 150mg at night. Xanax, and Ativan, did ok on and has been the only thing to help my anxiety without bad side effects, and I have only taken them at lower doses. Is this a common occurrence or experience other people have had? I am starting to wonder if I just have problems metabolizing them or something???? I also can't take some pain medications tramadol not at all, and can only take one half to one lortab 5 and no more, I can't tolerate alcohol either it just makes me feel sick, not enjoyable to me at all. So what do you guys think normal or not?

[FlyingOrcas]

On the lowest dose of trazadone I had a severe reaction, I couldn't breathe, my heart was racing, I got seriously depressed. Basically I had such a bad panic attack that I was begging for someone to bring me to the hospital. On cipralex I was so angry and depressed on the lowest dose that after two days I had to say enough is enough. Wellbutrin made me manic. Abilify gave me headaches and earaches and awful restlessness.

[Amy4891]

I was on lamotrigine (lamictal) when I started rapid cycling. I had been on it for somewhere between a year to a year and a half.

I don't know what to do anymore, I am just so confused and frustrated.

[Anonymouse88]

Yeah, it's unfortunate that gabapentin, while a great anticonvulsant and great at relieving neuropathic pain, really hasn't stood up in trials as a mood stabilizer.  There's a slight chance that it only works in a small subset of people, which would be hidden in a heterogeneous sample, but it's not as good as say lamotrigine or tegretol.  Just cutting out the aches and pains might help stop depressive cycles, since pain can really feed into those, and if you tolerate it and it helps a bit, it's worth staying on.

It makes sense that your medication sensitivities would be genetic.  I think my grandfather cuts a lot of meds in half, and my mother has only ever been able to take one dose of aspirin before getting ringing in her ears, which is a sign of aspirin overdose.  

Yeah, ECT is kinda scary, although it's apparently a LOT better than it used to be.  TMS (transcrainial magnetic stimulation) is a lot milder, but pretty new, and still kinda experimental.  There's lots of super cool research on brain function using it as a tool, though--you temporarily inhibit a brain region in a healthy person to see what that brain region was doing.

[Amy4891]

I was talking to my mom, and she said my dad use to make the same complaints about being sensitive to medications. So I talked to him about it and he said he has the same problem. Other people have said it seems to be something that runs in their family too. So what ever it is I am almost certain it is genetic.

Oh I didn't think about that. Some enzymes are in the digestive tract, and some are in the liver. Hmm that makes sense.

I don't know what is up with the heart palpitations. I have been having other anxiety like symptoms without feeling particularly anxious, or having an actual anxiety attack too. I had sweaty palms today too. I have been having such weird stuff going on lately though. I really don't know. I am still rapid cycling too, and have been on the gabapentin for 3 weeks now. My mom says it seems to only be helping about 50% with everything. I was given it as a kind of like 3 in 1 pill for; a mood stabilizer for the bipolar, anxiety, and for my body aches and pain. I am just so frustrated with the whole medication thing.

I probably do drink too much coffee. I really do think it is the bipolar that drove me to drinking though, lol. When I was like 20 they put me on the depakote, effexor combo. I was only awake about 4-6 hours a day. I started drinking coffee trying to wake myself up, and stay awake. After that I started drinking coffee every morning. A couple years ago I was in a major depression for about 4 months, and it made me again where I could not stay awake. So I started drinking coffee in the afternoon too. I have already been trying to cut down, so far it is going ok. I figured it probably isn't that healthy. This stupid bipolar I hate it I am so sick of being bipolar, I just want to rip the bipolar out of me, lol. It doesn't help that the treatments for it are no good either, at least not for me. I told my family today no matter how bad I get to never let them shock my dang brain, lol.

[Anonymouse88]

The enzymes you (may) lack might not be in the digestive tract, but in the liver.  I don't know how testable they are, though, because I don't think they're the ones on a liver enzyme panel.  Taking extra digestive enzymes probably wouldn't hurt, though.

If you feel like you're having heart palpitations, ask about a Holter monitor.  You carry around a portable EKG machine for a few days while it takes continuous readings.  It would probably be helpful to write down the exact times when you feel like you're having heart palpitations, and they can look for anything abnormal.  If you get them really often, then a regular EKG might do it, which would be easier.

Most tablets are cuttable, the exception being anything labeled as extended or sustained release.  These usually have a warning telling you not to cut them in the info sheet.  You should still ask a pharmacist first, but you can likely use that to help taper to avoid withdrawal symptoms.  A compounding pharmacy might also be able to make a lower dose pill special for you (you'll probably need a prescription from your doctor).

I sometimes get a thing where my heart skips a beat, and takes a few really slow beats afterward before going back to normal.  If this is what's happening, it's probably harmless.  I noticed that too much caffeine increases it though.  If you drink a lot of caffeine, try cutting back for a while and see if that helps.  Just don't go cold turkey, because you might get really nasty headaches and other unpleasant side effects.

[Amy4891]

I think with different genetics it is different specific enzymes that are lacking. So the ones they sell at the health food stores may not fix the problem necessarily in these cases.

I took the Ativan, it sure did put me in a better mood, however did not stop the heart palpitations,lol.

I think I will get some fish oil, because I can't eat fish everyday, lol.