bipolar / Depression / MAOI / sjogren's / Trintellix

I’m the Worst Blogger in the World and Now, I need Help

The Radioactive Patient1 Comment

I’m Allison and Have Bipolar Disorder, Chronic Pain, Tardive Dyskinesia and possibly Sjogren’s syndrome. (I find out today on the Sjogren’s…genetically, it makes perfect sense).

I’m in bipolar depression relapse, which is awful. I had a great 2 1/2 years of remission.

Over the course of the last 17 years I’ve had perpetual, off and on med burnout, which has a very geeky name, Antidepressant Therapy Tachyphylaxis, which means the antidepressants just stop working. I think a lot of people have this problem but there’s a black void where knowledge should be.

Articles on it, and other names for it, like “Prozac Poopout” are all over the internet. In the past we’ve resolved it over time by cycling to newer meds. Pristiq, then Viibryd and finally Brintellix, (now called Trintellix) and then Fetzima, which didn’t work.

Two different times we used Trintellix, which worked for a few years, and needed to be discontinued and then worked again when we ‘recycled it.’

I’m worried. I think I’ve burnt out all the drugs that act on Dopamine, Serotonin, Norepinephrine and need to go to a different class like a tricyclic or MAOI. The fact that I have Tardive Dyskinesia reduces our treatment options greatly.

I think it might eliminate an MAOI, because monoamines factor into TD…in some way.

I’m just really scared.

One thought on “I’m the Worst Blogger in the World and Now, I need Help”

  1. I completely burned out on all anti-depressants. I also can’t take the anti-convulsants typically prescribed for bipolar. My p-doc, who sometimes irritates me but it actually a gem, prescribed me Deplin. Deplin is activated Folic Acid. Apparently people who suffer from depression (whatever the cause) can’t always process Folic Acid properly. Deplin fixes that problem by already being activated. There are two issues with it though. Because it’s technically a supplement, my insurance doesn’t cover it. It’s about $148/month after the drug store found me a discount card. Second problem is that it can cause muscle and joint pain. A little research on my part and I discovered that a dose of Niacin takes care of that. I didn’t need the Niacin forever though. I stopped taking it about a month ago and I have no Deplin related pain. I don’t know if this helps or not, but it might be worth mentioning to your doc.

    Hang in there Allison. You are most certainly not alone in this.

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