Q. I have been seeing a different psychatrist, and she has been a lot more helpful than the other doctor, but still doesn't seem to listen to me really well. Right now, I had to tapper off the Paxil, and I am now on 100mg of Zoloft and 500mg of Depakote. I simply am not feeling better. I was at 75mg of Zoloft, and I told my doctor I wanted to try something different, because I nearly felt like I was on nothing. She insisted that I try 100mg. I have been up to that dose for about a week now, and still notice no difference. I think next I would like to try Lexapro and Lamictal. I have been on sooo many meds now, I can hardly believe it. I started taking meds about 5 years ago, and still am having a hell of a hard time finding anything that works. I have been on Paxil, Prozac, Efexor, Wellbutrin, Seroquel, Risprodal, Buspar, Neurontin, Zoloft, Abilify, Depakote, Kava Kava, St. John's Wart, high quanities of omega 3, 6, and 9. Multi vitamins, injections of vitamin B-12. I even had a QEEG done, to scan the brain, and see if they could find out what was wrong that way. That is how I was diagnoised with BiPolar. Those are just a list of the things I can think of trying off the top of my head. I am very open minded, and very understanding that it does take a lot of time to try different methods for trying to find out what works for the individual person. I have been in counseling for years and years now, I do a lot of self help reading, positive talking, etc, etc. I am 21 years old, and have dealt wit h the problem of depression and anxiety ever since I was born. Does anyone have some more suggestions? I would like to know if anyone has any suggestions, and also just wanted to get that off my chest.

Thanks Guys, Jason
fzr60082co@aol.com

A. Jason,
I am sorry you are not having any luck finding an antidepressant that helps. Something you might want to consider is raising the dose of your mood stabilizer and cutting out the AD altogether. Possibly the addition of Lamictal, along with the Depakote, will be more effective than the Zoloft. Certain individuals simply do not respond to treatment with antidepressants, and rarely ADs actually make the individual feel worse. You might want to ask Pam in the herbs column about additional alternative antidepressant treatments.

Please let me know what you decide to do and how it turns out.
Anna.