I was a bit unclear in my last post - my apologies for this - I assumed that you took a high dose of Gabapentinoid during the day-time, since you have GAD.
I'm actually taking NSI-189 20 mg and Gabapentin 150 mg together, myself. (nsi in the morning, and gabap at night)
If you don't feel anything from Gabapentin, then there's no reason to keep taking it - however, if you take it during night, it might actually be a potentially balanced combo with NSI-189 - mainly because there's been reports of how NSI-189 causes insomnia - possibly because its neurogenic effects continue while you sleep - however, this could then potentially increase activity in the brain somewhat too much, causing insomnia. There's obviously a balance that needs to be struck.
Talk to your Dr. about lowering your Gabapentin, since you don't feel all that much - I suggest making a schedule for the lowering of dosages - thereby you could avoid WD. However, if you already vary your dosage by the DOUBLE 0_o, then you don't seem very susceptible to withdrawal, so you should be ok.
There's actually other reports online about how the combo of taking an anti-neurogenic like GabaP with NSI-189 works fairly well.
Regarding the relationship between depression and anxiety: no - they're not the same thing, in fact newer research have finally put the kibosh on that theory. And no, they don't always go hand in hand - there is a distinction in the litterature between anhedonic depression and anxious depression - anhedonic has more of a loss of emotion, and can actually sometimes not feel any anxiety - anxious depression is of course the combination of the two.
References:
----------------------
Anxiety and Depression Association of America - Types of depression
https://www.adaa.org...s of Depression
NEUROBIOLOGY OF ANXIOUS DEPRESSION: A REVIEW
http://onlinelibrary...2/da.22095/full
Anxious and non-anxious forms of major depression: familial, personality and symptom characteristics
https://www.cambridg...A69B52BBC19CB1A
I find these excerpts interesting:
"...whereas those with anxious depression were associated with higher harm avoidance and had parents with a wider range of disorders, including mania. The association between major depression and bipolar disorder is seen only in anxious forms of depression."
Especially when taken into contrast with this:
A single infusion of ketamine improves depression scores in patients with anxious bipolar depression
http://onlinelibrary.../bdi.12277/full
Effect of baseline anxious depression on initial and sustained antidepressant response to ketamine.
http://europepmc.org...ct/med/25295436
Unexpectedly, patients with anxious depression responded better to ketamine than those with nonanxious depression, with longer time to relapse and no side effect differences.
NMDA-antagonists have proven effective in the treatment of rapid cycling in Bipolar Disorder, as well as in anxiety disorders - Memantine is the go-to drug here.
I wonder... could Anxious depression be a mild form of what some call BIPOLAR ANXIETY? I've seen the term bandied about, but found no actual scientific, factual description of what it is. The treatment-resistance actually fits into the pattern too - since MANY patients with treatment-resistant depression have some form of hard-to-diagnose atypical Bipolar Disorder.
I guess I worded that wrong, but by hand in hand, I moreso meant that most antidepressants(ssri's, maois, tcas) treat both depression and anxiety, haven't heard of too many AD's that are anxiogenic, But then again I need to do a lot more reading and know nothing about this drug from a pharmacological standpoint, I just discovered it the other day and desperately want to try it now.
Not sure how my depression would be labelled, but diagnosed MDD and treatment resistant, but I think there's more to it than that. The anhedonia is extreme and it may be the worst part, constantly dwelling on the past and obsessing over tiny things. always racing thoughts. constant nightmares that wake me up multiple times a night. I sleep like shit, I just go to sleep whenever my body gets tired, sometimes 4am, sometimes 4pm, sometimes 10pm, sometimes 12pm... etc no schedule at all. I can't enjoy anything whatsoever, also sex drive is dead. All I do is lay in bed in a dark room, and thats another thing, my room always has to be dark, even in the day, the light is never on, I just prefer it that way. I avoid social interactions, even making phone calls is hard. I prefer to be isolated. Brain fog is insane.... I cannot focus for shit, I constantly forget things, If I start reading something, I usually stop a few sentences in. When Im watching a movie or something my minds drifts off somewhere else, or I just forget as I go along, so I constantly need to pause and rewind the scene.
Im never content, every little thing is dysphoric, I hate going outside and I hate the sunlight and heat. Only comfortable in my own room on the computer, and still can't enjoy anything, but thats the only thing I feel like doing. Mostly watching movies and reading stuff. My comprehension has gotten so bad, I forget things as Im reading them and have to go back. Oh and the physical symptoms are debilitating, I feel like I weigh 1000lbs, I have no mobility, I can't bend and reach, my back and joints hurt, and its just very uncomfortable to do any type of exercise, I can't stand it, If I walk one block, my heart is pounding, and I am covered in sweat, and feel dizzy and like im about to collapse. I get really dizzy when I stand up. I always feel hot, even under the AC, im constantly sweating. No motivation at all whatsoever, if someone was about to drop a bomb on my house I wouldn't move.
Adderall/Stims used to help a lot with motivation, mobility, and confidence, but now they don't work anymore for some reason, even in high doses. Did 140mg vyvanse on no tolerance a few times, and barely felt a thing, Years ago, an even lower dose would have me ready to take on the world and bouncing off the walls. Same goes for opiates for the first few years, they were amazing and relieved almost all mental and physical symptoms. I take kratom now, and have grown a massive tolerance, and it lost its magic, but I still think I'd be worse off without it.
The drug use only came after trying dozens of AD's with no help, they sometimes made me more fatigued, less motivated, and just zombie-like, especially SSRIS, But I just started pristiq now, because the dr wants me to.
But...yea when I first discovered opiates they were magic, obviously built a tolerance and whatnot, but every time I detoxed, the WD's would be absolute hell, to where I had to be hospitalized so I dont kill myself, I believe they were way worse, as they masked my depression to some degree, so stopping abruptly brings on a huge wave of extreme depression/suicidality and also have to deal with the WD's. Even after being clean for over 6 months, I felt like shit, and could not function whatsoever. Kratom was my last ditch effort, although Im using way too much, and it lost its effect, its still keeping me off other opiates.
And I never aimed to get high or to 'nod' like other people, I would use just enough to make me 'normal', that is all they did. Sorry if im being redundant, the point is the only drugs that made me feel better are opioids, and I can barely function without them. Im sure there is some neurological reason for this, I wish there was some type of test I could do to figure out why this is. What do you think about ALKS-5461 and CERC-501? I have major hope in these, and I think they will be revolutionary. They are KOR antagonists, which apparently play a huge role in symptoms of depression, even anhedonia.
Im sorry for the wall of text. I figured you were knowledgeable so I thought I'd share, what do you make of this? And do you think NSI will help? I didn't list most of my symptoms, just some of the ones I could think of, If I listed all it would be a few pages. And is the anxiety from NSI only in the beginning or is it constant? And will a benzo be enough to stop it?
Btw does 150mg of gabapentin actually work for you? thats suck a low dose, what kind of effects do you get off that?
Thanks for the help/advice! You dont have to read all this if you dont want to. I would appreciate any suggestions you may have.
I was a bit unclear in my last post - my apologies for this - I assumed that you took a high dose of Gabapentinoid during the day-time, since you have GAD.
I'm actually taking NSI-189 20 mg and Gabapentin 150 mg together, myself. (nsi in the morning, and gabap at night)
If you don't feel anything from Gabapentin, then there's no reason to keep taking it - however, if you take it during night, it might actually be a potentially balanced combo with NSI-189 - mainly because there's been reports of how NSI-189 causes insomnia - possibly because its neurogenic effects continue while you sleep - however, this could then potentially increase activity in the brain somewhat too much, causing insomnia. There's obviously a balance that needs to be struck.
Talk to your Dr. about lowering your Gabapentin, since you don't feel all that much - I suggest making a schedule for the lowering of dosages - thereby you could avoid WD. However, if you already vary your dosage by the DOUBLE 0_o, then you don't seem very susceptible to withdrawal, so you should be ok.
There's actually other reports online about how the combo of taking an anti-neurogenic like GabaP with NSI-189 works fairly well.
Regarding the relationship between depression and anxiety: no - they're not the same thing, in fact newer research have finally put the kibosh on that theory. And no, they don't always go hand in hand - there is a distinction in the litterature between anhedonic depression and anxious depression - anhedonic has more of a loss of emotion, and can actually sometimes not feel any anxiety - anxious depression is of course the combination of the two.
References:
----------------------
Anxiety and Depression Association of America - Types of depression
https://www.adaa.org...s of Depression
NEUROBIOLOGY OF ANXIOUS DEPRESSION: A REVIEW
http://onlinelibrary...2/da.22095/full
Anxious and non-anxious forms of major depression: familial, personality and symptom characteristics
https://www.cambridg...A69B52BBC19CB1A
I find these excerpts interesting:
"...whereas those with anxious depression were associated with higher harm avoidance and had parents with a wider range of disorders, including mania. The association between major depression and bipolar disorder is seen only in anxious forms of depression."
Especially when taken into contrast with this:
A single infusion of ketamine improves depression scores in patients with anxious bipolar depression
http://onlinelibrary.../bdi.12277/full
Effect of baseline anxious depression on initial and sustained antidepressant response to ketamine.
http://europepmc.org...ct/med/25295436
Unexpectedly, patients with anxious depression responded better to ketamine than those with nonanxious depression, with longer time to relapse and no side effect differences.
NMDA-antagonists have proven effective in the treatment of rapid cycling in Bipolar Disorder, as well as in anxiety disorders - Memantine is the go-to drug here.
I wonder... could Anxious depression be a mild form of what some call BIPOLAR ANXIETY? I've seen the term bandied about, but found no actual scientific, factual description of what it is. The treatment-resistance actually fits into the pattern too - since MANY patients with treatment-resistant depression have some form of hard-to-diagnose atypical Bipolar Disorder.
Edited by nsi189, 05 July 2017 - 10:11 AM.
