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A Strange Med For Depression

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Depression
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Posted 12/2/2008 9:43 PM (GMT 0)
Hi everyone, this is my first posting in the depression forum. I have recurrent depression, general anxiety disorder (GAD) and I get panic attacks. I also have prostate cancer, which is relevant to this post. I take 300mg Effexor for depression, 4mg xanax per day for anxiety and panic...yes I know it's addictive. And I take 100mg trazodone for sleep. I have been on every anti-depressant imaginable...the Effexor does a good job. Now for my oddball med...methylphenidate....better known as ritalin. I was first prescribed ritalin in '06 when I had my prostate removed (surgery). Then I had radiation therapy for prostate cancer too. So, what does all this have to do with depression? After the surgery and radiation therapy, my psych doc decided I looked so  tired and worn out that I needed a little pick-me up or something that would increase my energy level...hence the ritalin. I have since been in the pshch hospital for depression. While there, I asked the inpatient psych doc, why I'm taking ritalin. I said it (ritalin) does make me feel good, to which this doc replied, "Well there's nothing wrong with feeling good." So I have been taking ritalin for the past 2--3 years. Yeah, it does seem to improve my mood. However, nowhere can I find ritalin being prescribed for depression....especially 10mg 3-times a day. I have a different pshch doc now, and he sees nothing wrong with taking ritalin for depression either. So, I take an upper (ritalin) and a downer (xanax a benzodiazepine) together. My question is this: has anyone here been prescribed ritalin for depression?  Also, does anyone see or know of any reason I should be taking ritalin.

Also, since I have prostate cancer, it is part of my signature. I can't sem to delete it for this depression post. Is it possible to have 2 signatures...one for depression and another for prostate cancer?

Thank you for reading this,

Patrick 

Posted 12/2/2008 10:40 PM (GMT 0)

Hello, this is Kitt. I have read up on this med working for Major Depression Disorders, however it is not licensed for this purpose.

Also the physicians fear if you have an addictive personality you could easily get addicted to the med.

I only know one person on it and this person lives in a different state.

Good Luck

Kitt

Posted 12/3/2008 12:27 AM (GMT 0)
My mother took ritalin for depression. It combats the fatigue. I took methylphenadate called concerta and it didn't work steady. It was in a wierd form that was like a plastic barrel. Being that it wasn't consitstant, I switched to adderall. The doctor is right, there is nothing wrong with feeling good and as long as it works, I wouldn't question it. I don't think you will have to worry about getting addicted. If you need to go off of it you can taper off. I think that you are lucky to recieve it. But when it worked, it worked well for me.

Just my opinion.

Hugs, Karen
Posted 12/3/2008 5:05 PM (GMT 0)
I've taken adderall as a supplement to my normal anti-depressants, mainly to combat fatigue I felt due to a combination of other medical conditions and depression. I had trouble staying awake whenever I wasn't actively doing something. It was so bad that my co-workers would joke about me needing a pillow if there was going to be a meeting that day. I started off with concerta, but it had an opposite effect on me, and it made me even more drowsy. Then I moved on to time relase ritalin, which definitely gave me more pep, but I was still falling asleep on it. Then we moved up to Adderall, and that has helped me lots. It gives me that extra energy needed to break out of my shy shell, as well as keeping me awake. True, it isn't necessarily an anti-depressant, but if it makes you feel better, what's the problem? Unless of course you have a history of abusing amphetamines or other drugs, in which I'd be really hesitant to try any of the prescrip amphetamines...there is a definite potential for misuse and abuse.

Keep your doc informed on how you're doing, and if you start building a tolerance, it might be time to take a break. Tolerance is a symptom of physical dependency, so going without the ritalin for a couple of weeks will help bring your tolerance back down. If you start noticing that you can't sleep (or don't want to), or that you are becoming OC, that might be another signal that it's time to take a break.
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