Kickas.org Forums Ankylosing Spondylitis General Discussion #1 AS Web Support Group waves of anger every coupla months

First and foremost: soft hugs to you and your wife. This disease can be a real crap-tornado when it wants to.

I have tried 3 different anti-depressants. The one I had the best luck with was wellbutrin (I "think" that is buproprion, generic).

On Wellbutrin, I could take it when I needed it (kicked in within 12 hours) and stop it when I felt OK.

In the last 12 months I have been trying some other natural approaches. I learned that very serious mental ups and downs have been corrected with certain vitamins and supplements. Here is an article about it:

http://www.doctoryourself.com/depression.htm

What I like about this website, besides the fact that you can search all different ailments, is that he cites official studies throughout the website where these different nutritional approaches were tested.

The underlying theme here is:"Your body has an amazing capacity to heal itself if you give it what it needs."

How is that for FOOD FOR THOUGHT? lol.

Some interesting information about buproprion for those who want to know more:

It is also known as wellbutrin - bupropion is the generic name as Donette says.

From wikipedia:

Bupropion is an effective antidepressant on its own but it is particularly popular as an add-on medication in the cases of incomplete response to the first-line selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) antidepressant. In contrast to many other antidepressants, bupropion does not cause weight gain or sexual dysfunction; in fact, in most studies, groups placed on bupropion showed statistically significant increases in libido, and mild to moderate weight loss.

According to several surveys, the augmentation of a prescribed SSRI with bupropion is the preferred strategy among clinicians when the patient does not respond to the SSRI. For example, the combination of bupropion and citalopram (Celexa) was observed to be more effective than switching to another antidepressant.

According to several case studies and a pilot study, bupropion lowers the level of an inflammatory mediator TNF-alpha and may be useful in autoinflammatory conditions such as Crohn's disease and psoriasis.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bupropion

From Medicine Net:

To avoid trouble sleeping, do not take this medication too close to bedtime.

Do not stop taking this medication without consulting your doctor. Some conditions may become worse when the drug is suddenly stopped. Your dose may need to be gradually decreased.

It may take 4 or more weeks before you notice the full benefit of this drug.

http://www.medicinenet.com/bupropion-oral/page2.htm

Typically antidepressants should not be stopped suddenly but require tapering and bupropion is one of those. Also, it's very unusual for an antidepressant to work straight away. Both SSRIs (like citalopram) and buproprion work by preventing the reuptake of certain neurotransmitters. It takes a while for the quantity of the neurotransmitter to build up in your body - often it takes at least four weeks before people notice a difference.

I tend to get pretty depressed and low motivation when I flare, but then at other times late in the day If ive been standing or sitting for too long I get very irritable and sometimes I also get quite anxious.
Since I developed AS my ability to deal with stress went right out the window. No idea why.
This might sound crazy but when I get really grumpy sometimes I go ly down in a quiet room for twenty minutes and I usually but not always feel better.

thanks everybuddy.you are ALL great peeps

Inky wow.....what a lot of sense you speak.

i may have written the 1st part of your reply myself!

as for the 2nd part..Hmmmmmm..very interesting.will give this some thought.thanks

i am looking into bupropion.....it may not be avaiable in the uk

Hi Saltire,

The trade names are Wellbutrin and Zyban - it's also a smoking cessation aid.

That is interesting Wendy. It was just my Gyno who put me on it and told me I could start and stop when I needed to. I never had any bad reactions doing this. for about 3 years I took it for 4-5 days per month when my PMS was bad. Some months I wouldn't need it at all.

I "pulsed" it like that in the fall of 2009 when it was AS depression instead of PMS insanity and it still worked well for me. And quick too. Took it in the afternoon and in a couple hours felt a bit better but by the next morning felt 100% better. I always wondered if I was avoiding the build up/immunity effect that I often have with almost all drugs.

I never do anything normal though. lol.

Interesting stuff! Thanks for pulling that research up!

-Donette

CBT rocks. Highly recommend it.

(Sorry for the pain your marriage has brought you, Inky)

Hey Louise