QUESTION:
Dear Dr. Heller,
When I was 38 I had a TIA. This led to a testicle removal several years later. For the past 5 years I have been having problems sleeping, getting 2 or 3 hours a night or sometimes going for 3 days without sleep. My Doctor put me on 1 mg Klonopin and 50 mg Trazodone at bedtime. This has helped and I am getting 8 hours sleep now. I have been having problems with severe mood swings now for the past three years. He put me on Paxil which worked but I had side effects which I couldn't handle well. I now am on 500 mg Depakote twice a day and .25 mg Xanax three times a day. My situation has not improved. He does not know what to do for me and I am at my wits end. I do not know what to do now.
ANSWER:
You may have had some subtle brain damage causing the mood swings. I have seen this
before.
The BPD can be caused by brain injury, I highly recommend looking at
the
criteria. If it's present, medication can work for you. Paxil causing side
effects may be a sign that the generalized anxiety disorder has been present all your
life. The PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) may also be present, and I've had
good results combining an SSRI like Prozac with Remeron for these individuals.
I recommend doing the
screening test and getting all the
underlying diagnoses treated.
If your current medication regimen isn't working, you need to keep looking for
answers.
