I feel like MS is a full time job!

[mac1ntosh]

Hello all, I've been lurking, thinking, hoping, wishing (is that a song?) for some relief from this feeling of hopelessness. As I'm sure many of you can relate, I've been denied disability, and have requested a hearing, which my lawyer tells me is still +/- a year away,

tried to earn some money working at direct sales, not going as hoped, saw Neuro to talk about switching from Betaseron to Gilenya, husbands work is thinking about switching Health Ins., counseling only helps so much, so next Dr. Psychiatrist prescribes (at my request) anti-depressant,

I've tried Sertraline/Zoloft in the past, and side effects were bad (what's worse MS or diarrhea?) so I didn't continue to take it, carry on with life, until this past month, life has been difficult to deal with,

So I'm gonna try Paxil, but at first she recommended Lithium, after mentioning some talk of it having a positive effect on MS, re-mylenating or some such thing. Which definitely piqued my interest, but being on Beta I have to take analgesic to offset flu-like side-effects.

So ruled Lithium out, has anyone ever heard anything like what she mentioned? I've done some light googling, but...

In short - do any of you have experience with Paxil? Lithium?

Thanks!!!!

[lindadahl]

Paxil

I have taken Paxil for several years now with excellent result and no side effects. I have never heard of an anti depressant doing anything for repairing damage to mylin coatings to the nerves in the brain or spine. In fact there are clinical trials going on right now for drugs for just this reason. I don't know where your Dr. would ever dream up that one! If that was the case wouldn't we all just be on that instead of a Therapy drug? I wish you luck with Paxil, it has worked wonders for me!

[jreagan70]

Hi Jody:

I don't have any experience with Paxil, but I know that it has a long track record of success. But it's important to bear in mind that it can take two or three or even four tries to find an antidepressant that works best for any person. So Paxil is a good med to try next. And if Paxil doesn't do the trick for you, there are other antidepressants to try. So don't give up too soon.

As far as lithium goes, it may not be a bad thing that your doctor thought of "killing two birds with one stone" (what a disagreeable expression) by suggesting a medicine that might also help MS. The problem is that the idea that lithium might be helpful for MS came from testing in mice with experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis. Humans aren't mice, and EAE isn't MS. So for you to try lithium for MS would be experimental in itself. You would have been the experimental mouse.

So besides lithium being completely untested and unproven in humans as an MS treatment, there are reports in the medical literature and online of lithium causing other problems regarding MS.

In one case, a person on lithium actually developed MS and his symptoms were written off as lithium toxicity, which of course delayed his diagnosis and treatment for MS. In another case, a person on lithium developed neurological symptoms. At first his symptoms were ignored as being part of mental illness. Then, after a long while, MS was suspected and he was finally worked up for MS. In the end, it turned out that he didn't have MS and his symptoms really were from lithium toxicity.

So yes, there is some evidence that lithium might help with remyelination, which explains your doctor's suggestion, but it's an unproven theory based on mouse studies. It sounds like you made the right choice by turning it down. I hope Paxil works well for you and you start feeling better soon.

[mac1ntosh]

Thanks for your replies, I am optimistically hopeful, that this one will work. I've also been on Betaseron for 10 years, which can cause depression, but who knows.

I guess trying to find reason, in this very unpredictable disease is the very definition of insanity. While I've ALWAYS been one to cry fairly easily I'm looking forward to some equilibrium. I want off this merry go round!

[butterflyblissbabe82]

hi,
I was on paxil before I think Prozac is helping me more.
I am on 40mg once a day in the morning.
its really helped my depression so much
that I wanna ask for 60mg as soon as I get a chance.
I'm also on Wellbutrin the highest mg they make that sometimes
makes my tiredness feel a little better.. I hardly have any energy unless
I sleep 9 or 10 hrs then wake up to a lot of caffeine I wish I could have the energy I did when I was younger