StateOfRegret

Hey Jess, take a look at this document I just uploaded (with thanks to HBB and the users who contributed!).

File Name: Some Keppra success stories File Submitter: StateOfRegret File Submitted: 16 Apr 2014 File Category: Publications A document of Keppra success stories, collected by users on HPPDonline. Click here to download this file

I don't want to freak you out, but if you haven't done so already, you should read this lamictal warning box about skin rashes.

Wow, that was incredible! Seeing reality more or less "snow free" for a short while really helps me gauge the extent of "abnormality" of my vision as well. It's pretty abnormal

Hey stormbel! I'm appalled to hear of the way you've been treated! I've have nothing to contribute at the moment, really, just thought I'd let you know I feel your desperation! Maybe your best bet is finding a GP who is more understanding, rather than a psychiatrist?

Thanks for sharing, guys - especially you, LaizzesFaire! What dose are you on? I'm only on 5mg of S-citalopram, which isn't even usually considered a therapeutic dose (more of an "introductory" dosage level). I'm considering increasing it to 10mg. It's already helping my anxiety significantly at 5mg, though. Syntheso: I remember reading that account a long time ago. I have found the visuals to be continually worsening (7 days in), but I'm hoping it'll at least "level out" soon. I guess this goes to show that visual symptoms and anxiety levels do not always go hand in hand.

Well, now I've been taking escitalopram (generic Lexapro) at 5mg/day for 4 days. Definite reduction in anxiety already, but my visuals seem markedly worse. I hope that is temporary :-S !

Oh, this statement led me to believe otherwise: By the way, didn't you also take JDTic at the very least? ------- I feel much the same way.

I like to think of it a bit like a family I mean, if you do something stupid or something detrimental to your own health, you expect your family to offer their honest opinion as well as comfort you. A bit of both is good, I think Anyway, I'm sure brighter times lie ahead!

Think about it, missjess. You wouldn't have the same reactions to several completely different medications. I'm not saying that your brain is not "damaged" in some way, I'm just saying that sometimes our expectations and psychological reactions strongly influence the way we react to medications . For instance, panic attacks can make health anxiety sufferers feel like they are having strong adverse reactions to medications, to the point that it genuinely feels as if they're dying.

Definitely. At least for a few days. Think about it; if all drugs affect you negatively in much the same way, even some with vastly different mechanisms of action, that cannot be an effect of the drugs themselves. It has got to be at least partially psychological.

That's a fantastic idea!

Sorry to hear that, alice, hope it's been a learning experience. jimmyb84: True, it was a stupid move, but willpower isn't always available when you need it

Don't give up at the first sign of side-effects. All drugs have side-effects, and often they're worse at the beginning of treatment :-)

Just had a 90 minute talk with a psychiatrist and a psychiatric nurse about my anxiety and HPPD. I'd been referred by my GP, who wants to put me on Keppra. In short, it was a bit of a letdown. They wanted to put me on antipsychotics (Seroquel/quetiapine), which I refused. I showed them one of the antipsychotic/HPPD articles (LSD-Like Panic From Risperidone in Post-LSD Visual Disorder) to explain why it was not a good idea. In the end, they gave me a new appointment for next week. They want to do an EEG as well - I tried explaining to them that HPPD might be visible on a qEEG, but they didn't seem to take much notice. They hadn't even heard about Keppra and did not seem very receptive to reasoned arguments (i.e. evidence in the form of an article from a medical journal). I may expound later, but I'm a bit worn out now.

The "correct" way to identify the present frequencies in a complicated signal is fourier analysis. There is software which can do this. I am on the phone right now, so I'll keep it brief and get back to you later.

The laws are similar in the US, my point is that some times manufacturers of generic medication systematically fail to live up to them, for whatever reason. The control with overseas pharmaceutical companies apparently isn't as tight as one would like to think. Yes, in some odd cases, but generally those things don't make any difference. Inactive ingredients are supposed to be inactive, micro-crystalline cellulose or lactose isn't going to mess with your etiracetam, I believe As long as we're not talking controlled release, all the different tablets and capsules are equivalent - they all dissolve quickly in your stomach, releasing the active ingredient. I highly doubt that there is anything interacting with your etiracetam in the tablets themselves. By the way, great to see you back, Ghormeh. Have you abandoned talkppd.com? (and, wow, does it have a spam problem or what? )

It's always disconcerting to hear about differences between brand name and generic. As you know, levetiracetam is enantiopure etiracetam, so there really shouldn't be any room for differences to "emerge". I recently listened to a radio feature on generic medicine. A lot of the generic medicine that enters the US market is produced in India, and some of it doesn't live up to clinical standards. Some was found to contain too little (or, in one case, none) of the active ingredient. I'm not sure if the case is similar in England (and my country, Denmark).

Thanks, hppd24years. I feel that the session went well, she (the psychologist) was nice and understanding. First of all, it doesn't matter if your therapist thinks that you're a bit crazy - I'm sure she has seen worse nutjobs than you and I Secondly, the probably wont think that you're "crazy", she's not there to judge, only to help (and make a bucketload of money in the process). Even if she did think you were just crazy, that would just make her a lousy therapist, and you'd better find a new one I started by telling her a bit about myself, what I do etc. Then I went on to describe, in broad strokes, my problems (anxiety, panic disorder, HPPD) while she listened. She occasionally asked me to explain/describe certain things (how my HPPD affected me, what I do in a day) and then we talked for some time about my anxiety, what triggers it, and most of all, the events in my life which has led to where I am today. Then, towards the end, we did some breathing exercises, which spaced me out a bit, but all in all felt good. I'll be seeing her again next week. I should perhaps stress (to hppd33 and others) that I did not go to a psychologist hoping to cure my HPPD (I believe that would be futile, for me) but rather to help me deal with my HPPD and my anxiety (which is a lot worse, to me, than the HPPD itself).

I wouldn't say that. The fact that the brain is plastic does not change the fact that in normal brains it is quite fruitful to think of different functions being somewhat localized. This is the reason that one can in fact often predict in which part of the brain an injury has struck from the outward manifestations of symptoms. It is not as simple as people perhaps once believed, but it is still far from being wrong

Thanks for sharing! I will definitely listen to that one later

Me neither. I've used 20mg propranolol at night the last couple of days, doesn't seem to have caused any problems so far.

odisa: The Dark Knight! Or, well, dark except for the swirls of colour, the starbursting, the geometric hallucinations... odisa: The Predominantly Dark-ish multicoloured Knight!