Psychiatry consult

[boyo4202]

I only recently discovered this forum and wow - you guys are miles ahead of the subreddit. Even a decade ago you were all more knowledgeable than the Redditors today.

I've got an appointment with psychiatry tomorrow and I'd like to know if anyone has any suggestions. I'm planning on pushing for a lamotrigine script, levetiracetam also seems reasonable but I'm not sure it would fall within their scope. If anyone has any literature indicating the use of lamotrigine or levetiracetam in HPPD I'd appreciate it.

I've had type 2 HPPD for about 3 years after smoking weed. VS, DPDR and brain fog are by far my worst symptoms. Any other advice including supplements, drugs and nootropics that have worked for you would be welcome.

[Jay1]

Hey welcome to the forum, here is one paper that mentions both as possible treatments:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5870365/

My personal advice is to try one thing at a time rather than throwing everything at it... So see what the doc says about the two meds you are interested in trying before thinking about supplements and other meds. 

btw - unlike reddit, you are free to discuss benzos on here too... They can be a useful tool in managing HPPD, if treated with respect. 

[AF44]

8 hours ago, Jay1 said:

Hey welcome to the forum, here is one paper that mentions both as possible treatments:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5870365/

My personal advice is to try one thing at a time rather than throwing everything at it... So see what the doc says about the two meds you are interested in trying before thinking about supplements and other meds. 

btw - unlike reddit, you are free to discuss benzos on here too... They can be a useful tool in managing HPPD, if treated with respect. 

Hello! 
I take benzos, I have been on Klonopin for many years. It has been by far the best medication for taking most of my symptoms away. However, as Jay said, you do have to use them carefully. I have taken Klonopin every day since about 2009. While it has helped relieve my symptoms, the flip side is that if I am ever taken off of it, I’ll suffer not only withdrawals but the return of my HPPD symptoms, probably far worse than they were before the medication. I take lamotrigine as well and personally I think it helps too. Keep us updated!

[boyo4202]

Thanks guys, I had my appointment today but I didn’t really get anywhere. I had already been to a neuro and he’s wanting to treat me with high dose propranolol before any epilepsy drugs. It seems like the psych is unwilling to butt in and just wants me to take the propranolol up to 240mg. This wouldn’t be a problem as propranolol certainly won’t do any harm, could even help slightly, but it’s going to take 6 month to give it a proper trial. Just slows everything down so I’m in the shit for the foreseeable future. Thinking about going privately and trying to get some lamotrigine on the side but it’s all a bit scuffed.

Klons are definitely on my list but given that you can only take them every other day and need to take tolerance breaks I’d rather try an epilepsy drug first.

[Jay1]

I'm on propranolol and it deffo helps the physical side of anxiety. It's actually the only med that has any effect on me, bar benzos. 

I guess in times like this, it's better to look on the bright side, at least you have some docs that are trying to help, even if it's not yet in the direction you want to go. I don't know where you are based, but here in the UK, it can take 24 months to even get to see a neuro without going private.