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The Degradation Drug

theamericanscholar.org

11–20 of 79 posts

Re: The Degradation Drug

#11
post #9
post #2

> But soon his euphoria was accompanied by an insatiable libido. Leonard became a “wild, wonderful, ravening man-beast,” masturbating for hours on end. Is going for a few hours unusual? If so, I've been in big trouble ever since I turned 14.. (now going on 39) It just feels really good. Hmm.

Not really the place to display your kink, man. Plenty of dedicated spaces on the Internet for that - a space being dedicated to sexual activity greatly increases the chance that a user consents to seeing that sort of content. But if lack of consent is what you're going for, then please explore CBT options for moderating that behavior.

I don't believe it's a kink, a rather natural part of being human.

If this upsets you, here, have a chill pill ().

Or maybe don't browse with showdead.

Re: The Degradation Drug

#12

The article describes its first subject as having been diagnosed with simply "depression", but describes their medication regime as including lithium and lamotrigine which in combination is strongly suggestive of treatment for bipolar depression in particular. Given that the described behavior sounds very much like a manic episode, the article should have explained this connection before attempting to focus the blame…

I agree about it sounding like a manic episode a lot.

If I were to put up an opposing opinion -- some caveats here: cluster B disorders and autism both can include lithium (and symptoms not too dissimilar from mania), lamotrigine too on the BPD front. Mood stabilizers are prescribed in combination for a variety of conditions, I feel like it's a rather large jump to make. Also, Moda and a Benzodiazepine are going to do incredible amounts for the dopaminergic system, as well as lowering social punishment-conditioned fear responses. If someone is borderline manic, that could cause a lot of problems.

Pramipexole is a seriously hardcore drug, I'd encourage you to look into it specifically over other dopamine agonists if you haven't already. I survived one day before deciding it wasn't worth it, personally.

Plus, dopamine agonists can screw some things up about you semi-permanently, so that's a risk, too.

It really feels like a grapeshot cannon from her psychiatrist, to be honest. I don't know her specific situation, but some of the rapid-acting antidepressants have good effects (like Ketamine, which operates I believe on D2, among other things).

Just a few thoughts. I dx' people casually from very little data as a weak point myself (did it today, sorta, in retrospect to be honest), so partially this comment is my internal warning systems triggering on an external comment.

Also, I wanted to put a different opinion so HN readers could get a different potential aide.

Re: The Degradation Drug

#14

The article describes its first subject as having been diagnosed with simply "depression", but describes their medication regime as including lithium and lamotrigine which in combination is strongly suggestive of treatment for bipolar depression in particular. Given that the described behavior sounds very much like a manic episode, the article should have explained this connection before attempting to focus the blame…

Sounds like this behavior change lasted for years though. That is one hell of a manic episode.

(Also, key question, was the art any good?)

Re: The Degradation Drug

#16

The article describes its first subject as having been diagnosed with simply "depression", but describes their medication regime as including lithium and lamotrigine which in combination is strongly suggestive of treatment for bipolar depression in particular. Given that the described behavior sounds very much like a manic episode, the article should have explained this connection before attempting to focus the blame…

Actually the article says Hannah has "depression and anxiety". They mention bipolar briefly in the list of off-label uses for dopamine agonists so presumably wouldn't have mixed it up.

Though, it could have been misdiagnosed.

Re: The Degradation Drug

#17
post #14

The article describes its first subject as having been diagnosed with simply "depression", but describes their medication regime as including lithium and lamotrigine which in combination is strongly suggestive of treatment for bipolar depression in particular. Given that the described behavior sounds very much like a manic episode, the article should have explained this connection before attempting to focus the blame…

Sounds like this behavior change lasted for years though. That is one hell of a manic episode. (Also, key question, was the art any good?)

There are samples in tfa. Not everyone's taste I'm sure, but pretty impressive for a novice.

Re: The Degradation Drug

#18
post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds like this behavior change lasted for years though. That is one hell of a manic episode. (Also, key question, was the art any good?)

There are samples in tfa. Not everyone's taste I'm sure, but pretty impressive for a novice.

Ah so there is, I'm tend to skip over images while reading and I didn't even see them!

Re: The Degradation Drug

#19
post #12

The article describes its first subject as having been diagnosed with simply "depression", but describes their medication regime as including lithium and lamotrigine which in combination is strongly suggestive of treatment for bipolar depression in particular. Given that the described behavior sounds very much like a manic episode, the article should have explained this connection before attempting to focus the blame…

I agree about it sounding like a manic episode a lot. If I were to put up an opposing opinion -- some caveats here: cluster B disorders and autism both can include lithium (and symptoms not too dissimilar from mania), lamotrigine too on the BPD front. Mood stabilizers are prescribed in combination for a variety of conditions, I feel like it's a rather large jump to make. Also, Moda and a Benzodiazepine are going to d…

I omitted the Xanax entirely from my previous post because the polypharmacy here is such a mess, but I agree that it probably factors into disinhibition. I don't personally attribute much relevance to modafinil in this instance; while the wakefulness effects are often described mechanistically through dopamine, I have never seen anyone experience any traditional stimulant or dopamine agonist effects from modafinil.

My only experience with pramipexole and cabergoline are for low dose off-label use in persistent sexual dysfunction after the discontinuation of SSRI medication. The biggest difference I have seen between them is a much higher rate of discontinuation due to side effects (extreme tiredness) for pramipexole.

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