I think that the topic of depression can be an important one for questing,
hyper-intelligent, growth oriented individuals who can sometimes feel
stymied by their environments, and I thank you for your openness in
discussing your meds program. I have a question: Does the DHEA help
the antidepressants work better, or are its effects related more to your
general health?
>I started taking them not because I was severely depressed, but because
>I felt my mind wasn't working as well as I thought it should.
I wish you could have been in on Anders' and my brief conversation
at the conference regarding mental function and antidepressants, and
I hope that you or others will provide some input now. The story in
brief: As a young, questioning, somewhat rebellious woman growing
up in the deep south, and, yes, experiencing occasional depression, I
was put under the care of a physician who put me on every existing
neurotransmitter drug, sometimes two or three at a time, for several
years. (These drugs are not used anymore, considered too crude and
dangereous with the development of the SSIs.)
The negative results: reduced ability to memorize concrete data, and
periods of reduced focus, serious damage to my immune system.
The positive results: acquired ability to parallel process, greater
speed in processing input, occasional intense 'brain burn' breakthroughs
in conceptual thought.
What I am trying to figure out, and am open to serious suggestions on,
is how to retain the positive aspects while improving the negative. My
goals: increased focus and greater ability to memorize concrete data.
The one nootropic expert I spoke to suggested that I was forced into the
effects of nootropics too fast and should hold off on trying them. Most
of the literature surrounding nootropics seems to concentrate on
'speeding up' the thought process, whereas I am more interested in
'refining'. And I certainly don't recommend anyone dumping these
neuro drugs into their systems, because the physical effects are
simply not worth the mental effects--it nearly killed me and it took
years to clean out. But I am open to suggestions here!
Kathryn Aegis