# Frustration with meds (and Dr.)



## Laurin (Jul 19, 2010)

My daughter is almost 13 and has had DP with anxiety for almost two years now. She began seeing a psychiatrist last July after the DP got unbearable (and constant). Since then she has been prescribed Zoloft, titrating up from 25 MGS to 150 MGS (currently). The Zoloft helped with the anxiety, but has not done a thing for the DP symptoms. She also saw a pediatric neurologist for testing and a consult and he recommended that the psychiatrist prescribe an anti-seizure medication called Tegretol. Instead, the psychiatrist prescribed Trileptal (Oxycarbezine), which she thought might have fewer side effects. She started at 100 MGs, and eventually titrated up to 1200 MGs (which is half the maximum dose). It had no effect on the DP symptoms, but the high dose made her feel dizzy and the psychiatrist told her to titrate back down until she was completely off of it. That was 12 weeks ago and she has an appointment next week. If memory serves, the doc wants to try Tegretol this time in combination with the Zoloft. I'm now wondering whether a different anti-anxiety medication would be better, as it looks like generally SSRIs are not that effective on DP symptoms.

My daughter is a straight A student in honors classes and the doctor thinks that she copes well with the DP symptoms. The doc even suggested not doing anything further for treatment since my daughter is handling it so well. This is NOT what my daughter wanted to hear! She wants nothing more than to get rid of those symptoms, even if it means acquiring some other side effects. Also, the doctor made it sound like having DP 24/7 was not very common. However, judging by this very forum, it definitely is!

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Laurin


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## SillyLilly41 (May 3, 2011)

Hi Lauren,

Has her therapist given her a diagnosis yet? Does he believe she's bipolar, boarderline or is it just depersonalization that's the sole symptom? Any history of trauma in early childhood? DP (especially chronic) is a coping skill children learn very, very early to do and it's caused (typically and this is not an accusation) frequently by abuse -namely emotional abuse. Or it could have been learned by a significant and aburpt loss of a caregiver.

Or any history of her experimenting with marijuana? While many people think that marijuna causes DP it's actually something they were probably already predisposed to prior to...

Sorry, but background knowledge is helpful in determining DP's cause. In fact it's the greatest starting point.

You will see many posts on this forum from people who are looking more for a cure more than the cause. And the cause is never themselves. To be frank, for many of us that's really the problem. I'm sure you're daughter is incredibly bright and seemingly norm up until know. But that's most of our problems we are bright and we seem perfectly normal. And to some degree that's true but at the end of the day chronic dp is a deep, disorganized and unresolved feeling of how you see yourself. It's a jagged pill for many of us (lord knows I KNOW) but it almost always the truth. If you want to help her learn everything you can about what DP and how it's caused. And get yourself a good therapist and have her built a relationship with him/her. It's crucial for a caregiver to be supportive. I didn't have this and it made it damn hard work to recover.

I had DP for nearly 25 years and I can tell you if I spent less time looking for drugs then to myself to fix this, I could have saved myself many good years...

I wish you and her the very best


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## staples (Apr 1, 2009)

Laurin, grab the book "Stranger To My Self" by Jeffrey Abugel. It has a lot of information on Depersonalization that I'm sure will help with finding the right treatment for your daughter. I was always anxiety / depression stricken and started on medication at a young age myself (13 actually). It wasn't until I matched the medication with the right psychologist, I started seeing exceptional improvement.

- Steve


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## Ianthe (May 5, 2011)

Unfortunately, at the moment no one knows what depersonalization is, what causes it, or how to treat it. There's a lot of interesting work going on, though. In addition to "Stranger to Myself," two good books by leaders in the field are "Feeling Unreal" by Daphne Simeon, M.D., and "Depersonalization" by Mauricio Sierra, M.D.

People tend to interpret depersonalization according to their own wishes, needs, beliefs, etc. etc. Be very wary of blanket explanations and recommendations.


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## aloof (Nov 18, 2008)

SSRIs IMO for most DP sufferers is not going to help and will only make things worse in many cases. Anti seizure/anti anxiety meds seem to work the best...Klonopin, Neurontin, and I actually do well on Trileptal 600 mg. no side effects of note. good stabilizer. The klonopin has been the best as far as relieving actual DP symptoms and allowing me to feel more normal and like "myself". Tolerance over time is an issue.


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## Laurin (Jul 19, 2010)

Thanks for your responses, everyone. (And sorry for the delay--I couldn't find my post!)

No, she has no history of any drug or even alcohol experimentation. We have both been asked several times by her therapist and the psychiatrist if she experienced any traumatic events/loss or if she was emotionally, physically or sexually abused and she has not. The Psychiatrist is perplexed. At L.'s last appointment, while the Psych. initially said she was going to try Tegretol, she decided against it due to the potential side effects and started her on Lamictal instead. L. started experiencing loss of coordination, dizziness and extreme fatigue from the Lamictal, so the Psych. told me to have her stop. The Psych. also said that if we wanted to try Tegretol we were going to have to go back to see the Pediatric Neurologist because she didn't feel comfortable prescribing it!

I mentioned Klonopin to the Psych., and she said it wouldn't be appropriate for L. because her DP is 24/7.

The diagnosis was Generalized Anxiety Disorder with depersonalization symptoms. The Psych. thought that once that anxiety went away that the DP would, as well, but it has not.

I am going to pick up both of those books. L. probably won't want to read them, but I will definitely read them and hopefully get her to read at least some of them. Thanks all for your advice and recommendations!

Laurin


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