The Biochemical Experiment That Is My Life

[Placo]

In this thread I will talk about my therapies and general experiences with substances, I could also go into detail explaining the various neurotransmitters and receptors and how these influence various mental pathologies.

I'll start by saying that my main problems are depression, anxiety and OCD, a combination that I've read already has a very high suicide rate, so the mere fact that I'm writing this thread at 30 is a victory or at least a good test of endurance, I don't know if I have other disorders but I don't think so.

Here is my current therapy:

40mg paroxetine
30mg mirtazapine
37mg lurasidone
15 drops of diazepam as needed

As a therapy, however, it seems weak on the motivational aspect which is regulated more by dopamine while these drugs have little dopaminergic activity and in fact lurasidone is a partial antagonist of some dopaminergic receptors and therefore I decided on my own initiative to add bupropion which is an NDRI to the therapy, tomorrow I will discuss it with the psychiatrist and see his opinion.

Also as for benzodiazepines I go well beyond 15 drops and use more than one and to calm myself I also help myself with alcohol and nicotine.

With bupropion I usually take 150mg but on days when I'm sleepy I can even take 300mg, I also help myself stimulate myself with caffeine obviously, but I was considering that to stay awake modafinil is more suitable than bupropion, maybe I'll suggest it to the psychiatrist or buy it online, maybe taking both won't hurt since I need both to stay awake on days when I'm sleepy and the activation that bupropion gives.

Having used SSRIs for a long time makes me quite familiar with the effect that excess serotonin has on me, it tends to lift my mood even if it doesn't encourage motivation, in fact some hypothesize that SSRIs can cause amotivational syndrome, the downside however is a greater predisposition to anxiety.

I can also say that a general increase in dopamine in neurotransmission has effects on me, it increases motivation but also paranoia and could also increase OCD, in fact lurasidone fights OCD by antagonizing some dopamine receptors while it is a partial agonist on some serotoninergic receptors, in theory it should have both an anti-obsessive and anti-depressant effect. At 18.5mg the effect seems to be antidepressant even if lately I have gone up to 37mg where it seems that the sedation is starting to take over.

As for norepinephrine I'm a little less sure of the effects it has on me although I hypothesize greater activation and anxiety, I think I mirror the effects it has on the majority of the population.

If you want to add any comments, please do so.

 

[Placo]

I finally went to the appointment, I like this psychiatrist, he is open to my studying drugs and experimentation, others I have dealt with were more skeptical.

He suggested clomipramine, a tricyclic that apparently should affect all three of the main neurotransmitters involved in depression and is also anti-obsessive. At that point I would only have to resolve the anxiety part and I would go on benzodiazepines as I am doing now.

Before at lunch it happened to me that while I was preparing milk the television was on at high volume and at the same time my father was talking to my mother and this caused me a feeling of annoyance, as if I was distracting myself from what I was doing, I think it is a symptom of OCD because I read that in OCD many areas of the brain do not work correctly but the one concerning the processing of sounds remains normal and therefore this predisposes me to be easily distracted I imagine, so OCD also affects the cognitive part apparently.

The most anti-obsessive antipsychotic apparently is risperidone but it gave me depression as a side effect so it solves one problem but exacerbates another, I remember that I took it at the beginning of the year in a period of my life in which I felt easily irritable, I don't know whether to start taking it again in microdoses or increase the dosage of lurasidone.

Much of the anti-obsessive function of lurasidone seems to be in the antagonism of D2 receptors, I need to investigate what role they have.