Meds

*Edited*

It does appear very common for people with DID to enter therapy with PTSD, that's for sure. ISST-D has published guidelines for evidence-based treatment of DID. The most recent guideline for treating adults with DID was published a few months ago. The previous (2005) guideline for treating adults, and the current (2003) guideline for treating children and teens are free downloads from ISST-D: http://www.isst-d.org/education/treatme ... -index.htm

Many people with DID have additional problems that, in isolation, may be treated with medications. DID does tend to complicate the treatment, though, so some specialists recommend trying other treatments before going to medication.

Before our psychiatrist know that we are multiple, he prescribed anti-depression, propranolol and diazepam to us. After that, he prescribed Seroquel. However, we switches even more frequently.

We tried taking Olanzapine which caused a great deal of anxiety and confusion. There was rapid switching and panic. Then we tried Seroquel but only use it for sleeping. For sleeping it works very well, but the following day there seems to be a "coming down" effect as the level drops within the body. When that happens, frequent switching takes place. Every now and then we'll take lorazapam, which makes us feel "intoxicated" and relaxes. (Interesting to note, it does not seem to affect our protector Eric at all.) But it does not stop switching from taking place. We also tried a very small dose of clonazapam, but that ended very quickly when thoughts of self harm flooded our mind. We've discovered that Jason (Host) is very sensitive to medications of any type and smaller than usual doses needed to be used. Our T. has taken the approach to leave it up to us on when to take anything. For the most part, nothing has been very successful.

Anti-psychotics by the way have been shown for the most part to be unproductive. In fact, they may actually make the situation worse. (Jay)

We are on an anti-depressant, Cymbalta 90mg. It has been very effective at reducing our depression to a manageable level. Our therapist doesn't believe in giving multiples lots of meds because they effect everyone in the system very differently. When we initially started taking the Cymbalta he would keep checking with all the different parts how the medication was effecting them. Sometimes he would tell us what some parts said and we would be surprised. I think it's really important to check how the medication is effecting everyone in the system.

*Edited*

Hi!
If you're interested in medication, you might be interested to learn I've been on over ten different medications,
all sorts of different types (antipsychotics, etc).
I've found that there's a pattern to all of it-
It begins to work, it stops working.
For a while I had taken a very low dose of Celexa (Anti-depressant) which didn't stop the switching but
did allow me to function a bit better.
Also good was Diazepam (Anti-anxiety) because it helped us all to calm down and sometimes sleep.

Everyone is different but these are the ones I found that helped the most.
But really, they're a bandaid used to help keep you going during therapy, until you don't need them anymore.

(Please note that in my system at least, not all medications work the same for each of my alters, so that's
also tricky. One of my alters stays wide awake while certain meds put the rest to sleep)

I found a lot of meds numb out all your feelings or give a lot of really bad, sickly feeling side effects.

carpediem46 wrote:
What is Seroquel?

Going by the "amazing" wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seroquel) is an atypical antipsychotic approved for the treatment of schizophrenia, acute episodes of bipolar disorder (manic, mixed or depressive), and as an augmentor for the maintenance treatment of depression and bipolar disorder. It has a very sedating affect, and therefore we use it for sleeping only.

carpediem46 wrote:Also Jay, would you mind telling me what sort of meds clonazapam, lorazapam and Olanzapine are? Which have you found most effective?

Again, using wikipedia ....

Clonazapam - (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clonazepam) is a benzodiazepine derivative having anticonvulsant, muscle relaxant, and very potent anxiolytic properties. (Goes by the name Klonopin in the United States) It has a very long lasting effect of 6-8 hours and can be used for anxiety disorders, panic disorders and Epilepsy, to name a few. We found it way too depressing with just one dose and actually contemplated self harm.

lorazapam - (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lorazepam) is used for the short-term treatment of anxiety, insomnia, acute seizures including status epilepticus and sedation of hospitalised patients, as well as sedation of aggressive patients. We'll use this every now and then when things get "out of control" and everyone is rapidly switching. It does not stop the switching from taking place, but calms us all down (Except Eric) and makes us feel "drunk."

Olanzapine - (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olanzapine) is an atypical antipsychotic, approved by the FDA for the treatment of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. We no longer take this medication as it caused havoc. There was complete panic as it caused us to rapidly switch and be "completely out of control." It frightened the younger ones as they could no longer hear anyone, and same for the adults. It would literally cause use to remain locked or motionless for minutes at a time.

It should be noted, that it's only in the last 6 months that we have actually become aware that we are DID. Our T. has made a referral to Mount Sinai Trauma Unit for treatment recommendations and RX. He is unfamiliar in dealing with complex treatment of trauma patients. For years, there was miss RX of clinical depression, bipolar type II and social anxiety. However, in the past few months awareness has happened and he agrees that DID is the actual cause with co-morbid issues. Therefore, he is trying to stabilize us the best he can and wait until our referral has gone thru. (Jay)

Pills are a complete joke! They just mess everything up inside here and that's why I hate them so much. (Eric)

Jayson, that is awesome good news.

*Edited*