Sobrexa/Kudzu/Nuvigil/depression

[dogs are the best]

Hi Gary here, been here maybe 2 yrs ago riding the Baclofen crest. It didnt work for me due to severe side effects. So since that time I have gone through some major life upheavals and major depression....minor depression I've always had. Increased my drinking, anger, moodiness etc. you know the profile. Always kept researching. Came upon Sobrexa.....a very, very expensive programs that uses the basic ingredients of kudzu and some kinds of exercises. I wasnt going to pay $800. a month, so further research led me to Fulll Spectrlum Kudzu sub titled: Anti-Alcoholic Support. In the meantime I was in bed 19-12 hrs a day doing nothing, completely and utterly fatigued. More research led me to a drug called Nuvigil which is prescribed for narcolepsy, swing shift disorder, and chronic fatigue. Got samples from my Dr. Two hours later after taking the pill I was up, bright eyed, talking to people, and volunteering at the local dog shelter. My chronic negativity, cynicism disappeared. My wife was happy. I had been drinking 5-6 big glasses of wine in the afternoon now after 5 weeks I am down to 2 glasses sometimes one and a half. I had taken the regular kudzu capsules before with no effect. The Full Spectrum is supposed to kick in at 3 weeks, curbing the compulsion to get just one more. I've found that to be true.

Whereas several anti-depressants did nothing for my depression the Nuvigil simply worked.
It is used off label sometimes for depression. Depression had always been driving my drinking. Thing is Nuigil is very very expensive. There is a whole Big Pharma story behind that.....you can look it up. It is not an amphetamine and not addictive. I have an order in to Canada. Anyways, every person is different esp. with meds and chemicals. I've been at this for 66 years and hope this time I've pick the lock. best of luck, Gary

[spacebebe01]

Sobrexa/Kudzu/Nuvigil/depression

Hi Gary, Its glad to hear you are finding things that are working for you.

[Greg]

Sobrexa/Kudzu/Nuvigil/depression

Hi Gary,

Welcome to the forum, it's good to hear you are doing well.

I have only tried kudzu once, and at that stage it didn't help me, but I have heard it may not always be of good quality. Sounds like the kudzu you have is working, and others say it has helped them.

I'd be very interested in something like Nuvigil for my own depression, which has only ever responded (partly) to one antidepressant out of numerous ones tried. I have tried all the SSRIs, SNRIs, and tricyclics. I have heard of the drug modafinil (Provigil), and it sounds like Nuvigil is a slight modification (just one isomer of modafinil, called armodafinil). I'd be interested in trying either one, if my current antidepressant does not help. Of course, like some other drugs that work well, it would be off-label for depression here in Australia. The authorities and drug companies like sticking with the same old group of drugs rather than getting any radically different ones approved.

Best wishes, and keep us informed as to how you are going.

[dogs are the best]

Sobrexa/Kudzu/Nuvigil/depression

Provigil/Nuvigil-depression

Greg,

I understand your problem with the current anti-depressants. Apparently Ketamine which is a highly controlled substance here has had some amazing results and is in clinical trials.
Nuvigil/Provigil are 'alertness' drugs but not amphetamines. I have no idea why it worked for me. I have always been moody, negative, and cynical, not liking myself, and coped by using alcohol. Last night I had one and a half glasses of wine and didnt want to finish the second one. This is what I expected Baclofen to do but the side effects just werent wroth it. Nuvigil is use off label for depression and the company is really pushing for recognition in this area.
It might be worth asking your Dr. for a sample but you probably wouldnt want to mention depression but something like chronic fatigue that is really interfering with your daily life. Sometime you have to be creative for your own good. best of luck, Gary

[StuckinLA]

Sobrexa/Kudzu/Nuvigil/depression

Yeah, Ketamine is a highly controlled substance because it's a date-rape drug, and causes blackouts (hence the date-raping), and depersonalization disorder.

I'd be slightly suspicious of a drug company "pushing" for one of its drugs to be used off-label. I mean, isn't that what the class action lawsuit, which the Feds just joined, against Abbot is all about?

Just my thoughts.

[Ne/Neva Eva]

Sobrexa/Kudzu/Nuvigil/depression

I've taken modafinil (Provigil) for excessive daytime zonk-edness. (This is unrelated to bac, I believe.) It didn't do anything for me. If I take a bunch of it, I spend the day very active, but it's not getting to my underlying problem. (I'm not sure what that is...) It's very interesting and I'm very glad it worked so well for you, Dogsrbetter!

It is so exorbitantly expensive in the U.S. that my insurance company balked paying for it unless I had a diagnosis related to narcolepsy. Which is not a diagnosis I want on my permanent record. (You think we've got it bad with AL!!!) grrr.
Anyway, it turns out that it's generic EVERYWHERE in the known universe except in the United States. I got it from River.

StuckinLA, there have been a couple of crackdowns about off label prescribing, particularly it seems with the more nebulous mental health diagnoses (depression, etc...) *** The makers of gabapentin (neurontin) got nailed to the tune of many millions but I think, based on what I've read here and elsewhere, that gabapentin may be a really remarkable medication--like baclofen, even.
***EDIT: It's not the prescribing. It's the fact that the pharma companies are PUSHING it. Arseholes that they are. I'm glad they got busted about it. Too bad that it might be patients that suffer for it, though. I DO know of a couple of docs in my area that prescribe it off label. Unlike baclofen...

I hope the point is that they have to do some actual testing to prove it, rather than to just give up...But whatever. I have no idea at this point what goes on where related to that stuff.

[StuckinLA]

Sobrexa/Kudzu/Nuvigil/depression

Hey NE, I totally agree: off-label prescribing isn't a problem in itself, but I distrust/dislike the pharmaceutical industry. Not sure why I felt the need to clarify that, other than I kind of look up to you on this forum and feel bad if I ruffled any feathers.

[Greg]

Sobrexa/Kudzu/Nuvigil/depression

I think gabapentin's manufacturer ended up in a law suit over falsely suggesting it could be used for non-approved indications. On the other hand, many medications can be used successfully for problems they haven't been officially approved for. Doctors do get hesitant about prescribing off-label, however.

Asking for Provigil or Nuvilgil wouldn't be a lie either, as I am tired due to not sleeping at times. Just an energy increase alone would be enough to make these worth trying. I just hope they feel a bit less harsh than Sudafed/pseudoephedrine, which I once used as a stimulant. I don't take that at all anymore!

[Ne/Neva Eva]

Sobrexa/Kudzu/Nuvigil/depression

Oh, geez. Sorry, LA. No ruffled feathers here. I'm pretty sure we are on the same page. (Obviously prescribing meds off label is one of my favorite things--given the fact that it gave me life!!! :H But big pharma sucks. They suck worse than just about everybody and everything. And I'm no conspiracist. I hate 'em 'cause they suck at doing the right things for the right reasons. Wankers.)

I am at the moment simply humorless and out of sorts. We're in limbo in terms of where we live, waiting for the right house at the right price in the right place to pop up on the market so we can move into it...And living in temporary (though posh) quarters. I'm practicing patience and being in the moment. This is NOT something I am at all comfortable with. It sucks, too. So sorry if I seemed a bit acerbic. I didn't mean to, at all.
Thanks for the shout out. I like you, too. :l

Back to you, fine peeps, and the discussions about what is working to get rid of this dreadful thing we gotta get rid of!!!

[Ne/Neva Eva]

Sobrexa/Kudzu/Nuvigil/depression

Greg;1333522 wrote:
Asking for Provigil or Nuvilgil wouldn't be a lie either, as I am tired due to not sleeping at times. Just an energy increase alone would be enough to make these worth trying. I just hope they feel a bit less harsh than Sudafed/pseudoephedrine, which I once used as a stimulant. I don't take that at all anymore!

Nothing at all like that, in my experience, Greg. I used something like that briefly, too. I think it was straight up ephedrine, though. Can't remember the name of the OTC medicine. It's not available in Europe and Australia, I don't think.
It was NOT good. Very speedy, very (imo) drug-like. And made me crash into a crumpled mess at the end of the day.
Modafinil wasn't a high. It wasn't speedy. It didn't act at all like a stimulant. Not even like coffee. It wasn't bad. I still take it occasionally, but I'd like to figure out WHY I crash a couple of times a day, not just treat it. It doesn't happen if I am super-strict about my diet...But that is more than I can do at the moment. (I think. I'm not really sure....)

[Greg]

Sobrexa/Kudzu/Nuvigil/depression

Ne/Neva Eva;1333525 wrote: Nothing at all like that, in my experience, Greg. I used something like that briefly, too. I think it was straight up ephedrine, though. Can't remember the name of the OTC medicine. It's not available in Europe and Australia, I don't think.
It was NOT good. Very speedy, very (imo) drug-like. And made me crash into a crumpled mess at the end of the day.
Modafinil wasn't a high. It wasn't speedy. It didn't act at all like a stimulant. Not even like coffee. It wasn't bad. I still take it occasionally, but I'd like to figure out WHY I crash a couple of times a day, not just treat it. It doesn't happen if I am super-strict about my diet...But that is more than I can do at the moment. (I think. I'm not really sure....)

Thanks Ne for the advice. Pseudoephedrine once helped get me alert without side effects, but I seem to have become more sensitive to its nervy and also sickly feelings...yes it feels way too 'speedy' these days, and I'd say ephedrine would be roughly similar (although haven't tried it...not available in Aus as you say). Even a therapeutic dose of Sudafed for sinus congestion now feels uncomfortable. It also makes sleep nearly impossible even if I take it around 1-2 PM!

You mention diet, and I am no expert, but I know that things like up and down blood sugar and caffeine levels can make a person 'crash', so can dehydration. I have also found that on-and-off use of medications can do this, via a similar rise-and-fall of levels. I guess you would have to sit down and write out what you eat and at what times, and also the same with medications, and maybe something would become obvious as a culprit.