Does anyone treat cfs with psychiatric medications?

[cfsJapan]

To avoid any misunderstanding, I would like to start by saying that I am not claiming that "CFS is a mental illness."

Rather, my theory is that when stimulating substances in the brain with psychiatric drugs, physical changes also occur indirectly through the brain.

I am Japanese, and almost all of the people I have seen who have put CFS into remission have used psychiatric drugs (especially clonazepam and pregabalin).

Of course, I think there are various subgroups of CFS, so there are some people for whom it is ineffective, but I was surprised that there are so few discussions about psychiatric drugs that are useful for CFS.

Please tell me your thoughts on psychiatric drugs and if there are any psychiatric drugs that are effective for CFS (I have already tried LDA and methylphenidate、but they were not effective for me).

Tricyclic antidepressants work dramatically for me, but I cannot use them continuously because they have a large effect on my QT and heart (it's really unfortunate).

Also, other than psychiatric drugs, if there are any "drugs that are actually useful but not talked about much," I would like to hear about them.

I see potential in Clonazepam, Pregabalin, and tricyclic antidepressants.

 

[LaurelW]

I use quetiapine about twice a week to help me sleep. I have the smallest-dosage pills, 25 mg., and I cut them in half. Otherwise, I'm too dopey the next day.

 

[GhostGum]

One of the more common ones I have heard about lately in my Australian FB group is the use of abilify, which as I understand is a bit the opposite of other more sedative anti-psychotics and used in the morning because it can be quite stimulating.

As mentioned above some people use quetiapine for sleep and I think the way Laurel describes using above is ideal because using something like quetiapine more regularly and building a tolerance to it has some very undesirable draw backs, as does any more heavy anti-psychotic use. I had to use this myself a couple of years ago out of desperation in a really bad period but also only needed to break 25mg pills in half.

It generally appears people with ME/CFS only tend to need to 'micro dose' these types of drugs for effect. Any more serious use or dependence on anti-psychotics and even anti-depressants comes with its problems, maybe anti-depressants less so. If you found an anti-depressant that worked and helped you get your life back the benefit is no doubt worth the risk.

Regular use of any benzodiazepine isn't a path worth risking neither IMO, the drawbacks of these drugs far outweigh any benefit and can be quite serious and take years to remedy. You should be able to find discussions on this class of drugs in the archives of this forum though too, I have read over them years ago myself I think. Occasional use if fine, I even take 2.5mg diazepam once a week/fortnight to try to achieve a better sleep or take a break.

 

[ilivewithcfs]

Fluvoxamine and clozapine helped me a lot. I've been taking them for years and they still work. They are not a cure, but they are helpful. No side effects, except for some drooling at night.