[Anjae]

It must, somehow, start has a transition, but we pretty much end up being faced with the full crisis.

Some of us here have MLCer who are having, or had, milder crisis. Or, at least, their replay were milder and shorter.

I think out of balance hormones, and stress is cause by the hormone cortisol, are the basis of MLC. Stress, as well as a lowering in testosterone for men, causes all sorts of issues. And lower testosterone even replicates depression.

So, maybe the whole issue is hormonal/chemical but since the MLCers have no idea what is going on with them, and those who have are often treated for depression rather than for hormones, the crisis just keep getting worst and worst until the MLCer is too tired to carry on.

[osb]

Oddly enough, my H read a version of this article in the Economist last month:
http://www.economist.com/node/17722567

Apparently it made a lot of things come suddenly clear in his mind - yay! - so he had cut it out of the magazine for me to read too. But lost all but the first two pages. And found those two pages last week, lurking in his scrap paper heap. Handed them to me with the jaunty air of a man who has it all figured out now. Oh, the soggy MLC brain....

[living with Hope]

My spouse has been treated for low T along with his depression. It didn't seem to make a difference. 
He stopped taking his meds last spring. He went back on them with a new one added in to the mix and within the next month he decided that I was evil again.

I wish the medical community would really take this seriously.

[Anjae]

That is interesting, Living With Hope. One would think it would make a difference. Because low testosterone does indeed cause similar effects to depression and/or MLC. Being grumpy, angry, wanting to cry, feeling life is over, etc.

Do you think if your husband only took the meds for his testosterone and not the ones for depression it would made a difference? Antidepressants often have the opposite effect of what they're supposed to.

And with MLCers who have replay, meds for bipolar seem to have a better effect.

Also wish the medical community took MLC seriously. It impacts so many lives and causes so much damage and devastation.

OSB, interesting article. 

[living with Hope]

Anjae,

I have discussed this at length with our Family Doctor. I fell his meds have something to do with this all.  He was put on a new med when he had his mini bomb drop.  He had trouble with those meds and it was a year of trying to find one that worked.  He was changed to the one he is on now in the summer just before BD.  I noticed a huge difference in him. I thought he was heading towards another depression.  I tried talking to him about that. I was scared as the last one was so dark and so deep.  He gave me hope that this wasn't the case as he talked about our plans for the future and assured me that he was working hard with his counsellor.  By fall, he hated me.  I thought there was a correlation between the meds and the Testosterone.  The Dr said he his hormones were out of whack because of his depression and that the meds did not alter one's thought process that he was on. 

He has been on those meds almost the entire duration.  He stopped this past January and by spring, even the kids could tell. He even stopped the testosterone. He was all over the place with his moods.  Well he finaly went back to her and she prescribed a stronger doseage of the same meds, added one in and he resumed his T gel. Well the next month, I was evil again. So I often think about how his different meds have affected him over the years and how on this one, I am seem to be all that is wrong in his world.

I was away when he went to the Dr to receive his test results of his blood work and stuff.  He texted me and was shocked by how low his T count was.  He told me that he was scared to try the gel or the shots so was going to start with the pills.He was worried he would become like the Hulk on them and scare me and the kids.    He had gone to the Dr because he was concerned about his level of stamina in our intimate moments.  The funny thing is he never has blamed me for that . That is one thing that has never been thrown my way.  (yet...) So in August, we have him worried about us and our intimate moments to beginning of October where he blamed me for everything that was wrong in his world.

[Anjae]

Thank you for your reply, Living With Hope. The meds really are messing your husband. But without them he also does not seem to be well.

I think it is more the other way round, what looks like depression is caused by the low testosterone, not the depression that causes the low testosterone/wacky hormones.

So maybe all it would be necessary would be the testosterone gel. But since the doctor also gave your husband meds for depression, now everything is much more messed up because the antidepressants cause all sorts of side effects.

I've posted on TT’s thread on the other side of the forum that I had been reading an article on low testosterone on a Portuguese magazine (they do not have online links to the print version, at least not to the current one). Among many other thing the article said that often doctors tend to go for antidepressants in cases of low testosterone and that it does not work.

Of course I have no idea how all this plays in the wider issue that is MLC, but from what the little I know of neuroscience and hormones, it does make more sense that it is the low testosterone that causes what looks like depression.

The other thing I know is that even if it is just depression that is at play, it is hard to find the right antidepressant for each person. What has good results with some people has terrible ones with others. Prozac being one. My cousin reacted pretty badly to it and Mr J, when he was depressed many years ago, went crazy with it. Prozac turned Mr J aggressive and a jumpy bunny rabbit. When he was depressed a second time, also years before MLC, he refused to take Prozac and I supported him on his decision.

And I told my friend who is a psychiatrist to not even think of give Prozac to my cousin. My friend didn't. He gave him Lamotrigine and Alprazolam. And it worked. But, to my knowledge, my cousin testosterone was not low. Or if it was he never was tested for it. But before a doctor got some meds that helped my cousin, cousin had been through meds for all sorts of mental illness and, of course, the meds messed him up big time. I wrote a little about on Thundarr’s thread and posted an update on cousin on my thread.   

Really wish some one would gives us reseach money for us to be able to know more about MLC, what changes it causes in the MLCer brain, hormones, etc. Maybe one day this condition will be taken seriously enough to be researched.

[living with Hope]

Anjae,
 In 2010, my husband had his deepest and darkest depression.  It lasted months.  It ended with a mini bomb drop that scared the two of us beyond belief.  He went for help the very next day.  She prescribed new meds that they tinkered with for months.  They never seemed to find the right fit.

 When he went for her for help again with his issues, that is when she decided to do a full work up of him.  She explained it to me that depression causes the hormones to go all out of whack.  And maybe like you said it is the hormones that causes the depression.  All I know was that he was in the grips of a bad one and then he sought help and he was doing great until the new med and the testosterone were prescribed.  I blamed the drugs for a long time. 

But I realize that he was a perfect storm waiting to hit.  I think the drugs are not allowing him to feel his real thoughts. He describes them as evening him out.  And after witnessing his highs and lows on that trip, I do agree that they do to some level.  Until he is able to be honest and talk with his counsellors and Doctor about it all, there will be no help for him that is proper.

[Anjae]

Until he is able to be honest and talk with his counsellors and Doctor about it all, there will be no help for him that is proper.

You are right. We don't know exactly what the meds are doing, or not doing, but until your husband talks properly to his counsellors and doctor no one can help him properly.

[Pixiegirl]

Very interested in the low T and depression meds subject. H has a long history of this. He is currently on the gel. However, his levels are dropping. Something is going on there but we have in play the drinking and weed smoking AND he stopped taking his meds for depression/anxiety/mood stabilizer. He's on these meds for PTSD. It's funny because all of this craziness took on a new meaning at the same time he was prescribed the meds and the T shots.

I need to revisit all this again.