I just returned from a mental hospital yesterday (a short term one; I stayed for a week).. Due to a very bad hallucination. An ongoing one. At first I was just curious, but then it got progressively worse and I just got more and more hysterical. (I was positive it was real, and I was positive I was going to be abducted, or that they wanted my mind for something; voices speaking in a bizarre language, etc. etc.. )
Now, before then, I've always been viewed as very eccentric, and it was never unusual for me to see little sparks of light, odd colors or other things floating in the air, but never something like that. But anway-- after a long series of panic attacks, and then a complete, hysterical meltdown I ended up at a mental hospital that a friend of mine reccommended for a week.

And so now, in addition to 300mg of Wellbutrin (generic?) and 60mg Cymbalta, I'm taking 200mg of Seroquel as well. I haven't gotten an official diagnosis yet, but my psychiatrist believes I probably have major, possibly manic depression with psychosis, hence the title.

I'm only 17, by the way. Has anyone else had hallucinations in addition to depression? Any medication combinations you've found effective? Seroquel does let me sleep at night, but I haven't noticed anything else yet. I'm less anxious, yes, but that's it. And the wellbutrin still isn't having much of an effect; I've been on it for about 2 months now, maybe. And I haven't been to school in about 3 weeks, since I'm either too exhausted/depressed/suiciadal or I'm too much of a nervous wreck.

Any comments are welcome.

Hi there --

I too suffer from depression with psychosis; but don't suffer from visual hallucinations -- I suffer from auditory hallucinations (I hear voices). (I'm 24, by the way.) I've tried various anti-psychotics (olanzapine, seroquel, abilify), all to no effect; I've also been on various anti-depressants (citalopram, cipralex, remeron), all to no effect. Recently I've started feeling paranoid, too. I haven't been admitted to hospital -- yet! There's one other person who posts on this board (that I know of) who has psychotic depression.

Best,

Dave_81

I have been diagnoised with Major Depressive Disorder with psycotic features. The only real advice I can give you is to wait for the meds to kick in. I currently take three antidepressants plus lithium and zyprexa to help with the psycotic end. It took me two months in the hospital to come up with this med combo but it does work for the psycotic features now I just need to work on the depression end.

take care
trg247

I'm curious. For those that hear voices, are the voices always or nearly always understandable?

silentcrow: I can't speak for everyone, but I think the voices are usually coherent. For most, anyway? The only time mine weren't comprehendable was the aformentioned incident, and another time when it sounded like there were two voices talking to eachother with static in the background, like a radio talk show or something.

I usually hear single words, like my name being called out; sometimes I hear derogatory expressions, like "you b*****d!"; and sometimes I here an inarticulate mumbling/whispering sound.

I hear mostly just sounds that are not there...now. Before it was mostly single words that would pop out at the oddest times.

take care
trg247

Oh dear.....I've had things like that going on for years! I thought it was nothing. Should I mention it to my doctor? At night, mostly, I hear sounds like people talking in another room. I've heard my name spoken, when no one was there. I've heard noises like banging or doors opening or closing, etc. As I said, it'd mostly noticed at night, but sometimes during the day.

And last night was really strange. I kept hearing sounds like people talking and (this will be kinda hard to explain) whenever my eyes were closed, I kept "seeing" strange images. It scared me. I wanted to call someone to talk to, but didn't have anyone to call. Has anyone else had any experiences like this? :confused:

I would mention it to your doctor but I would not be overly concerned unless the voices are telling you to do something harmful to yourself or others

take care
trg247

I just returned from a mental hospital yesterday (a short term one; I stayed for a week).. Due to a very bad hallucination. An ongoing one. At first I was just curious, but then it got progressively worse and I just got more and more hysterical. (I was positive it was real, and I was positive I was going to be abducted, or that they wanted my mind for something; voices speaking in a bizarre language, etc. etc.. )
Now, before then, I've always been viewed as very eccentric, and it was never unusual for me to see little sparks of light, odd colors or other things floating in the air, but never something like that. But anway-- after a long series of panic attacks, and then a complete, hysterical meltdown I ended up at a mental hospital that a friend of mine reccommended for a week.

And so now, in addition to 300mg of Wellbutrin (generic?) and 60mg Cymbalta, I'm taking 200mg of Seroquel as well. I haven't gotten an official diagnosis yet, but my psychiatrist believes I probably have major, possibly manic depression with psychosis, hence the title.

I'm only 17, by the way. Has anyone else had hallucinations in addition to depression? Any medication combinations you've found effective? Seroquel does let me sleep at night, but I haven't noticed anything else yet. I'm less anxious, yes, but that's it. And the wellbutrin still isn't having much of an effect; I've been on it for about 2 months now, maybe. And I haven't been to school in about 3 weeks, since I'm either too exhausted/depressed/suiciadal or I'm too much of a nervous wreck.

Any comments are welcome.

Were you taking Wellbutrin and Cymbalta before? That's alot of stimulating meds there. In some people AD's can actually cause mania or psychosis because they are just too stimulating. SSRi's effect REM sleep in such ways as causing "waking dreams" or better said, hallucination. Could be the meds caused the whole thing.

Seoquel is used to counteract the over-stimulating effects of SSRi's but sometimes has it's own problems down the road.