Posted by sl on May 15, 2001, at 17:58:44
In reply to Re: NON-SSRI Antidepressants?, posted by JohnL on May 15, 2001, at 5:28:02
years. I'm on Effexor now, it's barely keeping my head above water, and I don't know where to turn next.
> >
> > sl
>
> SL,
> My favorite approach in situations like yours is to choose your favorite SSRI, whichever one you tolerate the best, regardless of how well or how poor it works, and add Zyprexa, Risperdal, or Amisulpride to it. Another good turbocharger for SSRIs is Adrafinil. I think good results are available with combinations of any of these. I do not like the idea of continuing with antidepressants alone when several of them have already been disappointing. Unfortunately,But...I don't understand. Why would I continue ineffective stuff and combine it...? Instead of just looking for something that'd be effective alone? It seems to me that if eating one rock doesn't help, eating three rocks isn't going to help either, y'know? ;)
The ones that were disappointing were all SSRIs by the way. The other stuff...it seems the LESS it has to do with Seratonin, the better it is. Wellbutrin has nothing to do with Seratonin, and it worked great. Effexor has some to do with Seratonin and some to do with other chemicals, and it works OKAY. See what I mean? So it seems to me that if I can figure out what KIND of ADs should be working, I should try them.>mainstream practitioners tend to stay within the antidepressant category way to long, in my
opinion. Sure, one of them could turn out to beThe other thing is that I'm not using a psychiatrist. I can't afford it. I'm using my regular internist. She's wonderful about me never having money. And like I've mentioned in other threads, I think she's wonderful. If nothing else, all her info is current cuz she or her nurse look most of it up when I ask. :)
>magical, but I think the magic is more quickly
My reaction to Wellbutrin was nearly magical. I really got spoiled with that.
>reached when other drugs are used, such as the antipsychotics and stimulants. And in my book, the quicker good results are achieved, the better.
Oh, absolutely.
If I can't find one that's successful, I'm going to try either Remeron, or go back to a lower dose of Effexor and add Ritalin. But I'd REALLY rather keep the number of possible drug interactions to a minimum, y'know??> If you do want to keep trying more antidepressants, Desipramine or Nortriptyline
Ta-DAH! That's what my Dr thought too. ;)
I'll be starting Nortriptyline sometime this wkend. I'll keep Desipramine in mind for if this fails. ;)>could be good choices, since they have mechanisms on other circuits besides just serotonin. Try both, because one may work where the other doesn't. But again, I think good results are more likely when one looks in the antipsychotic category and/or the stimulant category instead. I know it sounds strange, but APS and stims can be a lot better at treating depression than the antidepressants. Disclaimer though...these are just my opinions, my observations, and my experience.
Which was EXACTLY what I was looking for!
thanks so much!
I wish I had a printer so I could print this out. :/sl
poster:sl
thread:62964
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20010515/msgs/63142.html