Posted by SalArmy4me on September 6, 2001, at 0:11:21
In reply to Re: SSRIs and dopamine » SalArmy4me, posted by Mitch on September 6, 2001, at 0:03:00
I would say no, don't take SSRI's. There are so many other good choices. For instance, bromocriptine:
I started taking Bromocriptine (an old Parkinson's Drug) two weeks ago to add "drive" to my 50% improvement with non- Parkinsons' unipolar depression on Moclobemide. I am now able to accomplish much more with the Bromocriptine than I was ever able to on the Moclobemide alone. Indeed, it brings me to 110%, better than I felt before the depression. I found that there are a surprising amount of data which confirm Bromocriptine's potential for treatment of depression. Here are excerpts from just a few of the studies, which I can e-mail you: Study #1 below compared bromocriptine to the tricylcic antidepressant imipramine; Study #2 uses it to treat cognitive dysfunction and mood in Parkinson's; Study #3 mentions it in the context of Treatment-Resistant Depressions.
Bromocriptine in depression.
Current Medical Research & Opinion. 8(3):150-3, 1982:"A double-blind trial was carried out in 9 patients with endogenous depression to compare the effectiveness of bromocriptine (15 mg per day, 4 patients) with that of imipramine (75 mg per day, 5 patients) over a period of 10 weeks. The results of assessments using the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression showed that both drugs produced comparable reduction in mean scores and there was no significant difference between the two treatment groups. Fewer patients han anticholinergic type side-effects on bromocriptine..."
A double-blind cross-over placebo-controlled trial of the effects of bromocriptine on psychomotor function, cognition, and mood in de novo patients with Parkinson's disease.
Behavioural Pharmacology. 6(1):81-91, 1995 January.
Department of Surgical Neurology and Clinical Neuropsychology, Morriston Hospital Swansea:"A review of the literature suggested that decreased emotional distress may have arisen through bromocriptine's action on neural circuits modulating mood. Some clinical implications of bromocriptine's effect on mood are mentioned...."
Department of Psychiatry, Hokkaido University School of Medicine. [Survey and treatment strategy of antidepressant-resistant depression].
Seishin Shinkeigaku Zasshi - Psychiatria et Neurologia Japonica. 98(5):329-42, 1996:"The addition of lithium, _bromocriptine_ or levothyroxine treatment were effective in the treatment of ARD (antidepressant-resistant depression). Levothyroxine were more effective in the treatment of the bipolar patients than the unipolar patients...."
poster:SalArmy4me
thread:77857
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20010902/msgs/77928.html