Posted by TSA West on January 21, 2002, at 13:02:11
In reply to Re: switching ADs » Chloe, posted by Shelley on January 21, 2002, at 12:54:14
There is some evidence that suggests that clomipramine alone is not as effective as both clomipramine and a noradrenergic tricyclic (nortriptyline) for OCD:
Journal of Clinical Pharmacy & Therapeutics, April 1998:
"OBJECTIVE: There is growing interest in investigating noradrenergic functions in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) because some antidepressants with strong effects on serotonin reuptake blockade fail to relieve obsessive-compulsive symptoms. We undertook a trial to investigate whether the combination of clomipramine with nortriptyline was more effective than clomipramine alone. METHOD: Thirty patients who met the DSM-IV criteria for OCD completed the study. Patients were allocated in a random fashion, 15 each to clomipramine 150 mg/ day plus nortriptyline 50 mg/day and clomipramine 150 mg/day plus placebo. RESULTS: Although both protocols significantly decreased the scores of the Yale-Brown obsessive-compulsive scale over the trial period, the combination of clomipramine and nortriptyline showed a significant superiority over clomipramine alone in the treatment of OCD. CONCLUSION: As this study indicates, a rapid onset of action is one of the advantages of this combination. This study supports further investigation of the noradrenergic-serotonergic hypothesis in OCD."
poster:TSA West
thread:90871
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020116/msgs/90987.html