Posted by fairnymph on August 1, 2002, at 12:25:56
In reply to Tianeptine: Effective Tolerable Antidepressant, posted by Shawn. T. on August 1, 2002, at 4:38:09
Regardless of the wealth of literature that suggests otherwise, I have personally found tianeptine to be the most worthless antidepressant I have ever taken. I suffer from depression and OCD.
AD's I have tried and my responses:
Prozac/fluoxetine: worked fantastically but the sexual side effects were bad. Started working after 4 weeks.
Remeron/mirtazapine: made me irritable, fat, and extremely sedated/lethargic...at all doses (I tried from 15-60 mg over 8 weeks). Did nothing for my OCD, and triggered my first-ever major depressive episode.
Effexor/venlafaxine: worked quite well and I really liked it, but after a week at the max dose it stopped working (i.e. pooped out).
Reboxetine: Tried it for 3 weeks (started working after 2 wks), worked really well for my depression, very motivating, didn't do anything for my OCD. No side effects.
Wellbutrin: I am almost at 3 weeks on 300 mg. I believe I might have just started to feel better (depression wise), though I can't say for sure yet. It made my anxiety bad for the first 1.5 weeks but it is more manageable now.
Tianeptine: did NOTHING! From the first night I took it until I stopped taking it 7 weeks later, I felt nothing. No side effects, no CNS activity. I took a wide range of doses (up to 150 mg a day!). I seriously think they must be sugar pills or something....what a waste of my money. The only interesting thing I can comment on, is that it seemed to mildly potentiate the effects of various amphetamines.
Anways, as you can see, I am not exactly treatment resistant, and I tend to respond to meds pretty quickly. Sometimes I need a higher dose than the average person but I believe that is typical for OCD patients.
I know a few others (maybe 3 or so?) who have taken tianeptine and found it similarly useless.
I too was really excited after researching tianeptine on medline etc...and I was really hoping and expecting it to work...but nothing. So not to burst your bubble, and I realize that I am just one person, but I want to warn you...don't get your hopes up too much. :-/
~fairnymph
poster:fairnymph
thread:114758
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020731/msgs/114807.html