Posted by Ritch on January 21, 2003, at 23:30:38
In reply to Re: Older drugs vs. newer drugs..., posted by zeugma on January 21, 2003, at 11:28:52
> > > > Jay, the TCA's are can be dangerous in overdose and do cause cardiac conduction problems in quite a few people (at higher doses). The number one thing I don't like about TCA's is the orthostatic hypotension. I even got that with Remeron and it was the number #2 side effect (besides duhhness) that I didn't like about the Remeron. Nortriptyline was the easiest in that regard, and nort. is probably the only TCA I would ever retry.
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> > > I though imipramine's side effects were similar to nortriptyline's. In the test tube, imipramine might have more affinately for receptors causing certain side effects. But in vivo, people have a good amount of the imipramine converted to desipramine, which for many has less side effects than nortri.
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> > I had an *excellent* anti-ADD response with taking low-dose desipramine, but had *much* more blurred vision, tachycardia, and dizziness, that nortiptyline didn't cause, but I needed to take something else with the NT to get the anti-ADD response as robust as with desip. (in my case low-dose Zoloft).
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> The side effects to nortriptyline that I had besides increased irritability (some of which actually was healthy) were lowered blood pressure and dizziness. My doctor was extremely cautious and wouldn't let me increase the dosage until these effects diminished, and even then would only let me go up by 5 mg increments. This was really frustrating, because although the NT was definitely helping the depression and ADD (actually ADD more than depression) I felt it was a partial response and my mood sucked.
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> I started asking him about meds to treat anxiety and social phobia, because I have those problems too and the NT didn't help them that much. He pointed to my improvement of digestive symptoms as evidence that my anxiety was going down; I agreed, but still felt like I needed either a higher dosage of NT (I take only 40 mg) or something else. Finally he let me try Buspar although he seemed doubtful it would help. I tried it, and yes the improvement was immediate. It's helped with ADD, social phobia, depression, and virtually everything else I suffer from.
>I found Buspar only to be effective used with SSRI's. I tried Buspar with desipramine to try to reduce the anxiety and it didn't help. Buspar makes me very hostile if I don't take an SSRI with it (despite even Depakote for bipolar).
poster:Ritch
thread:136591
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20030119/msgs/136980.html