Posted by SLS on August 16, 2004, at 8:18:34
In reply to Re: Tricyclics+Amphetamines » anxiety_free, posted by Fromage47 on August 16, 2004, at 2:46:48
> Amphetamines may enhance the activity of tricyclic or sympathomimetic agents; d-amphetamine with desipramine or protriptyline and possibly other tricyclics cause STRIKING AND SUSTAINED INCREASES in the concentration of d-amphetamine in the brain; cardiovascular effects can be potentiated."
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> See - what that sort of indicates to me (the first sentence, at least) is that the amphetamines actually potentiate the effects of the tricyclic, not vice versa. Is anyone currently on a combo of a tricyclic and amphetamines and can vouch for its effects? Or does anyone know which one potentiates which, or if they both potentiate each other?
I have taken Dexedrine as monotherapy and as an adjunct to Parnate and desipramine in an attempt to treat depression. It felt the same to me both times. For what it is worth, it did not feel as if the amphetamine potentiated the tricyclic. Of course, this is the very subjective experience of a person very resistant to the antidepressant effects of numerous drugs.I don't think one should consider a simple pharmacokinetic interaction between these drugs leading to an increase in the concentration of desipramine to be the same as a pharmacodynamic synergism. Simply raising the dosage of desipramine would suffice as a treatment alternative. The question is whether amphetamine + desipramine is more effective than only increasing desipramine to maximum dosages. For me, adding amphetamine to desipramine produced a transient improvement that could not be illicited by simply increasing the dosage of desipramine.
In short, I think there is the possibility that adding amphetamine to a tricyclic can provide benefits not possible from simply increasing the dosage of that tricyclic. However, for me, this benefit was indistinguishable from using amphetamine alone.
Since both amphetamine and TCA provide benefit for different aspects of ADD, the two together probably might work additively rather than synergistically. I think the real question regarding "potentiation" is whether adding TCA to amphetamine in ADD provides additional improvment to attentional deficits.
- Scott
poster:SLS
thread:362828
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040811/msgs/378191.html