Posted by Pfinstegg on May 26, 2005, at 0:40:28
In reply to Severe Anxiety, Moderate Depression High Cortisol, posted by Elroy on May 25, 2005, at 17:57:01
My first choice, in your situation, would be to try to get into a Mefipristone (RU486) trial. That's the best one to lower your HPA axis overactivity. They are doing it at Stanford, and undoubtedly other places, and the FDA has "fast-tracked" it. I read a year or two ago that they were then focussing mainly on psychotic depression, which is quite extreme and unusual. I'm not sure whether that is still the focus. It's such a short treatment (a week, maximum) that I wonder what they are thinking of for follow-up treatment. I mean, I wonder if they repeat it if it's needed.
From what I've read, if you can get your HPA axis down to normal, you will be able to prevent the "downstream" events in your left frontal and hippocampal areas which lead to major depression. This would be such an improvement over trying to fix things up "downstream' when damage has already occurred- what we do now with the SSRIs, SNRIs, mood-stabilizers, etc.
If this really interests you, i think you could receive it "off-label" if you can find a doctor to do it. After all, it does have another quite common use...
poster:Pfinstegg
thread:502852
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20050521/msgs/503025.html