Posted by psychobot5000 on September 10, 2006, at 10:38:41
In reply to 18 months on tianeptine (Stablon), posted by sukarno on September 9, 2006, at 8:17:29
Hi,
I've been on tianeptine 12.5mg 3/day for...perhaps sixteen months, and it is the best med I've found so far, though it's not a complete fix.
I take it for anergic, anhedonic, asthenic depression. It elevates my mood as much as any medication (which is not enough to make me feel good, but at least brings me out of the horrible pits), without any significant side-effects. SSRIs, for example, were no better, but increased my anxiety, gave me awful stomach problems, prevented me from sleeping...etc etc.
Tianeptine eliminates my depression-related stomach troubles, and helps mildly with my anxiety, as well as elevating my mood. No increase in difficulty sleeping, no irrition, nothing like that, though I am still left without much motivation. I have tried many augmentors, but none seems to do much.
Tried 25mg 3/day for a couple weeks once, but it made me feel a little strange, and at that dose I got dry mouth. Wasn't able to convince myself that there was any additional mood benefit.
In sum, I wish its antidepressant effect were stronger, but it's effective in that regard, helps me breath a little better, helps with anxiety and irrational worrying, helps with my abdominal pain, helps with other random somatic pain (like many depressives, I suffer from increased pain-sensitivity--Tianeptine eliminates that), and has no significant side-effects. Upping the dose was not useful for me.
If you're dealing with depression, anxiety, and stomach issues, I'd recommend Remeron/mirtazapine. It was a good anxiolytic and antidepressant, but can be very sedating. It wasn't hard on the stomach, like many other meds can be (I hate SSRIs).
Have you tried ranitidine or famotidine for your GERD? They can be effective acid-reducers, but you have to be a little careful about interactions--they may effect liver enzymes and raise the levels of other meds. My doc, however, says that it's mostly their sister cimetidine that does that, and that ranitidine and famotidine are okay, as well as being effective against GERD.
For myself, I just wish Stablon had more effect on my lack of motivation and pleasure. It makes me more laid back and relaxed, but...I'm drive deficient.
Supplementing with stimulants or a dopaminergic (tianeptine does not seem to actually be very dopaminergic) seems like natural augmentation strategies for tianeptine. I have heard some people say they are effective.
Hope this is useful,
P-bot
poster:psychobot5000
thread:474445
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20060909/msgs/684692.html