Posted by blueboy on May 28, 2008, at 7:52:23
In reply to i just do not understand this... » ace, posted by iforgotmypassword on May 27, 2008, at 11:05:30
> taking so long to kick in thing...
>
> what exactly causes a drug and an maoi no less, to > take so long?Nobody really knows. There is even debate whether the phenomenon exists, i.e. whether various antidepressants actually have a lag time between the time a patient starts taking them and the time they start working (although I think most scientists believe that the phenomenon is real).
It is not only MAOI's, but also most other types of antidepressants and mood stabilizers. Basically, at this point, nobody REALLY understands how or why they work. (MAOI's were developed to treat Parkinson's Disease. Then some researcher happened to notice an unexpected brightening in mood among Parkinson's patients taking the drug.)
Researchers are busily trying to figure it all out, and they know a lot more now than they used to. There is considerable knowledge about the gross effects of antidepressants on neurotransmitters, and even better knowledge about the effects of addictive pleasure-inducing drugs (like nicotine or heroin) on the physical structure of nerves. I think I am correct in saying that a trained scientist with a good electron microscope can now examine a dead person's brain and tell if he was addicted to a certain class of drugs when he died.
They are trying. The human brain is extremely difficult to study for a number of reasons.
poster:blueboy
thread:827439
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20080528/msgs/831594.html