Posted by SLS on June 24, 2008, at 13:59:18
In reply to Imipramine/Lexapro - have anything in common?, posted by brooke484 on June 24, 2008, at 13:34:08
Hi Brooke.
Antidepressants do so many different things, both known and unknown, that it is difficult to give a comprehensive answer to your question. However, one commonality between both drugs is that they inhibit the reuptake of serotonin (5-HT).
Hopefully, Linkadge or one of the equally knowledgeable posters here will respond to your question, as I am not confident in my ability to list all the effects that these drugs have on receptors.
It can't be emphasized enough that the net effect of two "similar" drugs can be very different biologically. The localization of the brain circuitry being manipulated can be quite different. It gets real complicated from here. Much of the difference between similar drugs lies in the ratios of effect on various receptors, whether direct or indirect.
My guess is that you will probably need a combination of drugs with different mechanisms of action. For example, I had some success combining nortriptyline with Effexor (TCA + SNRI). Hopefully, you won't need to take 5 different drugs for depression as I do.
Current Treatment:
Nardil 90mg
nortriptyline 150mg
Lamictal 200mg
Abilify 20mg
Deplin 7.50mg
Thanks for telling your story. You are not the first person who has had trouble returning to a previously effective treatment.
- Scott
> I've been on a lot of meds since 1993. These two drugs are the only two that worked (in 1993 and in 2002) but when I tried them again (and again and again) I had too many side effects and could not take them. I was on 600 mgs of Imipramine at one point and even that didn't work.
>
> So, does anyone know what these two have in common, if anything? I haven't been able to find a medication that works in 6 years.
>
> Thanks so much,
>
> brooke
poster:SLS
thread:836230
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20080617/msgs/836232.html