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Desipramine vs. Effexor and serotonin

Posted by satsumas on July 1, 2008, at 9:38:02

Hi there,

I'm in the process of switching from Effexor to desipramine, as this time i tried effexor, going up to 300, I really noticed the side effects -- terrible cravings, feeling as though i was blissed out a bit and emotionally blunted, apathetic, and amotivated.

However, on 300 effexor, the obsessive thoughts that have been haunting me for months disappeared, and a sense of calmness and normalcy, despite my unemployed status and lack of a love relationship (screwed up a chance due to the depression last fall).

On effexor, I felt a sense of relief I hadn't felt in a long time, but it felt a bit artificial, and at 300, it took me to the edge of hypomania. And I did not want to deal with the cravings and what I considered to be an almost "reduction in free will".

So my dr. suggested desipramine. I'm now down to 150 effexor at up to 100 desipramine, along with lithium and mirapex 2.0 as augmentors.

My question is, i think the good aspects of effexor came from its significant hit on serotonin. The calmness, sense of "okayness "despite my life situation (not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing to feel if you don't like where you are in life right now) i am guessing came from it's work on serotonin. Now that i've gone down to 150, the effect has disappeared, and I'm back to a state of depression -- not suicidal as I was in may when I moved from Emsam to Effexor and had 3 weeks of slow-tapering-up, which caused the worst depression of my life. But a depression nontheless.

MY QUESTION is: when can i expect the desipramine to kick in, and at what dose? And for those who have had experience with both desipramine and effexor, can you describe qualitatively how they felt, comparably?

And I know desipramine hits norepinephrine far more than it does serotonin....does that mean I won't be able to expect the drug to help with the obsessive thoughts, the rumination, and the feelings of low-self-worth?

Effexor would have been perfect if it didn't just completely bliss me out and make me not care about my future and what i was doing with my life.

Your help is much, much appreciated. The past 4 months have been really rough...been on Emsam, Effexor, Mirapex, Desipramine, Lithium, xanax, trazodone, lunesta, and i'm not sure how much more of this chemistry-set experimentation I can take before I just give up :(


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poster:satsumas thread:837467
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20080626/msgs/837467.html