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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 15 of 15. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by mogger on March 18, 2010, at 0:10:20
It seems like for years we have all been talking about the same drugs and I am wondering if there is in fact any new drugs that are coming out soon?! There has got to be something different out there that can be more effective in treating all our symptoms.
Posted by SLS on March 18, 2010, at 0:33:45
In reply to Any new meds 4 depression/ocd/anxiety coming out?, posted by mogger on March 18, 2010, at 0:10:20
> It seems like for years we have all been talking about the same drugs and I am wondering if there is in fact any new drugs that are coming out soon?! There has got to be something different out there that can be more effective in treating all our symptoms.
I don't think there is a magic bullet out there yet. It seems that the drug pipeline has pretty much dried up due to a lack of imagination.
You can get an idea of what is currently being investigated at: http://www.neurotransmitter.net/newdrugs.html
Agomelatine and vilazodone represent more novel modes of action.
- Scott
Posted by Phillipa on March 18, 2010, at 1:01:24
In reply to Re: Any new meds 4 depression/ocd/anxiety coming out?, posted by SLS on March 18, 2010, at 0:33:45
Scott what do you think of agomelatonin? Phillipa
Posted by mogger on March 18, 2010, at 1:04:10
In reply to Re: Any new meds 4 depression/ocd/anxiety coming out? » SLS, posted by Phillipa on March 18, 2010, at 1:01:24
Thanks Scott,
It seems like everything takes so friggin long to come out and are always in Phase II. I am interested in the NMDA antagonist for ocd but that could be years before it comes out.
Joseph
Posted by SLS on March 18, 2010, at 1:05:21
In reply to Re: Any new meds 4 depression/ocd/anxiety coming out? » SLS, posted by Phillipa on March 18, 2010, at 1:01:24
> Scott what do you think of agomelatonin? Phillipa
I haven't seen enough of it to form an opinion. Some people report doing well with it. I would certainly give it a try were it readily available.
- Scott
Posted by herpills on March 18, 2010, at 16:32:18
In reply to Any new meds 4 depression/ocd/anxiety coming out?, posted by mogger on March 18, 2010, at 0:10:20
I agree, nothing except new versions of old drugs, like Pristiq, Aplenzin, Lamictal XR, etc...
herpills
> It seems like for years we have all been talking about the same drugs and I am wondering if there is in fact any new drugs that are coming out soon?! There has got to be something different out there that can be more effective in treating all our symptoms.
Posted by mogger on March 18, 2010, at 17:01:36
In reply to Re: Any new meds 4 depression/ocd/anxiety coming out?, posted by herpills on March 18, 2010, at 16:32:18
herpills,
you are so right. I didn't know that Lamictal XR came out. I slur a bit from regular Lamictal and wonder if the XR version might have less of a side effect profile? Any thoughts?
thanks,
Joseph
Posted by Phillipa on March 18, 2010, at 19:43:53
In reply to Would Lamictal XR cause less speech disturbances?, posted by mogger on March 18, 2010, at 17:01:36
I also didn't know I wonder if it would act as an ad on it's own? Phillipa
Posted by bleauberry on March 19, 2010, at 20:11:58
In reply to Any new meds 4 depression/ocd/anxiety coming out?, posted by mogger on March 18, 2010, at 0:10:20
> It seems like for years we have all been talking about the same drugs and I am wondering if there is in fact any new drugs that are coming out soon?! There has got to be something different out there that can be more effective in treating all our symptoms.
As far as meds that are specifically called "antidepressants", no, I'm not aware of any blockbusters in the works.
But your question highlights the incredible weakness of psychiatry that we all fall prey to, doctors included.
That is, why do we attempt to treat symptoms and yet totally ignore causes? Symptoms don't just show up for no reason. There are many things we can do as home experimentation to probe for causes and cures.
The way we approach psychiatry almost unanimously defies that there is a cause. Before even attempting to find a cause, we have already given up and not even stepped over the starting line. When I say we, I mean us patients and doctors alike. What we do instead is throw 100% of our efforts and faith into drugs that perform a few percentage points better than a sugar pill. And ignore the entire rest of the picture.
The best they might do is check thyroid or fasting glucose. Even if they find something there, hardly ever, because even those tests are interpreted wrongly (that's another whole chapter), why exactly is the thyroid messed up? It didn't just happen for no reason.
Here are some drugs that have improved and cured depression that are not found in the psychiatrist prescription pad.
Diabetes meds
DMSA
Diflucan
Doxycycline
Various anti-inflammatory meds including the above.Here are some lifestyle changes that have cured depression resistant to the best drugs:
Organic veggie based diets, meats allowed but not the main attraction.
Blood-type diets.
Gluten free diets, commonly also dairy free.
Removal of amalgam fillings.
Removal of amalgam fillings followed with a year or two of low dose frequent dose chelation rounds.
Experimentation with supplements of B6, B12, B1, folate, zinc, chromium, magnesium...singularly at first and then in various combinations.
Here is a for-example. Gluten intolerance is far more common than suspected. What happens here is the villa in the small intestine are damaged by the reaction to gluten. With the resulting damaged absorption, as well as whole molecules of undigested food entering the blood stream, a wide array of mental and physical symptoms can result, spanning almost the entire medical dictionary. The toxins and immune reaction in this whole process flood the brain with some depressing chemicals that psychiatric meds just don't have any impact on. Increase serotonin and dopamine all you want, that isn't the problem, and thus not the cure.
The toxicity of these high tech times, chemical farming, and such, as well as poor food choices, way too many sugars, and general lifestyles of stress and speed, provide superb breeding grounds for overgrowth of gut yeast, systemic yeast, and killing off of our friendly bacteria that protect us from normal exposure to bad pathogens. A lot of people have seen their depression, brain fog, aches and pains, and fatigue disappear with dedicated anti-yeast food choices, sometimes herbs and meds.
Amalgam fillings. Geez, that's a whole book.
My point is, while the industry spends millions of dollars on research for drugs to improve mood; and while patients and insurance companies spend millions upon millions of dollars to try to manage these drugs; and doctors ignore opportunity after opportunity into infinity to do some basic exploration of their patients; we as a society reinforce with each step that there is no cause of depression, there is no way to find a cause of depression, so we might as well just not even try, and instead place all of our bets on some weird chemicals that do weird things in the brain and in fact have nothing to do with the reason our depression came to be.
I am pro-psychiatric drugs, so don't get me wrong. I'm just saying that while we spend 99% of our time on that issue, we ignore the rest of the picture. More realistically, I believe the rest of the picture should get 75% of our attention, and the psych drugs about 25%. Instead, it is 0%/100%. Makes no sense to me. The sheer folly of mankind on display.
What makes it even more folly is that a great deal of diagnostic work can be done right at home. No need for expensive tests, tests that don't exist, tests that can't be trusted, faulty interpretations, or doctors. The greatest gift any of us can seek is wisdom. With it, our chances of feeling better increase huge.
There is a lot we can do on our own to be good detectives.
Given a choice, would I rather treat the symptoms of my depression, or would I rather treat the cause of it so the symptoms don't exist anymore? Obvious answer. Almost. In reality, I want to treat the symptoms temporarily in the near-term, and that means a psych med. But, when it doesn't go as planned, I don't want to get bogged down in that. I have to continue with the real focus, which is fixing what is broke, while continuing with short term intervention of symptoms. It is not an either-or situation. It is a both-at-the-same-time situation. The real focus is on fixing what is broke, which a psych drug won't do.
These kinds of posts always generate some heated opponents who think drugs are the only thing in the universe that can cure depression, so we'll see what happens. I am completely respectful of their stances.
Here is a new drug however, back to the original topic. It was recently released in USA for Fibromyalgia. It is not classified as an antidepressant in the USA because the maker chose not to take that route with the whole expensive political game of the FDA (another chapter). In the rest of the world it has been a top performing antidepressant for years. It is a top performer in Japan.
The drug is called Savella. So if you are looking for a new and different antidepressant, there it is.
Posted by Phillipa on March 19, 2010, at 21:25:38
In reply to Re: Any new meds 4 depression/ocd/anxiety coming out?, posted by bleauberry on March 19, 2010, at 20:11:58
BB did you become a drug rep for savella? Just kidding. Phillipa
Posted by mogger on March 19, 2010, at 22:03:07
In reply to Re: Any new meds 4 depression/ocd/anxiety coming out? » bleauberry, posted by Phillipa on March 19, 2010, at 21:25:38
bleauberry,
What interesting information.I would be all over Savella if it didn't cause hyperhidrosis. That is my problem with zoloft is the damn (helpful though) stuff makes me sweat so much and then adding inositol I am literally constantly sweating but both are too helpful to stop.
Are pdocs prescribing it in the US for depression and health insurance block it because it is not approved for it?
Posted by SLS on March 20, 2010, at 1:35:59
In reply to Re: Any new meds 4 depression/ocd/anxiety coming out?, posted by bleauberry on March 19, 2010, at 20:11:58
> Doxycycline
It appears that minocycline is a more potent anti-inflammatory than doxycycline. Some researchers are considering it as a treatment for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. I was on doxycycline for several months without effect. I am undecided as to whether or not I would give minocycline a try. It should be noted that depression is sometimes a side effect of both drugs.
- Scott
Posted by bleauberry on March 20, 2010, at 7:53:13
In reply to Re: Any new meds 4 depression/ocd/anxiety coming out?, posted by SLS on March 20, 2010, at 1:35:59
> > Doxycycline
>
> It appears that minocycline is a more potent anti-inflammatory than doxycycline. Some researchers are considering it as a treatment for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. I was on doxycycline for several months without effect. I am undecided as to whether or not I would give minocycline a try. It should be noted that depression is sometimes a side effect of both drugs.
>
>
> - ScottThey are all good anti-inflammatories even at low doses that are not antibacterial. I do believe Mino is the most potent, just based on my own personal experience with Doxy, Tetra, and Mino. All 3 worsened my depression horribly. I'm pretty sure it was the flood of death toxins doing that. The first couple days actually felt good with some significant mood elevation. That's the time period where the bacteria are initially stunned, but not yet dying. But as the death started, oh my. It was on Doxy I had one random day that was pure total remission of depression. A hint of things to come, I don't know, because it was a one day thing and I just couldn't hang tough any longer.
Posted by bleauberry on March 20, 2010, at 7:57:00
In reply to Re: Any new meds 4 depression/ocd/anxiety coming out? » bleauberry, posted by Phillipa on March 19, 2010, at 21:25:38
> BB did you become a drug rep for savella? Just kidding. Phillipa
LOL. Funny.
I don't mean to sound that way. It's just that, well, ok, someone fails a bunch of drugs, then they fail ECT, pretty much all of the stuff made them feel worse instead of better, and then along comes this med that not only doesn't make them feel worse but actually feels pretty good... I mean, how could i NOT suggest that particular med to other people? Ya know? How many drugs are there that can work after ECT failure? Ya know? Anyway, that's why I mention the drug in various posts.
Posted by Phillipa on March 20, 2010, at 20:08:53
In reply to Re: Any new meds 4 depression/ocd/anxiety coming o » Phillipa, posted by bleauberry on March 20, 2010, at 7:57:00
And I've yet to goggle it must do that. Love Phillipa
This is the end of the thread.
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