Posted by rupert on May 28, 2000, at 18:53:41
In reply to More info..., posted by Vesper on May 27, 2000, at 17:25:25
> Does anyone here know how long I will have to be off meds before I am back to "normal"? I mean, when will I know if what I am feeling is because of meds, or an underlying problem?
You will never really know why. If a doctor tells you he "knows", the doc is probably using language that would not be accepted in a peer reviewed publication.
"In many cases X is associated with Y, but if you Z you might N." This form of explanation is about as much as anyone can accurately say.
Half-life is one measure of a drug's effect. But drugs also cause changes in the receptor sites involved in mental processes. The basic term is up-regulation. One of the chemo-geeks here can probably shred and improve my explanation, but it is sort of like atrophy in muscles, but different. If you have neurological activity occuring in a particular network of synapses, then begin taking a drug, the synapses can form extra receptor sites, in an effort to continue the neurological pattern in spite of the drugs.
I guess some pharmaceutic regimes are designed to cause upregulation of receptor sites at certain synapses. There are also pre-synaptic changes that occur in brain cells in response to various substances - changes in g-protiens and messanger (protiens?).
Ultimately, the pharmaceutical labs know some, but not nearly all of what these drugs do. The treatment regimes are based as much on subjective analysis as on chemical theory. If they do the right thing for the right people, pass regulatory tests, and don't raise flags in the company's legal department, they find a market niche.
poster:rupert
thread:34792
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20000526/msgs/35000.html