Posted by mikes on April 24, 2001, at 11:56:57
In reply to Re: what does it feel like for an ssri to work?, posted by JohnL on April 24, 2001, at 4:50:46
My condition is definitely serotonergic...however I do find that GHB helps a great deal with motivation and energy.
> > I am asking this question with regards to chronic depression, preferably either atypical or dysthymic. Are you happier? More optimistic? Less irritable and anxious? Is it significantly easier to get up in the mornings? Do you have more motivation and energy? And if you do feel these things, for what portion of the week do you feel them (x/7 days)?
>
> When an SSRI or any other med works you just feel, well, normal. Not high, not unusually good or bad, but simply normal. Happier, more optimistic, less anxious, improved sleeping and eating patterns, normal motivation and energy. Of course, for someone who has been suffering dysthymia for a long time, simply feeling normal can feel like winning the lottery. It's a wonderful feeling to just be normal.
>
> When a med does work, it will or should do it day after day. If there are days it doesn't work, or if feeling normal is not achieved, then the med is probably not targeting the real chemical/molecular problem underlying the symptoms.
>
> More often than not it seems to me that most people who suffer from chronic depression or dysthymia respond more completely with a dopamine drug rather than a serotonin drug. Both together is often better than either alone.
>
> For a complete response, adding Zyprexa to ongoing SSRI is a good option. Others include Risperdal, Amisulpride, Ritalin, Adderall. In your shoes I would focus on finding my favorite SSRI, and then add to it one of the drugs I mentioned. Two weeks is plenty of time for one of them to show considerable promise. If one of them doesn't within two weeks, then switch to another and give it two weeks. With the dopamine drugs, long torturous 6 or 8 week trials are not often needed. When one works, it is not uncommon to see it start to do so within days or a couple weeks. In short, anecdotal evidence might suggest that SSRIs alone are often not completely effective for dysthymias, and sometimes even make things worse by causing a numbing or mentally anesthetic effect. The addition of a dopamine drug could be considered for a fuller sustained response.
> John
poster:mikes
thread:60798
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20010424/msgs/61007.html