Posted by Cam W. on June 27, 2001, at 11:37:10
In reply to Re: stjames, posted by AMenz on June 27, 2001, at 10:36:55
AMenz - The extra serotonin being produced by SSRIs and TCAs may cause hypomania some people with BiPD. I guess it depends on the nature of the original chemical breakdown, as to what will happen.
The addition of serotonin to a body who's system is depressed seems to lift the depression. Many of these people with depression have a lack of serotonin in the body. Adding back that serotonin (to regular levels) would probably cause more of a change in the levels of other neurotransmitters (ie. those that changed in response to the lower levels of serotonin), more so than causing problems with serotonin.
I think that adding a serotonergic antidepressant to a person with BiPDII is not the whole story of manic switch. The TCAs cause significantly more manic switch than the SSRIs. There must be some binding to some secondary receptor(s) in the TCAs that cause or augment the development of the hypomania.
All chemical processes in the brain (and body) seem to be highly linked to one another. Any change in one system is felt throughout all the body systems and these systems adjust their chemical reactions (ie. change the concentration of neurotransmitters &/or receptors) to try to compensate for the decrease (in this case) in serotonin. So, the combined changes in these other systems would probably be seen more readily than a an increase in the concentration of serotonin, to more "normal" levels.
This is one reason that looking at individual systems of the brain (eg. HPA axis in depression) can be misleading. One must add in the actions of all of the other systems to truly see what is going on. Many of the systems have not been fully elucidated, yet. Therefore, one has to look at the more overall picture, rather than looking at one system in isolation. We must not take a reductionist view of a system in the body; the HPA axis relies on the input of many other systems to function, as other bodily systems rely on it.
Hope that this is clear. - Cam
poster:Cam W.
thread:67698
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20010625/msgs/68078.html