Posted by pellmell on July 12, 2001, at 15:34:55
In reply to Re: How LONG should one try med for (ATTN:pellmell), posted by pellmell on July 12, 2001, at 13:30:29
Janelle,
Okay, here's the "more later" I promised. I have more time to think about what I'm writing now.
So think back to when you started Paxil and Celexa. Were the start-up side-effects then anywhere near as bad as they are now with Effexor? You've probably had enough experience with antidepressants to know how you feel in that space between start-up side effects and theraputic response.
That said, these meds DO need TIME to work. It's not simply the increase in concentration of 5HT and/or NE around the neurons in your brain that these drugs cause that makes them effective. If that were all it took, monoaminergic drugs would take effect very quickly (and in fact, this sudden increase in the concentration of available neurotransmitters is what causes the *side*-effects to kick in right away). It's the *chronic* increase in 5HT/NE levels that causes changes in *gene expression* in monoaminergic neurons, and, to be willfully redundant, this takes time.
So anyway, good luck. Let us know where you go from here.
-pm
poster:pellmell
thread:69796
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20010708/msgs/69870.html