Posted by Anna Laura on March 3, 2002, at 15:24:50
I think i need an "expert" here.
Here's my situation briefly: i'm on Effexor since the end of July of the last year.
I started tapering it in december as i was going to switch to Parnate. Unfortunately the pure compound wasn't available in my country, the parnate version here being a mix of tranycylpromine and an antypsychotic called modaline. I found out about that (my pdoc didn't tell me) when i was about to drop the last dose of effexor.
Since i can't tolerate antypsichotics, (they make me more depressed) i went back to effexor and raised the dose again back to 300 mg. (I'm on Reboxetine too: 8 mg).
I was badly disappointed as it didn't seem to work again this time. Felt kind of scared and more depressed and went back to my old negative thoughts.
After two months i noticed a slight mood improvement i hadn't experienced before. Strangely it worked different this time: anhedonia and mood improved more then the first time but i lost my increased motivation, positive thinking and drive along the way. It's like i can't have all of those things together.
I lost my mental focus and i feel kind of insecure also. Something similar happened years ago when i dropped Tofranil: i had recovered from major depression, my mood had improved but my drive and motivation had decreased.
What does that mean? I've read somewhere noradrenaline is involved in drive, motivation and self esteem whereas serotonin affects mood. Since i'm taking effexor at high doses and Reboxetine, which is a noradrenergic drug, should be the other way around. Seems like the noradrenergic effect has vanished.
I'm rather puzzled right now. Any clues?
poster:Anna Laura
thread:96197
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020301/msgs/96197.html