Posted by Ritch on January 30, 2003, at 11:38:25
In reply to desipramine instead of Strattera?, posted by not exactly on January 30, 2003, at 5:52:12
> Strattera is the first "selective" norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor to be approved in the US, but there are other "mostly" norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors available. Desipramine (a tricyclic AD) is perhaps the best example of this. It's been around so long that it is available as a generic.
>
> I had been planning to try Strattera, but when I found out that it is not (yet) covered by BC/BS (and of course it's expensive), I decided that desipramine might be a reasonable alternative. BTW, my main problem is depression (chronic atypical) with some ADD symptoms, rather than classic ADHD by itself. Does anyone have any experience w/ desipramine? Thoughts about effectiveness, side effects? Any reason to suspect it might not be an acceptable substiture for Strattera?
>
> Note that I've already started another thread about desipramine [http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20030125/msgs/137808.html], so if you plan to reply regarding the use of desipramine as an AD, you may want to post in that thread instead of here. However, messages that compare desipramine to Strattera, or discuss the suitability of desipramine as an ADHD treatment, probably belong in this Strattera thread.
>
> BTW, if you're curious about my previous medication successes & failures, see http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20030125/msgs/137593.html.
>
> - Bob
>
I tried desipramine once and it worked remarkably well for ADHD symptoms, espcially concentration and task follow-through. If you can tolerate TCA side effects OK, it would likely be the best one of all of them (the TCA's) for ADHD. It has a tendency to have more cardiac side effects than some of the other TCA's, though. The main reason I stopped it was elevated heart rate (but Straterra can do that too), and postural hypotension (dizziness-Straterra can do that one too, but probably much less so).
poster:Ritch
thread:133458
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20030130/msgs/138348.html