Posted by jflange on February 1, 2003, at 16:04:12
In reply to Re: Taking the plunge---Buspar tomorrow » jflange, posted by SLS on February 1, 2003, at 13:34:39
SLS:
You are right about Buspar as an NE-alpha2 agonist, but I know so little about NE and its effects that I never think of it. Do you know more?
As for the troubles with Zoloft as a monotherapy: I was taking it for GAD that was gradually moving into panic syndrome. Alone, Z was an incredible motivator and confidence booster but oh my, the nausea and anxiety/agitation were made so much worse. Titrating the dose upwards only produced mild manic behavior and heartpound, never the eventual abatement of anxiety symptoms as it is purported to do. So I decided to supplement with Buspar and the agitation, anxiety, nausea, mania and that other nasty ssri s/e, the 4 o'clock crash, all went away. For me, the cocktail is about squeezing the positive serotonin effects out of the ssri which helps for motivation and "getting on with life" while avoiding/modulating what so many anxiety sufferers like me experience on ssri meds: more anxiety.
I realize I am not giving a very scientific representation of what is likely a neurotransmitter issue.
Oddly, Buspar alone was a major dud for me: pdoc said it would NOT address the panic, and wow was he right. However, I balked at ssris then and took Buspar as a monotherapy because, like disney4, I would consider myself "med sensitive". With Buspar alone all I really got was the abatement of background anxiety , and a concomitant sense of being left alone with the panic.Not fun!
jflange
poster:jflange
thread:138455
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20030130/msgs/138767.html