Posted by Racer on June 6, 2004, at 14:19:13
In reply to Effexor XR user for a year + and still depressed, posted by oneamradio on June 6, 2004, at 3:40:05
I took Effexor with a similar problem. It helped a bit, but not nearly enough. Adding a low dose of Prozac was the answer for me. You might want to ask about adding another drug to augment its effectiveness.
Psychopharmacology is a little like Schliemann searching for Troy. They don't really know enough to make it a science yet, although they'll tell you it is. There are enough data, though, to help them make some good choices for most patients. Most of the drugs affect known neurotransmitter systems, so if one drug is helpful, they can use that knowledge to predict that another drug affecting the same systems is likely to be helpful, too. Similarly, if a specific drug doesn't help, a drug affecting another system might be a better candidate. Since Effexor affects (I think) norepinephrine and a bit of dopamine, adding an SSRI to target serotonin as well might make sense. Alternately, if the Effexor really isn't doing anything at all beyond the placebo effect, then switching entirely to an SSRI might make sense.
You've got a bit more than a week to go, so here's a bit of non-med advice for you: make yourself a little spreadsheet and make up a code for your moods. (Mine is a 1 to 5 depression scale, from mildly down at 1, to actively suicidal at 5.) Record your mood at set times during the day, with or without notations about meals, etc. Put in a column for notes about what's going on, or your activities. Before you go in to see the doctor, print that out (make a chart, if you can) and take it to him. A lot of times, someone suffering depression is so focussed on Right Now, we forget that yesterday might have been different. The mood chart can give a much better idea of any variations that have taken place for you.
I'm hardly the med expert, so I'll leave that to someone who actually knows something. What I can offer is my best wishes, and those you have.
poster:Racer
thread:354204
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040602/msgs/354309.html