Posted by Racer on October 20, 2005, at 14:00:29
In reply to anyone taking elavil are there any side efffects, posted by chand2407 on October 20, 2005, at 12:48:10
> i was just wandering is elavil a good tricylcic depressant. would it be good with seroquel and klonopin. is it good for depression
I know that this has been said before, but it's well worth repeating: your mileage will vary.
These medications affect everyone differently -- if every single one of us on this board were to tell our experiences about one drug, you'd probably get half a dozen totally contradictory side effect profiles. That's just the way it is. While people here can tell you about side effects they've experienced on Elavil, no one can tell you what *you* will experience on it, until you try it.
For one thing, everyone's body chemistry is different, which means that the way the drugs are metabolised will be different, which in turn will vary their effects. The unfortunate fact is that psychotropic medications are still a game of hit or miss. You can only find the right medications by trial and error, and there will always be variables that affect the process.
In general, *ALL* of the antidepressants on the market are statistically similar in their efficacy: they all help about 70% of the people who take them. That can mean that it will be 70% effective for you, or it can mean that it's entirely effective, or it can mean that it's not effective at all. There's no way around that, because there are no tests that can say, "This person has depression caused by the following neurotransmitter imbalance, therefore drug X will correct the imbalance and bring about complete remission for the patient." Maybe those tests will come about one day, but that day is not yet here. Until then, though, the sad truth remains that you gotta try a drug before you'll know how it affects you.
If you're interested in learning about all the possible side effects of TCAs, you can check out http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/uspdi/202055.html
Note, though -- this lists ALL the side effects from ALL the TCAs. This doesn't mean that you'll get any of them. One of the people who used to post here told about being in a trial for a drug that was totally unrelated to depression, but taking part in the trial just after stopping an antidepressant. His depression got worse, because he stopped the AD, but the study results still listed 'worsening depression' as a possible side effect, because of his experience. That means that some of those side effects listed may be flukes.
Good luck.
poster:Racer
thread:569302
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20051017/msgs/569323.html