Posted by DavidH44 on January 9, 2006, at 10:51:58
In reply to Re: amineptine/tianeptine for depression, posted by andrewb on November 28, 1999, at 11:57:35
I took aminemptine (Survector) for several years in Chile in the 1990's and it worked great. If it is still available in Brazil (where I visit) or anywhere else I'd love to know. (Don't worry, I won't import it . . .)
I did some research when it was withdrawn, supposedly for abuse, but all the studies I found showed low abuse statistics -- and it was the most widely prescribed out-patient med in Europe for many years. The head chemist at the Chile firm that produced it under license said it had been withdrawn only because the French patent holder had a new drug (Stablon, tianeptine) that they expected to be more profitable.
I have not tried Stablon. As to its action, the chemist told me that they believed its mechanism was that REDUCING serotonin caused the brain to INCREASE dopamine, therefore producing an effect similar to Survector by a different method.
When I returned to the US no one knew about either drug so I tried Welbutrin since it was the only anti-depressant with a dopamine enhancer, and it was terrible for me: I had seriously uncontrollable episodes of rage that lasted for months even after I stopped taking the drug. Scared the hell out of me and my family.
I've tried a variety of things since then, and what seems to work best is something the docs say shouldn't work at all: a combination of low doses of zoloft and celexa, with amantadine (a dopamine enhancer prescribed for Parkinsons)
Just shows: people are different, and what works for one doesn't work for another. Psychiatric pharmacology is mostly flying blind, trial and error, not customized to the individual. Where's Timothy Leary when we really need him?
Good luck to all.
poster:DavidH44
thread:611
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20060108/msgs/597106.html