Posted by Racer on February 21, 2006, at 17:35:53
In reply to Major Depression - Treatment Resistant, posted by zoey1122 on February 21, 2006, at 16:00:46
If the SSRIs pooped out after 6 months for you, I wonder if that was a placebo effect rather than the drug working? That's my first thought.
But my second thought is have you managed to get to a therapeutic dose FOR YOU on any of them? That seems so obvious, but it's surprisingly common that that's the problem with the newer drugs.
Back in the days when I took nortriptyline, they had blood tests to check whether or not you'd gotten into the therapeutic window. I had to take a huge dose before I got there, but did respond once I had. The doctor was pretty shocked at how much I had to take in order to get there. With all the other drugs I've taken since then, I haven't been surprised to find that I needed very high doses, too. (Apparently I don't metabolise very well...) Anyway, while I haven't been surprised, the doctors have been. In fact, a number of doctors I've seen have wanted to change a drug because it wasn't working, only to find that it worked fine once the dose was high enough.
It's worth looking into the dose thing, as well as picking apart your depressive symptoms. If you know which symptoms give you the most trouble, and which symptoms have been improved on any given drug, that can help you tease out what might help for you.
Good luck.
poster:Racer
thread:611791
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20060219/msgs/611819.html