Posted by jaclinhyde on September 25, 2006, at 10:00:25
In reply to Re: Can't Take it AnyMore !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!He, posted by Jost on September 24, 2006, at 20:51:20
From that same study.....
"Participants were randomly selected to receive either tranylcypromine (Parnate) alone or venlafaxine (Effexor) plus mirtazapine (Remeron). Parnate is an older monoamine oxidase inhibitor while Effexor and Remeron are newer medications.
"The idea is to try to get at the underlying problem by as many possible mechanisms as you can," McGrath said, of the drug combination chosen. "It's similar to the way you might treat cancer with a multi-drug regimen."
Parnate is used infrequently these days but has been effective in people who have not responded to other therapies.
People in the Parnate arm of the trial had remission rates of 6.9 percent and those in the combination arm, 13.8 percent, considered to be roughly comparable results.
"That looks like the combination was twice as effective but, in fact, those differences were not statistically significant," McGrath said."
All depends on how you read it my friend. There are good and bad studies out there for every drug. On the whole though the MAOI's really are the big guns and can work wonders for someone who has not responded to anything else....like Phillipa.
Hugs,
Terri
> The following site has a summary of the most recent papers from STAR*D.
>
> In one study, particpants who'd failed in trials of three prior ADs were given Parnate or a combination of venlafaxine and mirtazapine. The results weren't encouraging-- the responses (I assume remission rates) were 7% for Parnate, 14% for the combination, the differences not considered statistically significant. However, improvement on the scale they use was greater for the combination (about 25%) than Parnate (quite low, can't remember, could have been 4%).
>
> They published several papers, but overall, apparently, non-responders don't do well after earlier rounds of the study.
>
>
> http://69.41.173.145/ww/www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/antidepressants.html
>
> Jost
poster:jaclinhyde
thread:688552
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20060919/msgs/689044.html