Posted by sukarno on May 22, 2007, at 8:34:57
In reply to Re: Wow. I'm impressed., posted by Declan on February 7, 2007, at 19:07:20
I was on imipramine (only 25mg at bedtime) and found that it worked wonders for my panic attacks and depression. I ended up having a lot of cardiac side effects after using it for a few weeks, so my doctor switched me to nortriptyline (Pamelor), which had less cardiac side effects and no brain fog. My grades were 4.0 at one point when I was on nortriptyline. I felt full of motivation (it works more on norepinephrine than imipramine does as imipramine primarily targets serotonin) and it still blocked my panic attacks pretty well. When I finally quit nortriptyline, my grades dropped to less than 2.0. I just couldn't concentrate well and was full of anxiety and panic attacks.
The only negative reports I've read are that TCAs can speed up the process of atherosclerosis. I read that in a book at the library (the book was published in the early 1980s) and there are some studies showing an association between long-term TCA use and atherosclerosis. I don't know if this is proven or not though.
However, I wouldn't worry about it as your LDL and homocysteine levels and things like smoking, high blood pressure and sedentary lifestyle would be a better determination of risk and untreated depression certainly increases the risk of heart disease too.
poster:sukarno
thread:729805
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20070509/msgs/758783.html