Posted by bleauberry on June 19, 2008, at 21:02:08
In reply to Possible Eureka., posted by SLS on June 17, 2008, at 12:49:45
I typed tianeptine into the search box at pubmed and clicked on a few pages of abstracts. Tianeptine appears pretty complicated and unique. It has something to do with neuroplasticity, modulating the inflammatory response, modulating the stress induced GABA/glutamate response, and as you already mentioned has indirect effects on neurotransmitters. Decreases plasma serotonin but increases platelet serotonin. Decreases plasma noradrenaline, no effect on plasma adrenaline. Must have some kind of dopamine function because there are cases of tianeptine abuse and dependence at high doses. It has worked in treatment resistant depression by itself or combined with other conventional antidepressants. Good for depression in parkinsons and heart disease patients. Interesting drug.
Your theory SLS makes sense to me. I have often wondered if with some people their depression is not a matter of how much neurotransmitter is sitting at the synapse, but rather how powerful the stream of neuros is. Kind of like a still pond versus a flowing stream. I think I am the kind that needs a flowing stream, because the still pond stuff makes me feel worse. Tianeptine might be the kind of drug that creates a flowing stream, where during the depression it was an erratic trickle.
poster:bleauberry
thread:835062
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20080617/msgs/835554.html