Posted by psychobot5000 on July 7, 2008, at 15:00:57
In reply to Re: Tianeptine » psychobot5000, posted by satsumas on July 7, 2008, at 13:27:07
> can you talk about your experiences with tianeptine? how you felt when you started, your current dose, subjective experiences, comparisions with other drugs, and whether you feel it is actually working "serotoningenically" (e.g., reducing obsessive thoughts, inducing optimism, self-esteem, etc.)?
>
> also, are you just using it with pramipexole right now?I take it alone, actually. The doc I regularly see is not particularly inclined to experimental treatments like pramipexole, and I thought the side-effects would likely be too burdensome.
As for whether it's working 'serotonergically,' I don't really believe so. I mean, I imagine its effects on serotonin cause the antidepressant effects, but I think these are changes 'further down the line.' Probably adaptive changes the brain makes - something like that. In my experience noradrenergic drugs, generalized monoamine drugs (MAOis), serotonin-increasing drugs, and the one serotonin-reducing drug all do about the same thing, just with different side-effects. This tells me that the mechanism of action probably isn't serotonin. Also, if I take an SSRI, my serotonin levels increase greatly within an hour or two, but my mood doesn't change for days, weeks, or months. Same for almost all patients.
But as for the specifics you were wondering about, I find tianeptine does reduce obsessive/anxious thinking pretty substantially. It doesn't have a direct effect on self-esteem or optimism, I would say, but lifts my whole mood a modest amount. Those are probably the primary effects I've observed.
poster:psychobot5000
thread:835336
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20080706/msgs/838670.html