Posted by Larry Hoover on February 10, 2009, at 20:01:51
In reply to Re: Good grief...NOT a pro ssri video » Larry Hoover, posted by garnet71 on February 10, 2009, at 18:59:13
> > Antidepressants are not prescribed to remedy a serotonin deficiency.
>
> That is very confusing, considering that concept is in the very name "SSRI" and that my doctors have told me the same. Confusing not even considering the drug co. commercials.I don't think the rationale matters one iota. Drugs are prescribed on the basis of their efficacy. My favourite professor, who was also my academic advisor, used to call this sort of explanation "hand waving", as in "I know! I know!", when it is clear than no one knows. Efficacy is verifiable, whereas mechanism is unknown.
> > There is no serotonin test in current use. Not one that can assess serotonergic activity in the central nervous system, in any case. Urinary excretion of serotonin breakdown products can be measured, but 90% or more of that comes from tissues outside of the CNS, and is irrelevant. Such tests are a fraud, IMHO. Blood levels can be taken, but they have never been correlated to anything in particular, save some dietary intakes, and those effects are transient. If these tests were of any value, they would be in common use by all doctors.
>
> My endocronologist told me she would have ordered a seratonin test for me had I not been lacking just one other symptom - flushing. We didn't have a discussion about the test accuracy, though.Which is entirely consistent with what I said. Carcinoid tumours can secrete huge amounts of serotonin, in the periphery. If large amounts of the serotonin metabolite 5-HIAA *and* serotonin are found in urine, it's almost certain that a carcinoid is the cause. Usually, only 5-HIAA is found in significant amounts in urine, and that's what is tested for in commercial "serotonin urinalysis". Which is fraudulent, IMHO.
Anyway, carcinoid is a peripheral serotonin problem, and does not affect the central nervous system as serotonin cannot cross the blood/brain barrier. It can often be felt, however, as serotonin does affect heart/circulatory parameters.
> I don't have the answers or claim to have the answers, but cant' help but be overcome by many of us going through a lot of pain and suffering. What I do know, however, is that people, including experts, too often look at such issues within these little seperate windows--the psychiatrist, the neuroscientist, the endocronologist, the educator, the government policy maker, etc--when issue(s) is more of a kaliedoscope than a serial concept.
Fair enough. I think it would be hard to become expert in all those realms, or to find a concensus perspective with which all would agree.
> There are world-class institutions who have increasingly designed interdisciplinary entitites to increase the positive effects of technologies, exponentially. I am looking forward to that trend continuing and eventually consuming the mainstream. It seems silly to me that anthropology, art, political science, economics, medicine, and everything else are studied as seperate disciplines when really, they are all interconnected. There is perhaps a growing amount of information to be shared that overwhelms this concept, but institutions (incl. some government entities) are doing it. As far solutions are concerned, I'll trust the social entrepreuners will somehow figure it out, which is something I had hoped to become someday.
Maybe we can all contribute to that transformation, in our own small measures.
Lar
poster:Larry Hoover
thread:879096
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20090203/msgs/879321.html