Posted by SLS on April 26, 2009, at 15:50:22
In reply to Re: Woohoo! - Feeling worse on memantine - Woohoo!, posted by sowhysosad on April 26, 2009, at 15:32:15
> > ...one must endure initial startup side effects to see whether or not they resolve and yield to a therapeutic response. I have developed an emotional tolerance for enduring drug-induced side effects. It's a necessary part of the game.
> I think that's probably a truism for all of us Scott, regardless of how many treatment options remain for us.Absolutely. I wish more people would approach their drug trials that way. I would be so happy to see more people get well here.
Part of what drives me to tolerate so much crap is the recognition that the quality of my life depends on a successful treatment of my depressive disorder. Once I had a taste of what it was like to be without depression, I became that much more resolute in wanting to succeed in finding a treatment that would allow me to emerge from the darkness and pain.
> I doubt we'll ever find the holy grail of a drug that reaches full effect in hours or days, despite the claims often made about novel meds.
You might be right. It might be the nature of the illness that the only pharmacological tools that produce long lasting remissions involve changes in gene expression. For instance, it takes roughly 2 weeks for gene expressions to change such that compensatory changes occur in receptor numbers after the initial exposure to an antidepressant drug.
- Scott
poster:SLS
thread:892879
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20090426/msgs/892892.html