Posted by mtdewcmu on April 2, 2011, at 15:49:21
In reply to Re: From which dose venlafaxine is stimulant?, posted by linkadge on April 2, 2011, at 13:23:57
> >Remeron is multiply-acting. It blocks alpha2 >adrenergic, 5-ht2a, 5-ht2c, and 5-ht3 receptors. >I don't know if that makes it as effective as >they say, but why would Remeron's makers be >better at influencing the scientific >publications than anyone else?
>
> Remeron can produce faster improvement in certain depressive symptoms (anxiety, insomnia, loss of appetite etc). However, many of the studies I have read, seem to suggest that S/NRIs improvement lags, but is often superior after about 4 weeks. I don't know how the data was anaylsed.
>The nice thing about Remeron, though, is that it can be combined with S/NRIs. So you don't have to choose. The premise that you have to take one and only one antidepressant isn't realistic.
> I really don't know how to answer the question. However, there are a lot of good psychiatrists out there that don't think much of remeron. I personally think that remeron is great at masking symptoms of depression (not that any antidepressant does much more), but people I talk to seem to think its great at improving symptoms of deprssion without actually improving depression (if that makes any sense).
>There's a saying in self-help: Fake it till you make it!
> >I think when they do those meta-analyses, they >reinterpret the raw data, rather than relying on >the interpretations of the original authors. Not >completely sure though.
>
> That may be so, but I think its like comparing apples to oranges. There are many subtle, but powerful things that can influence the outcome of a trial. I just don't think its possible to compare two different trials done on two different dates, in two different locations, funded by two different parties, on two different groups of people.
>
> With a lot of these trials, if the wind blows a different way, you'd get different results IMHO. Unless its industry funded, then you know what results to expect.
>I'm sure that whoever did the study was aware of these problems and did their best. It's still better than intuition and hearsay.
poster:mtdewcmu
thread:981641
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20110321/msgs/981740.html