Posted by SLS on April 13, 2012, at 14:42:50
In reply to Re: depressed, don't know what to do. » SLS, posted by phidippus on April 13, 2012, at 12:57:41
> I would love to add Lamictal, unfortunately, it makes my OCD unbearable (studies show Lamictal can cause or excacerbate OCD in Bipolar II patients).
Good to know. I don't think the studies I saw included bipolar subjects.
> I've had luck with Abilify in the past, but adding it would mean having 3 medications in my system agonising 5ht1a receptors-wouldn't that be bad?
I think lithium acts on postsynaptic receptors while vilazodone acts predominantly on autoreceptors, both presynaptic and somatodendritic.
Vilazodone seems to act preferentially on 5-HT1a receptors located in PFC and hippocampus. I don't know where Abilify acts with respect to 5-HT1a receptors. Being partial agonists instead of full agonists, I don't know if there would be much danger of over stimulation of receptors, even if the receptor reserve were saturated. That is just a guess, though. Taking your body temperature can act as an index of 5-HT1a agonism, as they are positively associated.
Because Abilify has such a long half life, you wouldn't want to take 20 mg loading doses, just in case there is a problem. If you do try Abilify, you might want to start at 2.5 mg.
I got some of my information from the following article. The serotonin system is complex, and I don't understand all of it. I would say that vilazodone acts to modulate rather than to stimulate serotonin activity because of its agonism is partial rather than full.
- ScottSome see things as they are and ask why.
I dream of things that never were and ask why not.- George Bernard Shaw
poster:SLS
thread:1015433
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20120411/msgs/1015536.html