Posted by SLS on August 21, 2012, at 6:37:01
In reply to Re: Starting minocycline SLS, posted by Slabicki on August 20, 2012, at 23:25:16
> > Feeling better...
> That's a good news.
> Scott, did you experience any side effects?
> I've read that Minocycline can cause anxiety, or depression.Let's review the the sources of this information. Can you provide any URL links?
I have not seen it written in the medical literature that minocycline produces depression as an adverse effect. I didn't see it appear on the manufacturer's label. I don't doubt that it has happened, though. If it does, it must do so very infrequently. I would guess that minocycline has less potential to produce depression as an adverse reaction than standard antidepressants.
So far, the only effect from minocylcine that I can ascertain is an improvement in depression. I have no side effects yet. Others have noted experiencing an uncomfortable activating effect after taking the first few doses. I don't know if this indicates that a dosage reduction is required or that it passes with continued treatment. Either way, it seems to disappear.
The dosage range of minocycline currently being used to treat depression (both MDD and BD) is 100 - 200 mg/day given in divided doses.
I have no reluctance in recommending to someone that they talk to their doctor about using minocycline to treat depression. For now, I am leaning in the direction that minocycline is more effective as an augmenting agent than it is as monotherapy. I suspect that, for me, minocycline is particularly effective when combined with Lamictal (lamotrigine), a glutamate release inhibitor (anti-glutamatergic). Minocycline is being studied as monotherapy, though. One study indicates that minocycline works better with desipramine than with Prozac (fluoxetine). It is perhaps more effective when using a noradrenergic (NE) antidepressant than a serotonergic (5-HT) antidepressant. There are reports of minocycline producing a therapeutic effect in the absence of antidepessants. There is some thought that minocycline would work in combination with other anti-glutamatergic drugs like glutamate receptor inhibitors.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0165017309000691
I am currently tapering the prazosin I have been taking. For me, it has been a difficult drug to dose and it abolishes my sex-drive. If I feel significantly worse, I will simply restart it and perhaps replace it with the longer acting agent, doxazosin.
Abilify is another drug that I would like to jettison. However, I am not so convinced that I can do without it. My motivations to do this are that I have gained a large amount of weight and my triglycerides are very high.
I have yet to establish the optimal dosage of minocycline. I am not inclined to raise the dosage this week, though. However, since a Harvard study used 200 mg/day, I am happy to know that there is room to work with.
- Scott
Some 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:1023257
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20120818/msgs/1023799.html