![[dr. bob]](/dr-bob-sm.gif)
Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 10 of 10. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by Lisa Simpson on September 14, 2000, at 5:01:27
Hello everyone. Can you tell me please, has anyone been on the above drugs, and if so, can you tell me a little more about them? I've just been prescribed them by my GP. I know Acamprosate is to help with alcoholism, but I'm not sure how it works. And is Clomipramine an anti-depressant?
Many thanks.
Lisa
Posted by Anna P. on May 30, 2002, at 0:24:23
In reply to Clomipramine Hydrochloride and Acamprosate Calcium, posted by Lisa Simpson on September 14, 2000, at 5:01:27
> Hello everyone. Can you tell me please, has anyone been on the above drugs, and if so, can you tell me a little more about them? I've just been prescribed them by my GP. I know Acamprosate is to help with alcoholism, but I'm not sure how it works. And is Clomipramine an anti-depressant?
>
> Many thanks.
>
> LisaHi Lisa,
Did you ever have a chance to try Acamprosate?
Anna P.
Posted by Anna P. on May 30, 2002, at 14:47:03
In reply to Re: Acamprosate Calcium/Lisa Simpson, posted by Anna P. on May 30, 2002, at 0:24:23
Posted by Lisa Simpson on May 31, 2002, at 8:24:23
In reply to Re: Acamprosate Calcium/Lisa Simpson, posted by Anna P. on May 30, 2002, at 0:24:23
Hi Anna - sorry I haven't replied... I don't log in as often as I should!
No, I haven't tried Acamprosate - is that the one that's supposed to make you sick, or is it supposed to relieve the symptoms?
As for Clomipramine, it's my understanding that it is a form of anti-depressant. Certainly I was prescribed it for anxiety. But the trouble was it had a certain side effect on me... it gave me a dreadful case of the shits! (s'cuse the language). I don't know whether it interacted with any of the other medications I'm on, but it just poured out of me (sorry to be blunt!) It didn't happen every time... when it didn't it did help, but another side effect was that it made me drowsy in the mornings.
I have found Xanax to be helpful, because the main reason I drink is because of extreme anxiety, and Xanax is very good for that ... but if you have a drinking problem, would you mind me asking why, if you know?
Lisa
Posted by SLS on May 31, 2002, at 8:27:41
In reply to Re: Acamprosate Calcium/Lisa Simpson, posted by Anna P. on May 30, 2002, at 0:24:23
> > Hello everyone. Can you tell me please, has anyone been on the above drugs, and if so, can you tell me a little more about them? I've just been prescribed them by my GP. I know Acamprosate is to help with alcoholism, but I'm not sure how it works. And is Clomipramine an anti-depressant?
> >
> > Many thanks.
> >
> > Lisa
>
> Hi Lisa,
>
> Did you ever have a chance to try Acamprosate?
>
> Anna P.Hi Anna.
For what condition are you interested in trying acamprosate (Campral, Aotal, Zulex)?
From what I can tell, it might be a good drug for bipolar disorder, perhaps bipolar depression in particular. I guess I should try to get more specific details of what this drug does. I know that it prmotes GABA activity and lowers NMDA activity. Lamictal, which seems to possess true antidepressant properties, also lowers NMDA activity, albeit via different mechanisms. Neurontin and Depakote promote GABA activity, so perhaps acamprosate would exert both mood-stabilizing and antidepressant effects. I'm glad you decided to post this. I have been interested in a NMDA antagonist drug sold in Germany known as memantine (Akatinol). About a year ago, AndrewB, who hasn't posted in some time, reported that his addition of memantine to his antidepressant regime prevented his becoming tolerant to Adderall, an amphetamine. Previously, Adderall would work for only three days at a time before pooping-out all together. He would cycle on and off of it to experience this transient improvement. Andrew claimed that memantine prevented the development of tolerance to Adderall, and he was able to maintain a steady and persistent improvement.
I'm pretty sure that memantine is being developed in the US for use in Alzheimer's dementia and perhaps Parkinson's. However, it is used in Germany for depression as well. Maybe I should consider trying acamprosate as a substitute. My problem is that when a drug coaxes my brain to work properly, my brain fights back and defeats the drug after only three days of remission. This 3-day thing has occurred with TCAs, MAOIs, nomifensine, bromocriptine, and amphetamine. The 3-day number seems to appear with others as well. I wonder if acomprosate or memantine would prevent the development of "tolerance" to antidepressants in the same way as it did so with amphetamines for AndrewB. Is this what you had in mind?
Thanks.
- Scott
Posted by Ed O`Flaherty on May 31, 2002, at 12:18:19
In reply to Re: Acamprosate Calcium/Lisa Simpson, posted by Anna P. on May 30, 2002, at 0:24:23
Acamprosate is of some value to some patients but overall I have not been very impressed by it.Some physicians now prescribe naltrexone as well as acamprosate for alcoholism.
By chance I found that omega-3 fatty acids or fish oil have some benefit in alcoholism as in many other branches of psychiatry.Have a look at www.omega3.20megsfree.com
Posted by Anna P. on June 1, 2002, at 23:37:33
In reply to Re: Acamprosate Calcium/Lisa Simpson, posted by Lisa Simpson on May 31, 2002, at 8:24:23
Hi Lisa,
Thank you for replying so fast. I was asking about Acamprosate because of its possible use in bipolar condition/preventing the poop-out of antidepressants (look at SLS post).
Anna P.
Posted by Anna P. on June 1, 2002, at 23:55:20
In reply to Re: Acamprosate Calcium/Lisa Simpson » Anna P., posted by SLS on May 31, 2002, at 8:27:41
.
> > >
> > >
>
> Hi Anna.
>
> For what condition are you interested in trying acamprosate (Campral, Aotal, Zulex)?>>> Hi Scott,
I'm interested in trying Acamprosate for my cyclothymia, treatment-resistant depression and poop-out of the medications. I had a miracle response for the combination of Moclobemide and Revia (Naltrexone) that lasted for about six months, than faded. I found out about Naltrexone thanks to this site.
>
> From what I can tell, it might be a good drug for bipolar disorder, perhaps bipolar depression in particular. I guess I should try to get more specific details of what this drug does. I know that it prmotes GABA activity and lowers NMDA activity. Lamictal, which seems to possess true antidepressant properties, also lowers NMDA activity, albeit via different mechanisms. Neurontin and Depakote promote GABA activity, so perhaps acamprosate would exert both mood-stabilizing and antidepressant effects. I'm glad you decided to post this. I have been interested in a NMDA antagonist drug sold in Germany known as memantine (Akatinol). About a year ago, AndrewB, who hasn't posted in some time, reported that his addition of memantine to his antidepressant regime prevented his becoming tolerant to Adderall, an amphetamine. Previously, Adderall would work for only three days at a time before pooping-out all together. He would cycle on and off of it to experience this transient improvement. Andrew claimed that memantine prevented the development of tolerance to Adderall, and he was able to maintain a steady and persistent improvement.<<< Scott, I've read about AndrewB's experience.
I'm interested in Memantine as well.
>
> I'm pretty sure that memantine is being developed in the US for use in Alzheimer's dementia and perhaps Parkinson's. However, it is used in Germany for depression as well. Maybe I should consider trying acamprosate as a substitute. My problem is that when a drug coaxes my brain to work properly, my brain fights back and defeats the drug after only three days of remission. This 3-day thing has occurred with TCAs, MAOIs, nomifensine, bromocriptine, and amphetamine. The 3-day number seems to appear with others as well. I wonder if acomprosate or memantine would prevent the development of "tolerance" to antidepressants in the same way as it did so with amphetamines for AndrewB. Is this what you had in mind?
>
> Thanks.
>
>
> - Scott
>>> Yes,Sott, that's what I was hoping too. Are you ready to try either Acamprosate or Memantine?
Are you shure they use Memantine in Germany for depression as well? I'm just wondering if they have energizing or sedating effect.
Please let me know how are you doing.
Anna P.
Posted by Anna P. on June 2, 2002, at 0:00:10
In reply to Re: Acamprosate Calcium/Lisa Simpson, posted by Ed O`Flaherty on May 31, 2002, at 12:18:19
> Acamprosate is of some value to some patients but overall I have not been very impressed by it.Some physicians now prescribe naltrexone as well as acamprosate for alcoholism.
> By chance I found that omega-3 fatty acids or fish oil have some benefit in alcoholism as in many other branches of psychiatry.Have a look at www.omega3.20megsfree.comHi Ed.
Did you have a chance to try Acamprosate?
Do you know whether it has the energizing or sedating effect? I tried Naltrexone before, and it had the energizing effect on me.Anna P.
Posted by SLS on June 2, 2002, at 9:58:59
In reply to Re: Acamprosate Calcium/SLS, posted by Anna P. on June 1, 2002, at 23:55:20
Hi Anna.
> Are you shure they use Memantine in Germany for depression as well?I think I was wrong about the extent to which memantine is used to treat depression. I probably exaggerated in my mind some of the stuff I bumped into on the Internet. I included two abstracts to be found below.
> I'm just wondering if they have energizing or sedating effect.
I'm not sure. One thing I read stated that acamprosate was neither sedating nor produced euphoria.
> Are you ready to try either Acamprosate or Memantine?
I don't know what I'm doing right now. Things are progressing too slowly for me. I think my doctor might be treating me too conservatively, as he likes to manipulate only one drug at a time and ask that I wait 3-4 weeks before deciding on what to do next. This is probably the right way to treat the average case, but perhaps it makes sense for me to throw as much sh_t against the wall as possible in the hope that some of it will stick.
For some reason, I am inept at advocating for myself. I tend to be a people-pleaser and yield to authority. I think depression leaves me too passive and indecisive and without the focus and energy to make things happen. I have never taken it upon myself to get a hold of drugs and play with them. I see people here go through so many drugs and dosage changes. I'm not sure if most of these people are doing this without the consent or knowledge of their doctors or what. Have I been missing the boat? Right now, I am content to remain with my current doctor through my next trial of Nardil. I should really see someone else for a consultation, though. I'm thinking of seeing Ivan Goldberg, MD.
> I'm interested in trying Acamprosate for my cyclothymia, treatment-resistant depression and poop-out of the medications. I had a miracle response for the combination of Moclobemide and Revia (Naltrexone) that lasted for about six months, than faded.
Ain't it something... how different the whole world is when you respond to medication. I experienced a six-month remission in 1997. Gosh, it was like living a whole other life.
Are you still taking Revia? Moclobemide is notorious for pooping-out. Have you tried to substitute for it using another MAOI?
- Scott
---------------------------------------------------------
: Neuropharmacology 1999 Jun;38(6):735-67 Related Articles, Books, LinkOut
Memantine is a clinically well tolerated N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist--a review of preclinical data.Parsons CG, Danysz W, Quack G.
Department of Pharmacological Research, Merz and Co., Frankfurt am Main, Germany. chris.parsons@merz.de
N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonists have therapeutic potential in numerous CNS disorders ranging from acute neurodegeneration (e.g. stroke and trauma), chronic neurodegeneration (e.g. Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, Huntington's disease, ALS) to symptomatic treatment (e.g. epilepsy, Parkinson's disease, drug dependence, depression, anxiety and chronic pain). However, many NMDA receptor antagonists also produce highly undesirable side effects at doses within their putative therapeutic range. This has unfortunately led to the conclusion that NMDA receptor antagonism is not a valid therapeutic approach. However, memantine is clearly an uncompetitive NMDA receptor antagonist at therapeutic concentrations achieved in the treatment of dementia and is essentially devoid of such side effects at doses within the therapeutic range. This has been attributed to memantine's moderate potency and associated rapid, strongly voltage-dependent blocking kinetics. The aim of this review is to summarise preclinical data on memantine supporting its mechanism of action and promising profile in animal models of chronic neurodegenerative diseases. The ultimate purpose is to provide evidence that it is indeed possible to develop clinically well tolerated NMDA receptor antagonists, a fact reflected in the recent interest of several pharmaceutical companies in developing compounds with similar properties to memantine.
Publication Types:
Review
Review, AcademicPMID: 10465680 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
---------------------------------------------------------
Antidepressant drugs inhibit glucocorticoid receptor-mediated gene transcription - a possible mechanism.Budziszewska B, Jaworska-Feil L, Kajta M, Lason W.
Department of Endocrinology, Institute of Pharmacology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Krakow, Poland.
1. Antidepressant drugs are known to inhibit some changes evoked by glucocorticoids, as well as a hyperactivity of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, often observed in depression. 2. The aim of present study was to investigate effects of various antidepressant drugs on the glucocorticoid-mediated gene transcription in fibroblast cells, stably transfected with an MMTV promoter (LMCAT cells). 3. The present study have shown that antidepressants (imipramine, amitriptyline, desipramine, fluoxetine, tianeptine, mianserin and moclobemide), but not cocaine, inhibit the corticosterone-induced gene transcription in a concentration- and a time-dependent manner. 4. Drugs which are known to augment clinical effects of medication in depressed patients (lithium chloride, amantadine, memantine), do not affect the inhibitory effects of imipramine on the glucocorticoid receptor (GR)-mediated gene transcription. 5. Inhibitors of phospholipase C (PLC), protein kinase C (PKC), Ca(2+)/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase (CaMK) and antagonists of the L-type Ca(2+) channel also inhibit the corticosterone-induced gene transcription. 6. Inhibitors of protein kinase A (PKA) and protein kinase G (PKG) are without effect on the GR-induced gene transcription. 7. Phorbol ester (an activator of PKC) attenuates the inhibitory effect of imipramine on the GR-induced gene transcription. 8. Imipramine decreases binding of corticosterone-receptor complex to DNA. 9. It is concluded that antidepressant drugs inhibit the corticosterone-induced gene transcription, and that the inhibitory effect of imipramine depends partly on the PLC/PKC pathway.
PMID: 10903980 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
---------------------------------------------------------
This is the end of the thread.
Psycho-Babble Medication | Extras | FAQ
Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.org
Script revised: February 4, 2008
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/cgi-bin/pb/mget.pl
Copyright 2006-17 Robert Hsiung.
Owned and operated by Dr. Bob LLC and not the University of Chicago.