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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 8 of 8. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by AdamCanada2 on April 2, 2009, at 3:03:13
What should I expect? With permission from my doctor I ordered it and finally arrived.
I have severe treatment res dep + social anxiety/phobia. Lack of emotions, low drive/motivation/enjoyment and very cloudy cognitive function.
I am going to stop the Parnate that I have been taking at various doses pretty soon as it has proven to not be good enough. It helps but not to the degree I would like regardless of dosage plus it has caused me to suffer what I feared to be perminent nerve damage or whatnot which has since been very much reduced in my left hand thanks to Meloxicam and lowering my dose of Parnate.
How quickly can I expect this medication to work? Does it have dopamine function aside from it's SSRE effect? Ritalin worked wonders for me but it's effect has become very tolerant even when starting up again after taking month or longer breaks.
Please provide experiences or any input. My life has been on hold for the previous month and a half and I am sick and tired of it. Thank you for reading.
Posted by Phillipa on April 2, 2009, at 12:02:52
In reply to Soon starting Stablon/Tianeptine, Expectations?, posted by AdamCanada2 on April 2, 2009, at 3:03:13
Adam I googled it and it seems as I'm sure you know to work with serotonin but in the opposite way. I would think same length of time as other SSRI's or ad's a few weeks? Seriously good luck. Phillipa
Posted by Sigismund on April 2, 2009, at 19:41:21
In reply to Soon starting Stablon/Tianeptine, Expectations?, posted by AdamCanada2 on April 2, 2009, at 3:03:13
Tianeptine may not be strong enough for you, and it may make you feel weird, or you may notice nothing.
For me the effect was immediate, pretty much (which suited me).
There is some dopaminergic thing going on with it, but it is fairly mild. It is a bit prosocial.
Not a bad drug, IME, compared to what is on offer.
Don't hope for too much though.
Posted by Maria3667 on April 3, 2009, at 9:05:01
In reply to Soon starting Stablon/Tianeptine, Expectations?, posted by AdamCanada2 on April 2, 2009, at 3:03:13
For me Tianeptine cleared the depression but gave me terrifying anxiety... After 6 weeks it was so bad I felt I could almost grab the anxiety as it seems to have become solid... (sorry, little abstract here!).
I'm not sure what caused it, but my guess is upping serotonine has an effect on raising dopamine... I've always done awful on dopamine raising meds, like Wellbutrin or Abilify.
So tread carefully!
Love,
Maria
Posted by psychobot5000 on April 5, 2009, at 12:01:15
In reply to Soon starting Stablon/Tianeptine, Expectations?, posted by AdamCanada2 on April 2, 2009, at 3:03:13
Hi Adam,
I wish you luck in your trial. I take tianeptine every day, and while it's not a miracle drug, it's better than anything else I've ever tried (for me), and like many on this board, I've tried almost everything.
As you've probably read, its presumed mechanism of action is increasing serotonin reuptake, but no one really knows for certain whether that's the case. There is some evidence of a -modest- effect on dopamine in some areas of the brain, to the point of possibly offering mild benefit to ADHD sufferers. For me it seems to offer a pretty mild bit of assistance in concentration. Some percentage of patients get a 'stimulant-like' effect from it, at least at the beginning, but it doesn't seem to be very strong or lasting. I can't vouch for that, because I never received such an effect.
What to expect:
Hard to say for certain--it's different with everyone, of course--for me, I feel nothing the first few days I take it (which I think of as a positive, since normally the first few days of a drug tends give one side-effects, before the AD benefit is felt). Eventually a mild mood-elevation kicks in, along with a modest reduction in anxiety, a modest lowering of negative affect (capacity to feel horrible, etc) and possibly a mild increase in concentration. That's my experience. It takes me two or three weeks to reach full effect with Tianeptine, but I'm a fast responder.Tianeptine is often remarked on as being very low in side-effects. However, some people on this board report anxiety, and others report difficulty sleeping. For others it's good for anxiety and has no effect on sleep (it doesn't damage my sleep, and I'm an insomniac with a high susceptibility to drug-induced sleep difficulty). I agree with others that I wouldn't expect it to do the job on its own (but then...what does?), but for many it can be very helpful. I probably would not be functional (these last...four years or so) without it.
Best of luck!
> What should I expect? With permission from my doctor I ordered it and finally arrived.
>
> I have severe treatment res dep + social anxiety/phobia. Lack of emotions, low drive/motivation/enjoyment and very cloudy cognitive function.
>
> I am going to stop the Parnate that I have been taking at various doses pretty soon as it has proven to not be good enough. It helps but not to the degree I would like regardless of dosage plus it has caused me to suffer what I feared to be perminent nerve damage or whatnot which has since been very much reduced in my left hand thanks to Meloxicam and lowering my dose of Parnate.
>
> How quickly can I expect this medication to work? Does it have dopamine function aside from it's SSRE effect? Ritalin worked wonders for me but it's effect has become very tolerant even when starting up again after taking month or longer breaks.
>
> Please provide experiences or any input. My life has been on hold for the previous month and a half and I am sick and tired of it. Thank you for reading.
Posted by HyperFocus on April 7, 2009, at 9:37:11
In reply to Soon starting Stablon/Tianeptine, Expectations?, posted by AdamCanada2 on April 2, 2009, at 3:03:13
Tianeptine worked partially and had zero side-effects for me. When it's working it's very pro-social, anti-depressant and anti-anxiety. But I couldn't get the effects to last for a significant time period. If I take 3 x12.5 at once I would get a rush - it would be great to feel like that all the time. But it doesn't last. But the anti-anxiety effects are definitely noticeable because at the end of a day I can tell whether or not I took tianeptine that day. It's supposed to be neuroprotective and neurogenesis(sp?) as well.
Posted by HyperFocus on April 14, 2009, at 21:22:40
In reply to Re: Soon starting Stablon/Tianeptine, Expectations? » AdamCanada2, posted by HyperFocus on April 7, 2009, at 9:37:11
Oh yeah I should mention that one 12.5mg tab in combination with amitriptyline produced a very noticeable deadening effect - my emotions seemed very dull and I could not get motivated to do anything. Social anxiety was greatly reduced though.
> Tianeptine worked partially and had zero side-effects for me. When it's working it's very pro-social, anti-depressant and anti-anxiety. But I couldn't get the effects to last for a significant time period. If I take 3 x12.5 at once I would get a rush - it would be great to feel like that all the time. But it doesn't last. But the anti-anxiety effects are definitely noticeable because at the end of a day I can tell whether or not I took tianeptine that day. It's supposed to be neuroprotective and neurogenesis(sp?) as well.
Posted by zzzz7 on April 20, 2009, at 4:11:05
In reply to Re: Soon starting Stablon/Tianeptine, Expectations?, posted by Maria3667 on April 3, 2009, at 9:05:01
Raising serotonin will decrease dopamine, and increasing dopamine decreases serotonin. Serotonin 2 antagonists will raise dopamine levels, as well.
Stablon should raise DA levels, in theory.
This is the end of the thread.
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