Posted by SLS on June 6, 2000, at 10:30:13
In reply to thanks / how it's goin' / supplementary whining » SLS, posted by S.D. on June 4, 2000, at 22:19:31
> Hi SLS, thanks for asking. I guess it's goin' pretty swimmingly. I've got antidepressants that have eventually worked for me (at least for a while, but long enough to lift me out of The Pit) and at least one med that seems to work decently for Social Anxiety.
Would you be kind enough to give some details regarding your medication regimen? I’m still looking for ideas.
> The main reasons it's not exactly cool as a moose are that
> A) while I feel less anxiety when I'm "put on the spot", I haven't the 1st clue about proactively acquiring friends or breaking into particular social groups.
Carol Ann’s suggestions:
Hi S.D., I hope you don't mind, my butting in, but I really feel for anyone who, like me, has trouble acquiring friends. I have exactly two, after years of actively looking. Unfortunatly, all I can offer are the same old cliches; church, volunteering, special interest classes(Gourmet Cooking?,ect.). I made my first friend in a theatre class, and the second at a writing workshop. From my experience, the only way to break into a social group, is to join one that has a purpose and is looking for members. Sometimes, making one friend can lead to making others 'through' that friend (his or her friends become your friends). Good luck and best wishes! CarolAnn
p.s. I'd love to hear how you progress, if you feel like posting about it.Carol Ann – Those are wonderful suggestions. When (if) I get better, I think I’ll follow them.
> and
> 2) ...well, it's non-psycho stuff so I'll spare everyone ;^)
Thanks.
-------------------------------------------------------------
> > So...
> >
> > more GABA = less dopamine
> > less GABA = more dopamine
> >
> > more GABA = less norepinephrine (noradrenaline)
> > less GABA = more norepinephrine (noradrenaline)
> >
> > more GABA = less excitation
> > less GABA = more excitation
> >
> > more GABA = less anxiety
> > less GABA = more anxiety
> >
> > Modafinil => less GABA => more anxiety
> > Neurontin => more GABA => less anxiety
> >
> > Many of the anticonvulsant mood stabilizers increase GABAergic neurotransmission. This may be the reason why Neurontin seems to be effective for treating anxiety and social-phobia.
> >
> > Now, are you less excited or more excited for having read this?
> More perplexed mainly. Not about your answer, which was great. Rather about how increasing GABA has been associated with an anti-social-anxiety effect, yet so have MAOIs which result in the opposite effect on dopamine and norepinephrine.Ah… This is what makes neuroscience such a frontier of endeavor.
I like to remind people every now and then that the brain is not so simple as to be able to determine the net effect a drug will produce based simply upon what they do in test-tubes and in petri dishes filled with brain slices. I will ignore my own caveat make a comment regarding MAOIs. Most of them are capable of inhibiting the breakdown of serotonin, presumably increasing synaptic levels of this neurotransmitter. Serotonin and serotonergic pathways are generally *inhibitory*. They tend to *reduce* the activity of dopamine and norepinephrine neurons. Perhaps this will take some of the paradox out of the equation.
Good luck with psycho and non-psycho stuff.
- Scott
poster:SLS
thread:34862
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20000603/msgs/36297.html