Posted by Althea8869 on February 11, 2004, at 23:47:49
In reply to Re: Lamitcal as monotherapy...Althea, posted by maryhelen on February 11, 2004, at 20:18:52
Maryhelen - Just wanted to wish you good luck on this. I know hopelessness very well - and unfortunately I think he knows me. I have a real good family friend, who by chance happens to be a professor of Neuropharmacology at Harvard - ive mentioned some of his thoughts in other posts, i wont get into all of it, but one thing he has said is that when people cycle from anti-depressant to antidepressant, the neurochemical structure of the brain changes, not permanently he believes, but temporarily, before ultimately returning to a 'steady-state' - in many cases, with the depression still active. Each of these meds activates a different system, utilizing some of the same neurochemicals, but other new ones as well. Unless the system has reached a steady state, the effects of the drug are going to be more varied. Some meds that dont work at all by themselves will often work as an adjunct to something else because it becomes more active in the already influenced environment than it does at steady state. I think this is why people often find a lack of success when they quickly switch from med to med every two months. It is argued by many that the opposite is true as well. Each persons 'steady state' is going to be different to some degree, so the baseline that clinical trials are taken from could be very similar or rather varied. What is interesting to me, in the reading that I have done is how Lamictal(for depression) seems to do little for people just entering the meds game(although its unlikely to be prescribed at that point), but it seems to be very successful for people who, like you and my stepmother, just seem to have a different 'steady-state' than others. No better-no worse, just different, although the general symptoms may be very similar.
Im sorry to carry on a bit, but i guess this was my way of saying that I think you should be hopeful (if for no other reason than because it beats the hell out of expecting failure.)
Good luck to you Maryhelen. Please let us know how you are doing.
PS (I do tend to carry on a bit, dont I?) First dont be discouraged if nothing happens in the short term - for my stepmother, she had no response(just some minor side effects) for three weeks and then within 24-48 hours after that she noticed dramatic changes. The other thing is - make sure you are supplementing well with things like magnesium, selenium, CDP, DHEA, DHA & EPA & DL-PEA especially, the amino acids and the B-complexes, inositol powder is excellent,Trimethyl Glycine is very useful. The guy that I was speaking of earlier listed these for me(must admit I didnt really stuck to it very long). In many cases he wont prescribe any meds to patients until theyve been on a specific supplement regimen for a couple of weeks prior to starting any psych meds. They wont cure the depression in that time (though in some cases they will provide some improvement of symptoms), but they will create a better environment for any medication to work in. Dont go nuts on them though, just the basics like some of the ones I mentioned, and ALWAYS make sure your doctor knows you will be taking them.
OK, all done - didnt realize it was nearly 1!
Take care
poster:Althea8869
thread:311938
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040210/msgs/312300.html