Posted by med_empowered on December 2, 2005, at 15:22:54
In reply to Blood levels testing for TCAs?, posted by Racer on December 2, 2005, at 14:53:57
hi! I dig your nickname for your doc. Mine used to be..."The Ice Queen/Pill Queen" and "Malibu Ken".
Anyway, TCA blood testing isn't the most helpful blood test...by this I mean its not very helpful at all. If there's a concern about toxicity (ex: high-dose outpatient treatment for resistant-depression, or combos with MAOIs, SSRIs, etc. that could prove harmful) blood tests can help detect potentially harmful drug levels. Other than that...TCA blood level testing isn't very helpful, although some docs do order the tests now and then. This is similar to the situation with neuroleptics...there isn't a very strong correllation between blood levels and therapeutic effects (although there is something of one with blood levels and side effects.)
Good luck!
poster:med_empowered
thread:584634
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20051126/msgs/584652.html