Posted by laima on January 15, 2007, at 23:05:22
In reply to Re: long-term stimulant AD use » SLS, posted by psychobot5000 on January 15, 2007, at 20:10:50
Indeed, there are many positive reports about using stimulants for depression on remedyfind. My own doctor says that many people use stimulants successfully for years- the theory is that they flush out at night, allowing the brain to recoup (unlike most conventional antidepressents). He was talking about ADD patients though. Even if the mood boost itself fades, I figure having concentration and wakefulness under control could do wonders for morale.> It is known that -some- people lose the mood benefit of stims with tolerance, and that in others it causes depression. Many patients find amphetamine monotherapy inadequate. But I've never seen any evidence indicating, (as many docs and writers manage to suggest) that therefore -everyone- loses the mood-elevating effect of stimulants with time. I think this is a conflation of theories of stimulant abusability (ie, response to downregulation after the initial dose) with a phenomenon experienced in a portion of patients. Many patients in this community seem to find stimulants very useful in the long term, after all--and we tend to be very treatment resistant.
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> I have read case-reports of people who use them successfully for the long term, even as monotherapy. Many docs will confidently state that amphetamine monotherapy doesn't work in the long term, but I find that these same docs are:
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> 1) Young--fresh out of school, and with relatively limited clinical experience, also freshly indoctrinated with serotonin theory.
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> 2) Refuse to write for stimulants in the first place--thus making it unlikely that they have much experience with their use in depression.
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poster:laima
thread:721931
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20070113/msgs/722754.html