Posted by creepy on January 13, 2011, at 15:45:49
In reply to can anyone explain dopamine's role in depression?, posted by floatingbridge on January 9, 2011, at 15:12:13
Emsam hits MAO-B at lower doses and MAO-A at higher doses. MAO-A is responsible for breaking down serotonin. So at a lower dose youll get mostly its effect on dopamine and phenethylamine. It may act like a stimulant. May or may not have AD effects that last until you raise the dose and thus serotonin.
Every drug Ive taken that works on dopamine seems to offer fleeting relief from depression. Im not sure that it works in quite the way serotonin does for depression. Its really complex.. boosting levels of these transmitters is probably not even what causes depression relief, its some secondary action like maybe neuroprotection or levels of BDNF.
Wikipedia has lots of articles on this stuff that are a good start if you have questions. Then there is google books, tons of psych and biology texts there.
If you wind up on parnate or nardil (probably more effective than emsam) there are a lot of people here taking those, this board has a lot of good info on those meds.
poster:creepy
thread:976349
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20101231/msgs/976709.html