Posted by SLS on November 18, 2022, at 6:39:28
In reply to Re: Going with Venlafainxe + Bupropion, posted by linkadge on November 17, 2022, at 15:16:23
> Thanks for the tips. I'll let you know how it goes.
>
> I am literally starting with spheroids of a 37.5mg cap of venlafaxine. I was hoping that I could manage on just lithium + wellbutrin. The problem is that it was kind of mindless energy without insight. Effexor has been better at helping introspection. I.e. ability to look at the pieces and actions of my life that contribute to me staying on track.
>
> LinkadgePerhaps that is the result of mental *clarity*, which I find to be an effect essential to a global antidepressant response.
Stay on the lithium. I may or not be helping. However, like me, it might be required to respond robustly to everything else. For *me* low-dosage lithium 300 mg/day has a significant antidepressant effect. 450 mg/day and higher actually reverses the improvement, and I relapse. My research into this phenomenon is supported by a few articles appearing on Medline / PubMed.
"Bimodal effect of lithium plasma levels on hippocampal glutamate concentrations in bipolar II depression: a pilot study"
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25522399/
I find that the bimodal effect of lithium on my depression can be explained by this article and its finding that lithium has a bimodal effect on glutamate release.
This might be an overgeneralization, but I have seen literature that depicts:
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1. Low dosages of lithium: Improves depression only.
2. Low levels of glutamate are associated with depression.
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1. High dosages of lithium: Used traditionally for bi1. polar disorder. High dosages are necessary as an acute treatment for an ongoing episode of a mania or for its prophylaxis.
2. High levels of glutamate are associated with mania.
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Please do not neglect these associations. If your depression reacts to lithium like mine, 300-450 mg/day should work better than higher dosages. If 300 mg/day of lithium is a better antidepressant for you, it won't take more than a week to see an improvement. If you already tried this without success, consider that higher dosages are necessary for you. A nice secondary benefit to taking extremely dosages of lithium is that it prevents Alzheimer's Disease and probably other neurodegenerative diseases.
In my way of thinking, lithium is aspirin for the brain, and probably neurons in general. It prevents apoptosis and lengthens telomeres. The telomere thing is astonishing.
- Scott
Some see things as they are and ask why.
I dream of things that never were and ask why not.The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.
poster:SLS
thread:1121058
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20220917/msgs/1121073.html