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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 6 of 6. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by dg11 on April 14, 2004, at 0:24:15
hello, this is my first post so i hope i am not being redundant.... i was on remeron for 2 years with great results until recently. the weight gain and slow metabolism was not good, causing stomach problems. so my dr. put me on effexor. i hate it. its been almost 2 months and besides the weight loss i have nothing good to say about it. i feel like i am on speed or something.. barely any sleep no appetite at all, anti - orgasmic and i am dreading the withdrawl... but i heard of a homeopathic meidcation form germany that is supposed to be an alternative to AD's. but the person who told me didn't know the name. anyone ever hear of anything like this or tried a natural alternative???? i want out of this medicine trap! thanks sorry its so long....
Posted by King Vultan on April 14, 2004, at 8:11:35
In reply to alternative to ssri's????, posted by dg11 on April 14, 2004, at 0:24:15
> hello, this is my first post so i hope i am not being redundant.... i was on remeron for 2 years with great results until recently. the weight gain and slow metabolism was not good, causing stomach problems. so my dr. put me on effexor. i hate it. its been almost 2 months and besides the weight loss i have nothing good to say about it. i feel like i am on speed or something.. barely any sleep no appetite at all, anti - orgasmic and i am dreading the withdrawl... but i heard of a homeopathic meidcation form germany that is supposed to be an alternative to AD's. but the person who told me didn't know the name. anyone ever hear of anything like this or tried a natural alternative???? i want out of this medicine trap! thanks sorry its so long....
I had some of the same issues with Effexor, as it could be overly stimulating, it decreased my appetite noticeably, and I never slept very well on it. If I had to do it over again, I would have been more accepting of my doctor's offers to prescribe something for the sleep, anyway.You might want to consider trying a low side effects tricyclic such as nortriptyline. This is moderately sedating but significantly less so than Remeron. I did experience a loss of appetite on this drug myself, but that may be atypical. It does not have the orgasm or sleep problems of Effexor and the SSRIs and is not nearly as activating as those drugs can be for some people. I don't know if it makes any difference, but it's also very inexpensive, probably quite a bit less than the homeopathic remedy you mention. As far as that type of compound, it may have some efficacy for some people, but my opinion is that the power and effectiveness fall way short of what is achievable with conventional antidepressants.
Todd
Posted by Bill LL on April 14, 2004, at 12:20:13
In reply to alternative to ssri's????, posted by dg11 on April 14, 2004, at 0:24:15
I have never heard of any safe and effective homeopathic treatment for depression.
Since Remeron worked so well, why not ask your doc about resuming it at a higher dose.
Unlike other meds, Remeron has some side effects that actually decrease when you raise the dose. I know that's hard to believe. But raising the dose might diminish the appetite problem.
Posted by Sad Panda on April 14, 2004, at 13:20:52
In reply to alternative to ssri's????, posted by dg11 on April 14, 2004, at 0:24:15
> hello, this is my first post so i hope i am not being redundant.... i was on remeron for 2 years with great results until recently. the weight gain and slow metabolism was not good, causing stomach problems. so my dr. put me on effexor. i hate it. its been almost 2 months and besides the weight loss i have nothing good to say about it. i feel like i am on speed or something.. barely any sleep no appetite at all, anti - orgasmic and i am dreading the withdrawl... but i heard of a homeopathic meidcation form germany that is supposed to be an alternative to AD's. but the person who told me didn't know the name. anyone ever hear of anything like this or tried a natural alternative???? i want out of this medicine trap! thanks sorry its so long....
>
>I take Effexor & Remeron combined, the side effects of one seems to cancel out the side effects of the other. I am as happy as I have ever been.
Cheers,
Panda.
Posted by Ame Sans Vie on April 15, 2004, at 7:39:54
In reply to alternative to ssri's????, posted by dg11 on April 14, 2004, at 0:24:15
> hello, this is my first post so i hope i am not being redundant....
You kidding? Redundancy/predictability keeps this board alive! lol
> i was on remeron for 2 years with great results until recently. the weight gain and slow metabolism was not good, causing stomach problems. so my dr. put me on effexor. i hate it. its been almost 2 months and besides the weight loss i have nothing good to say about it. i feel like i am on speed or something.. barely any sleep no appetite at all, anti - orgasmic and i am dreading the withdrawl...
I know you're asking for alternatives to SSRIs, but Prozac is almost a sure bet to get rid of that Effexor discontinuation syndrome because it has such an ultra-long half-life. Switching to Prozac for the taper is becoming more and more common practice. I personally used Prozac to taper from Ultram (which is VERY similar to Effexor) and it worked where everything else had failed. Just a thought.
> but i heard of a homeopathic meidcation form germany that is supposed to be an alternative to AD's. but the person who told me didn't know the name. anyone ever hear of anything like this or tried a natural alternative???? i want out of this medicine trap! thanks sorry its so long....
Maybe you didn't mean homeopathic? Homeopathic remedies are typically tiny sublingual pills that operate on the concept "like treats like". They use a *very* minute amount of a chemical/herb based on the premise that, for example, an herb that induces vomiting (Nux vomica) will treat nausea and vomiting at these tiny doses. For many things, I've found homeopathic medicine to be a godsend (e.g. nausea, the common cold, flu aches, and other general physical complaints); but unfortunately I find them useless for psychiatric ailments as have most others I've spoken with.
I think maybe you're referring to the *herbal* remedy, St. John's wort? It's used increasingly more in Europe as it has been established that it possesses a robust dual-mechanism antidepressant effect (MAO inhibition and reuptake blockade). It absolutely works for many people; doctors just generally don't prescribe it because it's an herbal medicine, therefore can't be patented, and thus there are no drug company reps coming to their offices to deliver sample boxes by the ton and dazzle the doc with overglorified information about their company's wonder-drug. You definitely would want to be off Effexor before trying SJW as the combination could cause serotonin syndrome, hyperpyrexia, hypertension, etc. Also, if you do decide to go with the SJW, go to a good health food store and search through all their pills, powders, and potions to find the **standardized** SJW extracts which contain a consistent percent of the active components, the hypericins, in each dose. An alcohol tincture may work better than capsules due to increased absorption if you hold it your mouth and swish around a while before swallowing. Gaia Herbs makes a tincture of St. John's wort, scullcap (a mild herbal tranquilizer), and a couple other things I can't recall at the moment... it's a really great mix of ingredients, though. Panax ginseng is another great option and works immediately (SJW takes a few weeks to work just like conventional antidepressants). I like Panax ginseng (aka Chinese/Korean/Asian ginseng) because of its very powerful "presence". No matter what your complaint, Panax ginseng quite often seems to help by giving your system a push in the right direction -- hence its classification as an "adaptogen". There are different strains of this ginseng -- red Korean or red Kirin ginseng is top-quality. Panax ginseng can be quite stimulating, on the other hand, so perhaps you'd prefer another subjectively equally good but less activating herb -- Panax quinquefolius (aka American ginseng), eleuthero root (aka Siberian ginseng), ashwagandha, sumi, fo-ti, gotu kola, schizandra, Rhodiola rosea, Scutellaria tortuosum (aka kanna), etc etc etc are all good choices. There are a ton of great adaptogens on the market today, pretty much all from Chinese, Indonesian, Russian, and Ayurvedic medicine. Once again though, as with SJW, this isn't an area that you want to shop around to save a buck -- look for the good quality standardized products that state the percent of active phytochemicals (e.g. standardized ginsengs will contain a certain percentage of ginsenosides; at least 4% ginsenosides is good).
Posted by dg11 on April 15, 2004, at 14:29:32
In reply to Re: alternative to ssri's????, posted by Ame Sans Vie on April 15, 2004, at 7:39:54
thank you so much to everyone who responded to my post! all the info is much appreciated! lol
i wantd to mention that i have tried something that so far has had amazing results. on the advice of my acupunturist i went to a highly recommended hypnotherepist yesterday. the main reason was to try to alleviate chronic backpain(the effexor made it even worse) i also told her all my concerns about the medication. so we worked on that as well. and i have to say that yesterday and today, so far.. i have not been "feeling" the medication as i have everyday since i began taking it. i was able to sleep and my back pain is gone. pretty powerful after only one session.
just a thought.... take care
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