Posted by Cindy W on April 15, 2000, at 10:41:57
In reply to Re: Neurotoxicity - SSRI's may not be so benign..., posted by Sean on April 14, 2000, at 19:51:39
> > >
> > > I've read the entire article (in Brain Research)
> > > about the comparative effects of fluoxetine, sertraline,
> > > Meridia, Redux, and MDMA on serotonin producing cells.
> > >
> > > It was found that *all* of these drugs produced a
> > > characteristic change in the cells described as
> > > "corkscrew shaped" and "swollen axons". What this
> > > really means is unkown at the moment, but it doesn't
> > > sound very encouraging to me.
> > >
> >
> >
> > James here....
> >
> > I saw this one too, again it was on animals, and in very high doses. All it proves is that animals on high doses of these meds have changes.
> >
> > james
>
> james -
>
> technically you are right, but primates and humans
> have been shown (with MDMA at least) to *more* sensitive
> than rats with respect to nerve damage. Given that
> the rat model of depression and rat-brain synaptosomes
> are used to develop antidepressants, I think these
> results will eventually be shown to happen in humans.
> Mammalian nerve physiology is similar at the functional
> level but not the organizational level.
>
> Since the substances tested are from different drug
> classes, and the only thing that links them is an
> effect on serotonin, I think it is important to
> find out the mechanism and perhaps fix it. It
> would really suck to have the very nerve system I
> already have problems with be degraded by therapy...
>
> Still takin' my zoloft though... heh heh heh,
>
> Sean.Sean, I'd hate to end up anhedonic from my brain no longer producing serotonergic nerve cells. But, heh heh heh, I'm still taking Effexor-XR. Neurotoxicity is a risk, but so is suicide (the ultimate risk with mood disorder). Quality of life is also a consideration (would I rather have all my brain cells intact and be miserable and up to my eyeballs in crap and brain-locked with obsessions, from OCD, or would I rather have a few good years and then have swollen and cork-screw shaped axons?).
poster:Cindy W
thread:29745
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20000411/msgs/30083.html