Posted by pfinstegg on September 12, 2002, at 12:27:27
In reply to even more cortisol considerations-to pfinstegg, posted by glenn on September 12, 2002, at 5:57:02
Hi Glenn,
Yeah, those cortisol levels are high- hard to live with. I am most concerned about further damage to the hippocampus and frontal lobes, with continuing loss of the receptors needed to regulate the HPA axis, aren't you? I think that the things I started doing two weeks ago, which I detailed in my first post, are helping. All of them have some cortisol-lowering activity, even though it's probably not much. Compared to two weeks ago, I have less anhedonia, no more suicidal ideation, and I have the hope (based on the tree-shrew research) that the tianeptine may be protecting my brain from the excessive cortisol while my endocrinologist and I work on ways to actually lower it. As I mentioned, the drug being studied here for psychotic major depression is mifepristone- the "morning-after" pill. It apparently really lowers circulating cortisol and helps re-set the HPA axis to enhance cortisol uptake. No-one knows how to use it, or for how long, for depression, so it would really be a premature "off-label" use right now. One of the promising things about it is that it is known to be safe and without side-effects for the millions of women who have used it. Since the FDA put it on a fast-track this past August, we should know a lot more about how to use it for major depression soon. It's the first antidepressant that the FDA has ever fast-tracked!
I hope things are going better for you, and, definitely, I'm with you on "down with cortisol"!
Take care.Pfinstegg
poster:pfinstegg
thread:119611
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020906/msgs/119632.html