Posted by KaraS on November 6, 2004, at 18:04:49
In reply to Re: Saw pdoc - didn't go as I had hoped - scared » KaraS, posted by Sad Panda on November 5, 2004, at 9:34:18
> > > > Why do you think it is that we don't hear more or talk more about Anafranil on this board if it is such an effective AD? Also, how would you compare it to maprotiline? (I have been considering trying maprotiline but am a bit worried about weight gain.)
> > > >
> > > > K
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > >
> > > Hi Kara,
> > >
> > > It's an Anglo-Saxon thing. The French started using Clomipramine(Anafranil) in 1966 for OCD & Depression, but it didn't arrive in America or Australia until the '80's. I think it was rejected because it was viewed as a copy cat drug & therefore didn't have any advantages over Imipramine or Amitriptyline. What's good about the TCA's is that they are all so different to each other, while the SSRI's are the same as each other.
> > >
> > > I don't know too much about Maprotiline. I can't get it here, so I haven't investigated it much. What I have read about it is it doesn't have any advantages over TCA's, but it is more likely to produce convulsions.
> > >
> > > Cheers,
> > > Paul.
> > >
> >
> > Always politics!
> >
> > I think that MAP's extra tendency to produce seizures is fairly small - more in line with Wellbutrin. I'm more concerned with the weight gain issue.
> >
> > Thanks,
> > K
> >
> >
>
> Hi Kara,
>
> Weight gain probably applies to all TCA's to some degree. They are nearly all Norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors & NE increase causes an increase in blood sugar. A lot of them are 5-HT2A antagonists & are very likely to be 5-HT2C antagonists which causes an increase in appetite & they are all antihistamines which is said to cause weight gain. Desipramine is probably the one that would cause the least weight gain followed by it's parent Imipramine. Downside to Desipramine & Imipramine is they do the least for anxiety.
>
> Cheers,
> Paul.
>Paul,
I never knew all of those reasons the TCAs can promote weight gain. I always assumed that the weight gain was from increased appetite only. I actually lost weight on Nort. because it speeded me up so much and so it decreased my appetite. I wonder if I had been able to tolerate it longer and at higher dosage whether that would have continued to be the case. (Same goes for desipramine for me.)
There doesn't seem to be much reason to take immipramine anymore. It's so much like Cymbalta but with additional anticholinergic effects, don't you think?
Kara
poster:KaraS
thread:411041
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20041103/msgs/412670.html