Posted by psychobot5000 on October 5, 2006, at 8:31:35
In reply to Stablon / tianeptine » psychobot5000, posted by pseudoname on October 4, 2006, at 18:43:00
Legality is a good question.
Short answer, no. The full answer is more complicated. First off, I should mention that Tianeptine is supposedly in development (phase 1?) in the US for treating irritable-bowel-syndrome, so it's -possible- that in a year or two or three, it will be available in the normal manner.
As for today's legality, the answer is...sort of. It is not approved in the US, but when terminal AIDS patients needed the newest drugs, about ten years ago, the FDA loosened up their restrictions on foreign drugs, for those in extreme need--deliberately creating a legal grey area, for those in need. If your depression is resistant enough, you might be able to convince a psychiatrist to write you for it, so that you could import the stuff. It then becomes the decision of the individual customs inspector, whether or not the stuff is okay (should it actually get inspected, which is unlikely).
The difficulty would be in convincing a doctor, since it's not well known in the US, and is unnaproved as of now. Also, I'm sure no insurance would pay for it. You'd have to do it on your own, I imagine (120$/month).
The advantage of this medication is a novel mechanism of action, decent antidepressant effect, few drug interactions, mild anxiolytic action, and very few side-effects. If you think that sounds worth it, than you could at least try to get a psychiatrist on your side. It'd be a strange experience, I'd imagine, but at least actually ordering the stuff is easy.
poster:psychobot5000
thread:691244
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20061003/msgs/692034.html