Posted by bleauberry on December 9, 2009, at 18:06:27
In reply to Re: Swapping Parnate for Effexor. » bleauberry, posted by SLS on December 9, 2009, at 7:15:12
> Milnacipran was added to the Cymbalta? Interesting.
Yeah. Well ya know, Cymbalta really isn't much of an SNRI. None of them are. Predominantly serotonin, by a ratio of at least 9:1. And of course we know there is something inherently unique and different about each drug even though we don't know scientifically what it is.
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> > Speaking of which, now that it is a USA drug, it could be placed on your backup radar screen.
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> I don't like to exclude anything from consideration. So far, there does not seem to be too many success stories with the use of milnacipran as monotherapy. Maybe I'm wrong.No I don't think you are wrong. I have not seen but maybe one or two success stories as monotherapy, and they weren't at this forum. It does however seem to be a magical add-on to SSRIs, SNRIs, and TCAs. Theory kind of has to be thrown out the window...combine a SSRI and SNRI? Combine a SNRI and a SNRI? Ya know? As I see it, adding Milnacipran to any AD is like adding a norepinephrine/dopamine component to an AD...because all the ADs are almost exclusively serotonin, including the so-called SNRIs. Milnacipran is almost like a TCA without the TCA side effects, and in a vague way a cousin to Ritalin. A rat study validated similarities between Milnacipran and Ritalin.
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> > I won't go into some of the other oddball things I think you should try (strategies, challenges, off-the-path agents) because I know you are a concrete psych drug kind of guy.
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> I would drink elephant urine if I thought it would help. It would be a natural remedy.Well, I was thinking oddball, safe, healthy, and not folklore...stuff that actually has documented potential. Things like...are you ready for this weirdness?...well, not elephant urine...how about Tumeric; Olive Leaf; drops of 10:1 tincture of honey bee venom; and some others...primarily microcirculation enhancers, brain inflammation reducers, blood cleansers, and nerve regeneration enhancers. You mentioned once you did not have a Herx on an antibiotic challenge, so that is very cool. I wish everyone would do that. But how about Wormwood for a parasite/worm challenge? I've even seen documentaries on TV in the last 2 weeks of psychiatrict disorders being linked to that and cured by its treatment. Ya know? Just one thing to not rule out haphazardly, especially when it is completely safe, non-risk, cheap, and easy. You eat yogurt daily I believe, that's a good thing. You are probably one of the few here without a suspected gut link to your symptoms.
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> > But as long as the toolbox is going to be limited to just brain altering psychotropic agents, your chosen combination sounds like one with high odds of winning to me.
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> I hope so. Like I said, I did experience a partial improvement with the Effexor plus nortriptyline combination 5 years ago. It is just that I am a rapid metabolizer of nortriptyline, and the more recent titration demonstrates that I should have been taking twice the amount of this drug in the past.
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> Regarding Pristiq, I told my doctor that I was receptive to trying it, but I left it up to him to make the decision. I don't think he is very impressed with Pristiq. He says that the best candidates for its use are for people who have already demonstrated partial receptivity to Effexor. Perhaps this is an artifact of his subject selection. I hope Pristiq turns out to be more useful than my doctor indicates. It is still early.
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> - ScottI like the whole plan. Except for the weaning process. That will be a heavy challenge that few "normal" people could even imagine. When you die, you won't need to go to hell, because you can say you've already been there. I think there are a few of us here that can deeply profoundly feel the undescribable torment associated with coming off meds for a complete overhaul.
And if you ever get to the point of wanting to experiment with some of the oddball stuff, I would be happy to share what they are, what the reasoning is, what the proof is, and that they all have similarities...safe, nontoxic, super low risk, healthy in multiple ways, cheap, easy. Even in failure to provide benefit situations, there is nothing lost and no pain.
poster:bleauberry
thread:928515
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20091206/msgs/928672.html