Posted by MarkinBoston on January 10, 2001, at 19:34:51
In reply to Re: Stuff. , posted by JohnL on January 10, 2001, at 18:01:13
> I wish all doctors would attack depression with vigor and a sense of urgency. Because after all, it is an urgent situation. Lots of things have been shown to speed the onset of antidepressants, including benzos and stimulants. I think patients would be much better started off on day one with both an antidepressant and small safe sample packet of Ritalin as well as a small safe sample packet of Xanax. They could take whatever helps them feel better quickest, as needed. Meanwhile, when the antidepressant starts to kick in, then they can withdraw or modify the other drugs. In any case, every possible trick in the book should be used right from day one, in my opinion, not just after someone has been disappointed with one or more drug trials. After all, a hundred out of a thousand of those people are going to be six feet underground by then.
>
> I like the way Mark phrased it, shoot first and ask questions later, something like that.
> JohnI asked for those adjuncts and got them from doc. There's more: T4&T3 thyroid, testosterone and/or estrogen blocker (for men), and antiglucocorticoid (cortisol antagonist) treatment. They treat just the symptoms of endocrine disruption by depression, but provide quick relief just the same. The last one was encouraged by the NIH in a Jan 2000 PNAS "penis" (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences) paper. Testosterone does improve men's mood, except at excess, and lowering estrogen does dull panic (CRF response from a stressor). Getting a script for testosterone was no problem. Convincing a Dr. to manage estrogen levels also was a challenge adding to depression.
poster:MarkinBoston
thread:51307
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20001231/msgs/51404.html