Posted by francesco on April 11, 2004, at 17:45:08
In reply to Re: serotonin and body image, sociability, self-esteem » francesco, posted by zeugma on April 11, 2004, at 16:50:44
> > Hi Zeugma, I have tried Anafranil, and yes, it's the most powerful med I have ever tried. But it didn't help me in the social area. Just the opposite. I had the tendency to isolate myself too. I avoided people and liked to stay at home watching film and reading books. I have a theory regarding this. Antidepressants make you feel different emotions, emotions that the other doesn't feel. This make us more difficult to communicate. Ok, it maybe a stupid theory and it's not very encouraging but this is what I've experienced. Anyway, I have tried four different SSRIa and Anafranil didn't make me feel so detached from my feelings as SSRIa did. Not so much. If you want to stay on antidepressants Anafranil may be your best choice. I've on it for 7 years. Best wishes
> >
>
> Hi francesco,
>
> I am definitely planning on staying on AD's, as I don't have much success with anything when not on them. A difference between us might be that you isolate when on antidepressants, but that that is not your natural tendency (?), but I isolate whether on an antidepressant or not. I suppose the isolating, for me, becomes more troubling because the other symptoms of depression lift.
>
> it is encouraging to hear that Anafranil was powerful for you and also that it didn't cause as much detachment as SSRI's. We have discussed this before and my theory is that Anafranil inhibits norepinephrine reuptake also which actually makes certain feelings stronger. How is yourr current cocktail of meds helping you?Hi Zeugma, yes, we have discussed this before but my memory is poor and quite selective !!! Today I have been so depressed that I forgot your interesting NE-reuptake theory about emotions. Now I'm on Zoloft 50mg (God only knows why) and Lamictal 25mg (to counteract severe cycling induced by Zoloft). The picture is complicated by the fact that I'm drinking over my meds, so, I don't know what they're doing and what alcohol is doing. I'm abusing also caffeine in this period.
All this sucks but I hope to manage to quit alcohol because I think I'm self-sabotating. The problem is that I use alcohol to counteract numbness from Zoloft and coffee to counteract sleepiness from Lamictal. what a mess !!! So, so far the meds are just ruining my life, as I written in another post I have a girl who leaves every fuc**in time I come back to meds because she feels (and she's right) that I'm less interested in her. Sorry for ranting. I have decided that tomorrow I'll diminish Zoloft to 25 mg (where has my sex desire gone ?) and add 10mg of Imipramine, as my psychiatrist suggested (unfortunately Imipramine has also SE-reuptake properties). Lamictal gave me very good feelings on the first two days but I have experienced a severe down in the evening.About Anafranil ... I'm a big fan of it. It gave me mental clarity even if the first period can be difficult (sleepiness was the main problem for me). If weight gain is not a problem for you go for it, my experience is that also sexual dysfunctions of Anafranil are nothing compared to the ones of SSRI's. And it didn't make me apathetic at all !!! Why didn't I come back to Anafranil ? It made me a misantropist but this could be dued to untreated bipolar II. So, if you want to try it, I'll strongly suggest it. Best wishes
poster:francesco
thread:335210
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040407/msgs/335299.html