Valdoxan®: A New Approach to The Treatment of Depression

[HuckleB]

Valdoxan®: A New Approach to The Treatment of Depression

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=22334#

"Valdoxan® (agomelatine), the first melatonergic (MT1 and MT2 receptor) agonist antidepressant, is an innovation in the treatment of depression with several advantages over existing treatments according to data presented during the 13th Congress of the Association of European Psychiatrists. Besides being an effective antidepressant, Valdoxan has shown particular advantages in improving the often disrupted sleep patterns of depressed patients, without affecting daytime vigilance.

“Agomelatine is an interesting and potentially very valuable antidepressant that is effective in both moderate and severe depression”, says Professor Stuart Montgomery from the Imperial College School of Medicine in London. “The new agent has a unique mode of action, improves sleep without affecting daytime alertness and its efficacy is not compromised by sexual side effects, tolerability problems or discontinuation symptoms.”


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[On the Road]

1. Sounds Like it Treats Depression by Regulating Sleep Cycles?

is this possible?

That might actually be good for me. I've tried several types of SSRIs, including Prozac, Paxil, etc, etc, but they all disrupted sleep and the side effects were worse than the cure.

[deek]

2. trazadone helps w/restorative sleep

but I think after a few years, it's losing its effectiveness for me.

[On the Road]

3. Did It Treat Depressive Symptoms

if you don't mind my asking? Can you describe what effect it had in more detail.

I'm seriously thinking I might need something like this.

[deek]

4. antidepressants are very individualized

You really have to do trial to see if it's right for you. I found it helpful for sleep and depression. No hangover. No sexual side effects.

It would make me drowsy within 15 min at first--now it's more like an hour.

[Sgent]

5. Exactly

You might need to try a variety of drugs to figure out which one best helps you. As for "sleepiness", the two antidepresents which have sleep as a side effect are Remeron and Trazadone (Desyrl). Trazadone is the preferred drug if it works sicne it is cheap. Remeron is newer and not a generic. That being said, trazadone can often cause problems with dreams.

[HuckleB]

6. Exactly.

When either trazodone or Remeron works for an individual, it can work wonders, and in a very low dose. Alas, the majority of folks who try them find that they are too sedated for too long.

[Sugarbleus]

7. I wonder if age along with other medical conditions contribute

to sleeplessness? I take Lexapro. It has none of the anxiety side effects of Prozac, for example, and has no side effects that I've noticed. It does not make me drowsy enough to fall into a natural state of sleep; hence I also take sleep meds.

Once I do fall asleep, I usually stay asleep--unless my somatic issues/pain wake me back up. My problem is GETTING TO SLEEP in the first place. Sometimes even sleep meds won't knock me out.

My Pdoc said that lack of sleep IS a problem and provokes further depression, among other things.

I suspect that my depression/sleep probs is aggravated by age, familial stressors, and now political worries. I live in a state of sickening anxiety 95% of the time. It's hell.

[kineneb]

8. insomnia is common with depression

I deal with it all the time. Although my depression is controlled with generic Paxil, I still have trouble getting to sleep. I read a boring book, sale catalogs or knit. Then when I get tired, I put down the book or knitting and can sleep. I too have problems if I wake up in the middle of the night. Then I have to read or knit for a while to get back to sleep. I have found the worse thing to do is to simply turn out the light and then try getting to sleep.

My current reading is the Dead Sea scrolls. Last major effort was the Nag Hammadi library (both in translation, of course). I am also trying to get through a book on Scandiavian knitting patterns. I've been thinking about tackling Marx's Das Kapital in the original German...that will take a while, and should be quite sleep-inducing. War and Peace, anything by Thackery or Dickens would probably work as well.