I wanna new drug

I’ve been on Paxil for several years to help me sleep, and it works fairly well as a sleeping pill, but does very little for my social anxiety. My therapist told me she wants me to make an appointment with a psychiatrist so I can try a new medication. I was reluctant and told her that I only wanted medication to help me sleep and that I could deal with the anxiety without drugs. Thinking about it, the way I deal with my social anxiety is by not socializing. Perhaps a new medication will make me want to get out into the world a little more.

So I made an appointment with my doctor. I tried to make an appointment with the psychiatrist that put me on Paxil in the first place but they never returned my phone call. It generally takes at least a month to actually get an appointment with him. He’s a good doctor but it’s much more efficient to just do the research myself and then get my family practitioner to write me a prescription.

So now to do the research. My psychologist told me some of her patients had good results with Wellbutrin and Cymbalta.

Wellbutrin is a norepinephrine and dopamine reuptake inhibitor while Paxil is selective seratonin reuptake inhibitor. Why do we want to inhibit the reuptake of these brain chemicals in the first place? Apparently, it allows the chemicals to remain in the synapse for a longer period of time, which promotes the absorption of said chemical by the receptors.

Seratonin promotes a feeling of well being so an SSRI should make you feel better about yourself. So goes the theory, anyway. Like the engineering expression “it works on paper,” it sounds good in theory, but our brains aren’t that simple. I can’t say that Paxil gives me a feeling of well being, but being able to sleep definitely makes me feel better about myself. Maybe it’s just inhibiting the reuptake of the wrong seratonin. A different SSRI may provide different results.

Norepinephrine is responsible for the “fight or flight” response to sensory input. I already have the fight or flight reaction to social situations so how could taking a medication that triggers this response help? Hmmmmm… On further reading, norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors are often prescribed to people with ADHD to help with their concentration. I have very poor concentration so something that helped with that might be good. So norepinephrine may help with social anxiety by providing more energy and better concentration.

Dopamine inhibits the release of prolactin, which is a peptide hormone primarily associated with lactation. Okay… I guess if I was lactating, that would be the source of some anxiety, but being a (relatively) healthy man, don’t think I’ve ever lactated. It also helps with cognition functions such as memory, attention, and problem solving. So if I take it, it will make me smarter? That would be nice, although I think I’m smart enough to know that a pill is not going to make me smarter.

Some of the effects of norepinephrine and dopamine seem to be similar to that of speed. I used to take crystal-meth a long time ago. A-HA! Methamphetamine enters the brain and triggers a cascading release of norepinephrine, dopamine and serotonin!

My brain hurts. I think I’ll take a break and do some work. To be continued…

Explore posts in the same categories: Life

Tags: Life, social anxiety

You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site.