Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Biotech / Medical : PFE (Pfizer) How high will it go? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Jazz102 who wrote (6311)	11/17/1998 11:19:00 PM
From: Anthony Wong	Respond to of 9523

Jazz, <Do the studies differentiate between emergence of a new depression after stopping meds and a rebound depression caused by stopping the meds?> I doubt it, but the JAMA article should provide more detailed information. Makes for good publicity for Pfizer, though. Most investors (including myself) do not have the requisite medical knowledge to dig deeper into these medical research papers to analyse them critically.

To: Jazz102 who wrote (6311)	11/18/1998 12:16:00 AM
From: Brander	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 9523

<<Zoloft as well as other SSRI antidepressants have a tendency to wear off over time, requiring changing to another SSRI e.g. Paxil, Effexor, Prozac>> This is sometimes called the "poop out phenomenon". It occurs in a minority of cases. Many patients continue to respond well to a single SSRI after years of use. <<This does not usually occur with other classes of antidepressants e.g. tricyclics (imipramine, nortryptilene) and atypical (Wellbutrin).>> Although not well studied, this "poop out" effect probably occurs with all antidepressants, again, in a minority of cases. The mechanism is not well understood. <<Do the studies differentiate between emergence of a new depression after stopping meds and a rebound depression caused by stopping the meds?>> Stopping antidepressants does not cause depression. I believe what you are probably asking is whether or not the studies differentiate between a new episode of depression or the reemergence of the same depressive episode after stopping antidepressant medication prematurely. Clinically, this can be very difficult to differentiate, and I doubt the studies attempted to differentiate this. <<Also, long term use of antidepressants is not a new feature and has been included in treatment protocols for many years to prevent kindling effects secondary to the frequent starting and stopping of antidepressant medications in the treatment of chronic or frequently recurring bouts of depression.>> The kindling effect is very hypothetical, and certainly not proven. In general, antidepressants should be continued for about one year for a single episode of depression and longer for those with a history of recurrent depression. Stopping them before this significantly increases the risk of the depression reoccurring.