So I am on Day 6 of Tianeptine W/D from a year-long 3 gram-a-day habit. I was going to log it, but I felt that there was already plenty of information on the subject of how terrible it is. The only things I took to help ease the symptoms were marijuana throughout and some wine on day 2. The severity of the W/D from 3000mg/day was about the same as 300mg/day oxycodone - I would know. It started sooner though - within 12 hours of my last dose, the WD was already reaching peak intensity - and that is a very scary thing when it happens. The symptoms increase very rapidly, but thankfully they plateau completely by hour 24 and just begin to decrease by hour 60.
One other thing I noticed - Tianeptine like most opiods can cause thinning of the hair - when I was washing my hair today, I noticed that mine actually started to grow back already in the areas that were affected since I started taking this stuff.
My real question is this - why does it feel like my brain is flooded with serotonin now? Visually, everything I see has that "glow" of 1/2 hit LSD, MDMA, or a big SSRI dose in someone who is SSRI-naive. Even the outdoors have that sweet pleasant smell that I remember from when I was on Sertraline a long time ago. Mentally, I actually feel GOOD! I felt pretty good mentally this entire time. Today I actually feel great mentally, even though the physical symptoms - diarrhea, sweats, shivers, aches, lethargy, RLS - are still there. I've also run out of weed, but that doesn't seem to matter much at this point now that the worst has passed. I've never noticed this mood lift from opioid WD before, but I've also never had WD this severe. Tramadol was the exact opposite - easy physically, but brutal psychologically. This literally feels a lot like withdrawing from an opiate and starting an SSRI at the same time.
I know Tianeptine is marketed as an SSRE but is that unique to Tianeptine, or do other mu agonists also reduce extracellular 5HT in the same areas of the brain? One study I read showed that Tianeptine raised 5-HIAA levels, which SSRI's and Imipramine both lower. Another study showed that morphine also raised 5-HIAA levels - but 2 other studies showed that morphine increased 5HT levels in the same areas of the brain as SSRI's. I have a degree in Psych, but my knowledge is getting old and dated, and I don't have access to all the journals I did when I was a student.
Does anyone have a theory on the whole "SSRE" thing? Is Tianeptine really unique or are classical opiates also SSRE's? I used to suspect the latter, but now I really think there is something else going on with this chem that makes it unique and it might even be a reason why it's a bit less euphoric than traditional opiates.
One other thing I noticed - Tianeptine like most opiods can cause thinning of the hair - when I was washing my hair today, I noticed that mine actually started to grow back already in the areas that were affected since I started taking this stuff.
My real question is this - why does it feel like my brain is flooded with serotonin now? Visually, everything I see has that "glow" of 1/2 hit LSD, MDMA, or a big SSRI dose in someone who is SSRI-naive. Even the outdoors have that sweet pleasant smell that I remember from when I was on Sertraline a long time ago. Mentally, I actually feel GOOD! I felt pretty good mentally this entire time. Today I actually feel great mentally, even though the physical symptoms - diarrhea, sweats, shivers, aches, lethargy, RLS - are still there. I've also run out of weed, but that doesn't seem to matter much at this point now that the worst has passed. I've never noticed this mood lift from opioid WD before, but I've also never had WD this severe. Tramadol was the exact opposite - easy physically, but brutal psychologically. This literally feels a lot like withdrawing from an opiate and starting an SSRI at the same time.
I know Tianeptine is marketed as an SSRE but is that unique to Tianeptine, or do other mu agonists also reduce extracellular 5HT in the same areas of the brain? One study I read showed that Tianeptine raised 5-HIAA levels, which SSRI's and Imipramine both lower. Another study showed that morphine also raised 5-HIAA levels - but 2 other studies showed that morphine increased 5HT levels in the same areas of the brain as SSRI's. I have a degree in Psych, but my knowledge is getting old and dated, and I don't have access to all the journals I did when I was a student.
Does anyone have a theory on the whole "SSRE" thing? Is Tianeptine really unique or are classical opiates also SSRE's? I used to suspect the latter, but now I really think there is something else going on with this chem that makes it unique and it might even be a reason why it's a bit less euphoric than traditional opiates.
