Mental Health agomelatine experiences

[Mysterie]

soo i was prescribed agomelatine (brand name valdoxan) its a melatonergic antidepressant, the first of its kind, its an analogue of melatonin i believe

"Agomelatine behaves both as a potent agonist at melatonin MT1 and MT2 receptors and as a neutral antagonist at 5-HT2C receptors. "

it was developed by servier (france) in 2005 and was available in australia since 2009, and south africa and parts of europe before then

its not supported by PBS where i live, the system which subsidises medications so they aren't crazily expensive, so not many people take it in australia where i live. the reason i can afford to take it is because i have access to free samples.

ive read for hours possibly all the information i can find on anecdotal experiences on the drug, which i am finding more fascinating the more i read about it.

it seems like not everyone responds to it, but for the people that do, it has practically no side effect profile (doesn't blunt emotions), and seems to slowly improve peoples mood and general wellbeing over 6-8 weeks, some to the point of appreciating music and every day activities more, although some people may find they respond within the first 2 weeks.

im on day 4 right now and all i have noticed is that i am sleeping more soundly, and longer than usual. i wake up with some dry mouth most mornings and felt nauseous on 1 occasion.

so i figured id update this thread with any developments on how this new treatment works for me, im interested to see if anyone else is taking it, and share their experience aswell, although it seems to be a rarity (at least in usa/aus).

i already made a thread about this med, but since circumstances have changed i figured i'd make a new one, i think its important to raise awareness that there are some new ADs out there that are working for people with a lot less side effects, i have a high sensitivity to side effects in drugs so i couldn't stay on zoloft.

 

[Mysterie]

day 7:

for the past 1-2 days i have been doing 30 minutes of cardio exercise (running) and 1 hour of meditation daily. this is a pretty big deal for me because i haven't been practicing those habits on a daily basis for many months. i could attribute this to my low mood being improved due to the agomelatine. overall there has been a noticeable decrease in my depression, and a very minor decrease in anxiety, side effects are pretty much non-existent. a week ago i had been eating fast food almost daily, really poor diet to be honest. now i am making better choices about what i put into my body, not having to numb myself as much with comfort food.

i think that due to this drugs improvement in reducing my lows, i will be able to sustain habits which help me to maintain a degree of balance in my life, which will contribute towards a feeling of general happiness, at least thats my hypothesis at this point. its supposed to be around 4-7 weeks where the build up in antidepressant effect should be at its most visible.

feeling very positive so far about this as a treatment for my depression. , much better for me than a traditional ssri, i feel a lot more like me.

 

[jammin83]

Glad it seems to be working for you. Sounds interesting. Do you have bipolar depression or just the regular kind, if you don't mind me asking?

 

[Mysterie]

i have mild/moderate depression (it was more severe when i was younger), its supposed to be good for bipolar though because it helps to balance circadian rhythms improving sleep quality.

ive been manic before but it was catalysed with lsd

"One open-label study [1] of adjunctive agomelatine treatment in bipolar depression reported that 81% of subjects showed a greater than 50% improvement in depressive symptoms."

 

[jammin83]

I just wonder how it is coming off of this stuff. That's what worries me about a lot of these meds, especially the new ones. Thanks for the info though!

 

[Mysterie]

there are no discontinuation symptoms with agomelatine actually. [study]

 

[Rybee]

How much are you taking OP? 25mg or 50mg?

Are you having liver tests whilst on it?

I really liked it because of its low side-effect profile, but I found that like most medications that increase dopamine activity, it gave me bad nightmares and night-sweats. Shame really as it's medication with brilliant potential.

I just wonder how it is coming off of this stuff. That's what worries me about a lot of these meds, especially the new ones. Thanks for the info though!

There are no withdrawal symptoms, some slight discontinuation effects if you jump off of a 50mg dose straight away but nothing really serious.

 

[Mysterie]

been taking 50mg the whole time.

i had a liver test done before i started, and its fine. will probably get another done a month into my trial.

i have a very sensitive constitution so its a life saver that i have found something that doesnt make me feel like i'm on a dirty drug all the time.

i had night sweats a couple nights near the start, but they passed and i had a vivid dream last night for the first time in a while, i like my dreams tho.

i'm currently at about day 13 or so, i have started waking up a a few hours earlier than usual, feeling rested, which i like. i think it might take another week for me to feel a more noticeable mood lift.

@rybee

how many weeks into it did you find a noticeable increase in mood or wellbeing? did you notice if it made music sound better/more motivation in general? how long did you take it for?

 

[Rybee]

@rybee

how many weeks into it did you find a noticeable increase in mood or wellbeing? did you notice if it made music sound better/more motivation in general? how long did you take it for?

Took it for about 3 months before I couldn't tolerate the vivid dreams and night sweats any more.

Can't really say tbh... I'm always so skeptical as to the real effects of any 'antidepressant' and the placebo effects. I think it's very easy to start focusing on the good aspects of your daily life, once you're told that you're taking a medication that eradicate your depression.

I can't say with any level of certainty that I was better off on it.

 

[Mysterie]

thats what double blind studies are for i guess

i appreciate that the effects are on the subtle side, and build up slowly over time.

lots of people seem to report that they don't think it is doing anything, then they stop taking it and realise how much it was actually doing for them

 

[Rybee]

thats what double blind studies are for i guess

i appreciate that the effects are on the subtle side, and build up slowly over time.

lots of people seem to report that they don't think it is doing anything, then they stop taking it and realise how much it was actually doing for them

Now that, I really do agree with. I've witnessed this phenomenon before with Pregabalin for migraines. After 6 months of use my migraines were appearing at times and the Pregabalin made me so drowsy so I thought I'd just come off of it as there'd be nothing to lose. But jeez. After 2 weeks off of it, I realised how much it actually was helping. By no means perfect, but yeah it does make you think. Kind of fits with the whole philosophy of only appreciating something when it's gone.

I tapered off of my Sertraline (for depression and anxiety) because it made me so tired and drowsy and I'm now looking for another medication. I just can't seem to hack SNRIs/SSRIs/TCAs, and for long term treatment, there's not much other choice out there.

 

[Mysterie]

im pretty interested by tianeptine (SSRE), so yeh if you haven't heard of it then i think its worth looking into, in terms of newer AD's with minimal side effects, i bought some recently so it should be coming soon. i like that the positive effect is noticeable within the first few days, and it seems to increase energy/motivation/mood which i think could balance really well with ago.

long term wise, it seems a lot of people develop a tolerance after a few weeks to some months. but some seem to say that it has the effect of neuroplasticity in the brain, so once it stops working they can take a break and they are better off than when they started it.