• 🇳🇿 🇲🇲 🇯🇵 🇨🇳 🇦🇺 🇦🇶 🇮🇳
    Australian & Asian
    Drug Discussion


    Welcome Guest!
    Posting Rules Bluelight Rules
  • AADD Moderators: swilow | Vagabond696

question for perth BL'ers (re: aropax)

DeSpise

Bluelighter
Joined
Feb 23, 2003
Messages
570
question for perth BL'ers

my sister is taking the antidepressant drug aropax, and i saw the recent news report about it... causing some concern, i was hoping perhaps someone could reccomend a really good doctor thats experinced in depression and could possibly give an educated opinion on the drug in general, and how it pertains to the situation... i am quite worried, thanks.
 
and in an alltogether different tone, ive read its an SSRI, so could it be used in place of prozac to help prevent dopamine toxicity after MDMA? thanks
 
Any GP worth his weight will be able to tell you about Aropax, as it's been prescribed in Aus for ~ 10 years now. It does have it's tricky points, but for some - in the shorter- mid term - it seems to be effective.

It may be worth a phone call to a GP, but if you don't find your answers here, just ask a pharmacist. He see's the prescription filled afterall.
 
Hi there DeSpise. This is very relevant to me at the moment as I was only just prescribed Aropax yesterday by my doc (after trying Zoloft). I too have seen all the reports and are a little concerned, like you. . . Zoloft gave me a terrible reaction in my throat, so that was why I had to change to Aropax. I had my first dose of Aropax today... by the way, when changing SSRIs you have to not take any SSRI for at least a few days, to clean your system before starting up again. please note that this above advise I received from my doc and pharm...so speak to your sisters doc as her case may be treated differently. I don't know of any depression specialists ?
 
The risk identified for Aropax was increase suicide rates in children and adolesence taking the antidepressant. The risk was indentified as occasional. It is also not approved in Australia to prescribe Aropax for these age groups. I would say this is the media blowing something out of proportion. Unless your sister is under the age of 18, i wouldnt be too worried.

Otherwise she should see her doctor or phychiatrist - who knows her mental history - they can prescribe an alternative. I dont think "doctor shopping" is the best thing to do when it comes to mental health, as her current doctor should have made an educated decision to begin with.

http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,9859068%5E421,00.html
 
shes 16. and my mums a cheap ass so she probably went to some public worthless doc who doles this crap out to get kids out of his hair. and like hell im going to sit back and let the screwed up health system endanger someone i care about. thats why id like the name of a good doc who doesnt just write prescirptions all day and is good in the depression area. hell, ill even pay for it myself, this aropax doesnt sound good, ive noticed she stays up late alot and draws which seems to be a sign of mental agitation.
 
The problem is that its been recognised for some time that sucide is a potential risk for any depressed patient coming out of their most depressive state.

Extremely depressed patients may be suicidal, but do not have the energy or conviction to act on their thoughts.

As they come out of the depressed state, they slowly regain motivation and energy -- enough to commit suicide, but they're still depressed. Recipe for disaster.
 
^Agreed. This is generally referred to as akathisia, an intense internal restlessness or agitation, that is thought to drive the person to violence (either self-directed or directed at others). And while I have no doubt this situation can occur, I have never actually seen a case of it and I give out SSRI's to people (some of them under 18) every day. And it isn't just Aropax that is to blame - most of the SSRI's are known to cause akathisia. There is lots of evidence that Prozac was found to cause akathisia in pre-marketing studies but this information was suppressed by the maunfacturer. Zoloft has also been linked with akathisia. Akathisia from SSRI's usually occurs early on in treatment, or when the dose gets increased, so if she has been on the same dose for a while there is probably little to no risk of it occurring now.

Anyhow, re: finding a Dr, most GP's don't have time to do talking therapy but they could refer your sister to a psychologist which cost about $60 a session. Or you can find your own psychologist in the phone book. Some forms of talking therapy are very effective for depression. You could also try a child and adolescent psychiatrist - you have to get a GP referral though. Alternatively you could go with her to talk to the Dr about another antidperessant, but it may not be necessary or appropriate.

Check out BeyondBlue for more.
 
i suffered from akathisia when i was taking aropax. Worst week of my life. I was given it without any real evaluation. It was for my anxiety, however it made my anxiety attacks worse. Everytime i left my house it felt like someone was standing on my chest and my heart would beat so fast.. After a few days i developed nasty morning sickness. I would get up , go straight to the bathroom and puke. After awhile i started to get VERY egdy, couldnt sleep, couldnt eat, talk.. I had suicidal thoughts and it got so bad that my friend had to cuff me to a wall heater. I wasnt depressed but i had to get rid of the thing inside me.. the feeling i felt on arapax is quite hard to discribe.. but it kinda felt like my internal me.. flesh, organs etc etc was trying to jump out and my skin was blocking them. I just wanted it to end. However the doc told me to keep taking them. luckly i said enough is enough. Never again will i take SSRI's. I had a year long withdrawal battle with zoloft too.. nasty shit. avoid them if you can. Drug companies make heaps of money out of these things but i believe on the whole they are a flawed medicine. not enough research done.
 
superbabydoc said:
^Agreed. This is generally referred to as akathisia, an intense internal restlessness or agitation, that is thought to drive the person to violence (either self-directed or directed at others).

The pharmaceutical companies should really be hitting this harder as a reason for continuing their use.... showing that its not really a consequence of the medication per se but a change in mental state, and moreover that it settles down
 
Top