Comments on: Valdoxan or Agomelatine for Depression

By: stella

stella — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 06:53:51 +0000

this drug saved my life. I was so pleased it was released in australia. 14 months on and I am now down to 1/2 a table with a liver function test every 6mths. No drug is suitable for everyone, but after everything under the sun was exhausted this saved me.

By: Terje

Terje — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 10:15:13 +0000

I have been taking Valdoxane 25mg for about 6 weeks, like all anxiety/depressants I am unsure about its efficiency in dealing with my stuff. The first few weeks were tough for my loved ones- I was particularly caustic and irritable to the point where relationships were almost ended, almost but not quite because that phase seems to have passed over and I am again my normal loving considerate crazy self.
Sleep is fantastic and the only side effects I consider to be problematic is my over-use of the toilet- I eat a meal and spend the next couple of hours visiting the toilet which is gross.The other side effect is that I do tend to binge every now again on Whiskey with the worst possible hangovers-depression/anxiety/pain you can imagine. It seems that unlike other anti depressants, I am left to my own devices in deciding when to start or stop drinking- It really irritates me when I wake up with a hangover but what to do?

By: Tanya

Tanya — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 16:21:16 +0000

I have been on them now for 3 weeks at the same time as weening off effexor. I was put on effexor last year for anxiety and panic attacks. I am a 43 yr old happily married wife and mother and getting hijacked by anxiety in your 40′s was a big and unexpected shock. The effexor worked really well and i felt fine for a few months. … apart from the sexual dysfunction, which is a sad side effect i didn’t know about. I brougt this up with my physician who recommended i try valdoxane (a revolutionary new drug recently available in our country). Great! Ok, lets do this. Little did i know about the horrible withdrawal symptoms of coming off effexor!! WHY dont they tell you about this before they prescribe it? Anyway, 3 weeks of weening and now cold turkey. I can tell you that my anxiety has not returned and i dont think i have any side effects from the valdoxane, but its pretty hard to be honest because i am still having dizziness and brain zaps from the withdrawal symptoms, my head spins and i have constant pins and needles. I am positive and optimistic though, so will push throug this phase and be grateful that i am not anxious or panicking. Hopefully these symptoms are all withdrawal and not valdoxane related. Would be great to hear from anyone who is having a similar experience. All i can offer is that staying positive and allowing your body to be heard, sleep well, eat well and make time out is going to help a lot. Peace xx

By: ken fairchild

ken fairchild — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 12:57:10 +0000

Anna I experienced the same sleep pattern. I realized that when I woke early I should get up (I was feeling great). I think this was due to being on brain deading drugs for so long, so I stayed in bed and when I stopped worring about getting up I simply went back to sleep.

No drug alone is going to completely cure us. I gained most from doing group therepy in C.B.T.(Cognitive Behavioural Therapy)
Hope this helps some
.

By: Anna

Anna — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 08:27:37 +0000

I find since taking Agolelantine, my sleep is terrible. Go to sleep nicely. But every morning wake up at 2am and go back to sleep at 6! Maybe it is making me manic, its like my days have turned into nights.

Please give me some advise, as people say it helps sleep. Ive been on it for two months no.
Regards

By: Bobby Dukez

Bobby Dukez — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 11:16:19 +0000

Wow if reading all of these comments is anything to go by I would have to say that this drug is the worst thing ever made!!!

Either that or success stories aren’t here to tell us about the glory of the drug. Well, I am a success story and I am proud to shout it from the rooftops about how good this drug is.

For all those who don’t respond to agomelatine I think your doctor’s need educating on different types of depression. I mean if you are a nervous wreck with high OCD then this drug is going to make your problems worse. If however, you have apathetic major depression with bad GAD then this drug might work. But….!!! You must give it time to work. It can take up to 6-8 weeks to even notice anything which can be extremely painful to go through. The very nature of depression doesn’t exercise qualities such as patience.

I suppose what I am saying is that GPs prescribing agomelatine as if it is a substitute for SSRIs don’t know what they are talking about. From their point of view this is a benign drug that might or might not work for some people as an alternative to the SSRIs. BUT they are completely different drugs and used for different types of depression. Agomelatine is for more melancholic depression whereas the SSRIs are for more atypical depression.

By: Neil

Neil — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 17:43:19 +0000

This is a follow up to my post in November. Sally had a urinary tract infection so the symptoms we assumed were from Valdoxan were not. She is now considering whether to try it again

By: flouncy

flouncy — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 20:55:33 +0000

@ GAYE
I also seem to be having a problem with my thermostat just I do not seem to feel cold and can overheat quite easily, I get a lot of comments that my house is freezing but I feel quite warm??

By: flouncy

flouncy — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 20:51:56 +0000

I have been reading the above posts with much interest as I have had bi polar disorder for 22 since the birth of my twins and have been on every medication known to man and beast, I do not tolerate lithium and was wiped out by quetiapine.
I begged my consultant for something that would help me to setlle especially at night but did not want it to have the as i call it straight jacket effect, and something that would not affect my intellect so was given the ago with my mood stabiliser to try.. My experience to date (having been on it for 10 months) I was and remain impressed by the way it helps me to get to sleep and more important wake up not feeling doped up, I can also say that after about 3 months on the ago I started to socialise again and feel comfortable amongst my friends. I felt that I had found something that was both effective in settling and soothing my mood but also finding the old me again.
What I am now begining to realise is I have slipped into a cosy coccon and I am so content in this state that I am going ffrom day to day without going out getting washed or dressed and I have gained approx 2 stone through eating junk, I am quite tearful when watchng tv and seem to be developing an addiction to online bingo. I have tried to anaylse this behaviour all of it but feel calm and not in the least troubled by my current way of life. I feel the online bingo is my only stimulation and that is why it is becoming an issue. I know that I could go on like this as I feel as I have already said unpeturbed by it, howevr I am going to try and stop the ago and see if I can get some motivation back the problem here is I did take ago for three months previous to this 10 month course and experienced severe headaches so I am not looking forward to it :0( To the lady with the joint pain, I to am experiencing very similar symptoms and have been referred to see a specialist, I am 50 and I never consider the ago could be a cause I just put it down to getting older and sitting around doing nothing much at first but the pain got so much worse and I am now taking tramadol to try to cope with it, A very strange set of afairs and I am not sure that I would reccomend ago as I thought I would have when I first started taking it. I will take half of a 25 mg tablet tonight and tomorrow then stop it altogether and see how things are then.

By: Gaye

Gaye — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 13:23:16 +0000

I have been taking 25mg of agomelatine nightly for seven months. I sleep much better and my depression/anxiety/panic attacks – for which I have been taking antidepressants since I was 19, I’m now sixty has almost vanished. My problem is the very painful ‘side effects’ I am experiencing with this medication. I have chronic back, muscle and joint pain to the extent that I can hardly walk some days. I have bouts of feeling severly cold and then at night feeling overwhelmingly hot. I have had all the blood tests and nothing has shown up to indicate what is causing these symptoms. So obviously it is the side effects of the medication. I have not experienced the sore throat, nausea or hair loss side effects that others have, however I do frequently suffer mild headaches. The side effects I am experiencing seem to come in cycles except for the severe muscle and joint pain which is with me most days. A Naturopath has given me a spray to squirt under my tongure which is to relieve the muscle and joint aches, and this works quite well in conjunction with Panadol Osteo, however nothing seems to help for any length of time to relieve the pain in my feet and ankles. I must stress that having had a number of antidepressants prescribed for me over the years I believe Valdoxan to date has given me the best results for my depressive illness. If anyone out there who has been taking Valdoxan and has been experiencing the same side effects as me and has been able to find someway of eliminating them PLEASE email me soonest.