Posted by Larry Hoover on February 10, 2009, at 16:07:12
In reply to Re: Good grief...NOT a pro ssri video » West, posted by garnet71 on February 9, 2009, at 18:48:32
> I think its pretty damn scary to prescribe, for example, SSRIs without first being sure there is actually a seratonin deficiency in the brain.
Antidepressants are not prescribed to remedy a serotonin deficiency. They are prescribed to treat the symptoms of depression, and some other mental illnesses. Their mechanism of action is still unknown. The differing qualities of individual antidepressants are matched, hopefully, to the particular symptoms identified during diagnosis.
> BTW, there is a seratonin test available. Not 100% accurate,
There is no serotonin test in current use. Not one that can assess serotonergic activity in the central nervous system, in any case. Urinary excretion of serotonin breakdown products can be measured, but 90% or more of that comes from tissues outside of the CNS, and is irrelevant. Such tests are a fraud, IMHO. Blood levels can be taken, but they have never been correlated to anything in particular, save some dietary intakes, and those effects are transient. If these tests were of any value, they would be in common use by all doctors.
> so maybe we should ask the question as to why more accurate tests are not being developed?
They're looking as hard as they can, and as fast as they can. Whoever comes up with such a test would become very wealthy.
Lar
poster:Larry Hoover
thread:879096
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20090203/msgs/879281.html