'Serotonin can increase anxiety, not decrease it' - a study

I've just found a short article a study conducted at Uppsala University. Here's the summary:
"Previous studies have led researchers to believe that individuals with social anxiety disorder or social phobia have too low levels of the neurotransmitter serotonin. A new study, however, shows that the situation is exactly the opposite. Individuals with social phobia make too much serotonin. The more serotonin they produce, the more anxious they are in social situations"

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/20 ... 115327.htm

Have you heard about it? I admit I haven't researched it any deeper yet, maybe someone here knows something more. It is quite puzzling.

This would actually explain my experience with wellbutrin (an SSRI). Taking it to alleviate my depression made my anxiety a lot worse. It also made it difficult for me to...well...go to the toilet because most of it comes from the GI tract.

This study would explain why I had to stop taking it, even though I would have liked to do so because I found it rather helpful in the past, especially since it was useful to control my binge eating and could have helped me with weight loss.

MacNabs wrote:This would actually explain my experience with wellbutrin (an SSRI). Taking it to alleviate my depression made my anxiety a lot worse. It also made it difficult for me to...well...go to the toilet because most of it comes from the GI tract.

This study would explain why I had to stop taking it, even though I would have liked to do so because I found it rather helpful in the past, especially since it was useful to control my binge eating and could have helped me with weight loss.

WellButrin is different from most SSRIs.

Bupropion is known to affect several different biological targets, and its mechanism of action is only partly understood.[13][14] It has been widely described in the literature as a weak norepinephrine-dopamine reuptake inhibitor (NDRI).[14][15] However, this is not entirely accurate. There is evidence that bupropion induces the release of norepinephrine and dopamine in addition to inhibiting their reuptake, similarly to other cathinones like amfepramone (diethylpropion).[16][17] Moreover, studies with humans via the oral administration route have demonstrated that bupropion does not significantly affect dopamine levels in the brain at clinically-used doses, indicating that its in vitro capacity to inhibit the reuptake and induce the release of dopamine is not involved in its clinical effects.[14][15] This finding can be reasonably explained by extensive first-pass metabolism of bupropion into metabolites with differing pharmacology – namely, selective noradrenergic action without dopaminergic effect.[14][15][18] In addition to its monoaminergic actions, bupropion and its metabolites act as non-competitive antagonists of several neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nACh receptors), a property which appears to be importantly involved in both the antidepressant effects of bupropion and its efficacy in smoking cessation.[14][19] Chemically, bupropion belongs to the class of aminoketones and is similar in structure to stimulants such as cathinone and amfepramone, and to phenethylamines in general.[13]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bupropion

I was diagnosed and treated for depression in the late 80s and the doctor tried several different SSRIs but none helped. What helped was tricyclics, elavil because it knocked me out and I could sleep well. A good night sleep and vitamin B6 are good, but I don't take any trycyclics these days, just try to get some sleep and take 100 mg of b6 in the am on an empty stomach.

Treating a personality disorder for imbalanced seratonin levels could only be a partial benefit it seems. AVPD is not a brain chemistry issue, but a personality issue. I'm sure things have come a long way since the late eighties though. I think were depressed for a reason and drugs aren't the long term answer.

Kinda confirms what I've suspected.

I've had anxiety and depression over the years. The SSRIs lift my mood, but heighten my anxiety. Because I'm anxious, I feel down. When I mention this to GP they increase my meds. Vicious cycle. I think I've tried all SSRIs and SNRIs by now.

The best med I had was dothiepin/dosulepin. Think that was a tricyclic and very much out of fashion. It numbed the 'pain', stopped the anxiety symptoms and helped me sleep. I wasn't on it for long though.

I'm on pregabalin now. That helps with the anxiety symptoms...doesn't stop the anxiety though. It also helps me sleep.

I agree with the above comments. A healthy lifestyle and supplements: B6, magnesium and passionflower.

snookiebookie wrote:I'm on pregabalin now. That helps with the anxiety symptoms...doesn't stop the anxiety though. It also helps me sleep.

I'm also on Lyrica, 75 mg a night and it helps me to sleep but I still have a bit of anxiety during the day. Like you, I've been on a lot of antidepressants. The only thing that really helped was
Effexor 10 years ago for a lot of panic attacks I was having.

Maybe some form of therapy and/or natural remedies are the only things that can help at this stage?

I was thinking of posting that in the anti-psych forum. The truth is that psychiatrists have no idea what they are doing. most of the success they have with 'meds' is from the placebo effect. And evidence suggests that people are getting harmed in the long run by the drugs. See Anatomy of an Epidemic: Magic Bullets, Psychiatric Drugs, and the Astonishing Rise of Mental Illness in America by Robert Whitaker. He asks why the number of Americans who receive government disability for mental illness approximately doubled since 1987. It looks like it may be due to the drugs used in an attempt to treat it. They actually make people worse in the long run. Most people's problems with anxiety and/or depression are from psychological problems, not chemical imbalances. When you give someone a drug you create a chemical imbalance which will cause long term problems.

Seems to me that the pharmaceutical industry now controls the medical community to the point they have transformed medical care providers into legalized pill dealers...all with the governments blessing. And why not...it generates trillions of dollars for all involved...many times at the cost of the poor consumer who just trusts the powers that be and simply wants to feel better. If there were real interest in taking steps to determine what's best in treating ailments and condition, then steps to prevent them in the first place would be determined and helped to obtain. Big pharma fights the supplement industry tooth and nail to keep them from cutting into their sales. Big pharma controls a large portion of the criteria that is taught in med school now, getting young doctors and care providers on board with their agenda. Even insurance....I lost my job my job with insurance benefits for about a year and being a diabetic I insisted my doctor see what he could do to get my meds costs down. He pulled out his smart phone and pulled up an app that searched for more economical drugs to consider. My cost went down to a fourth of what I was paying when I had insurance. In fact it was cheaper to not be paying insurance premiums than the way I had been paying...premiums plus copays on more expensive pharmaceuticals. He also shared with me that he had tested personally the benefits of some supplements for diabetes and high blood pressure on himself and had good results with managing his diseases better with the aid of inexpensive supplements...was impressive and I tried it and found it helped me too. Yet, how often does that information become readily available to the average consumer? Seems morally wrong for huge buracuracies to capitalize on those unfortunate to be dealing with medical and emotional health problems, yet, here we are. As always, buyer beware. Were responsible for ourselves at the end of he day. I'm sure many years ago it started out as a well intentioned idea to manage and regulate the medical and pharmaceutical industries but it's a different animal today. Free thinkers needed, though unwanted.

NimplyDinply wrote:

snookiebookie wrote:I'm on pregabalin now. That helps with the anxiety symptoms...doesn't stop the anxiety though. It also helps me sleep.

I'm also on Lyrica, 75 mg a night and it helps me to sleep but I still have a bit of anxiety during the day. Like you, I've been on a lot of antidepressants. The only thing that really helped was
Effexor 10 years ago for a lot of panic attacks I was having.

Maybe some form of therapy and/or natural remedies are the only things that can help at this stage?

"natural remedies" are nonsense.

Why are natural remedies nonsense?