Effexor (at 150mg+) vs Cymbalta for negatives?

Medications
#1

Hi,

Any thoughts on venlafaxine vs duloxetine or anything else? I’m not currently on an AP anymore since I don’t need it to stave off severe positives (I do have certain tendencies which indicate I might benefit from low dose AP but that’s for another time and another cost:benefit analysis). I suffer greatly at the hands of negatives (you name it, I got it) though and am looking for something to help make my life a little easier, even if only slightly. I feel like even a small improvement would be appreciated. Within the realms of possible and helpful improvements I was thinking something to help tiredness, which led me to think of an SNRI.

I just want some little tool to help ease the incessant reminders of my inadequacies whilst retaining as many functiona/productivel faculties as possible. I’ve been on quite a few SSRIs in the past and though I always ended up coming off them, I recognise their usefulness though and I did find them quite good for anxiety-reduction, not so much in other domains, back then I mistook my anhedonia and zombieness as being caused by the SSRIs though.

#2

I have been on many different antidepressants and really none did anything for my negative symptoms. Just mood and anxiety stuff. Geodon took away my negative symptoms when I was on it and modafinil is doing a great job with them now as well.

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#3

Yeah fair enough. The reason why I asked about SNRIs is that at certain dosages they inhibit noradrenaline, rather than just serotonin. I presume this has some effect on wakefulness?

I’d forgot about modafinil actually, I have tried it lots of times before but I don’t think I was much of a responder. It does increase wakefulness though.

I’m going to buy some nicotine gum also, I need a mild stimulant which isn’t caffeine.

Interesting that you had success for negatives from Geodon, maybe I’ll ask the psych for a low dose. Trouble is, I don’t associate APs with having success in the realm of negatives, so I’m a little sceptical. Still, worth a shot.

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