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Maybe I could ask about that OTC European drug, will jot it down. I'm skittish about any new med after some of the horrible reactions I've had. I don't know which was worse, the shot, the MAO inhibitor, celexa or Lexapro.

I took imipramine for years and years, only half worked but half is better than none. It quit working.

I'm tired of taking all that stuff but I would have acute episodes in my 30's due to an unhappy marriage. I've always thought that if it weren't for these meds, I would have spent most of my life in a mental hospital. And it would have been shorter.

I've been though h*** this past year. My son killed himself on Dec 5, 2012. Some days my mood is stable as long as I keep busy. The minute my mind starts to wander, it's like everything I worked for and struggled for was for nothing and I miss my son so bad.

He left $1.5 mil life insurance, and changed the beneficiaries to my daughters. His wife is contesting it. I can't stand to look at her knowing it was because of her but I ache for the little 3-year-old son he left behind.

I have to go on and don't know if I'll ever see him again. His last words were he was done with me because I called the police trying to get him locked up long enough so he wouldn't kill himself.

I kind of blame myself for passing the family gene onto him only they said he was a little bi polar. Well, I am, too, but nobody accused me of that yet. I have depression, anxiety, disthymia, and OCD.

Best wishes to you. My mind runs like that in the early morning hours and it's not pleasant. Hope you get to see your grandson soon: my wife is going through that also but with 5 of them.

Side effects seem to be much less common with SAMe than with SSRIs or the others. Of course, someone, somewhere, has a reaction to anything.

It is available many places, for example Costco and Rite-Aid.

Many doctors in North America have never heard of it. It is not actually a drug: it is a naturally occurring substance in the brain.

S-adenosyl-l-methionine (SAMe) as antidepressant: meta-analysis of clinical studies. Bressa GM.
Department of Psychiatry, University Cattolica Sacro Cuore School of Medicine, Rome, Italy. Abstract
INTRODUCTION:
S-adenosyl-l-methionine (SAMe) is a naturally-occurring substance which is a major source of methyl groups in the brain.
MATERIAL AND METHODS: We conducted a meta-analysis of the studies on SAMe to assess the efficacy of this compound in the treatment of depression compared with placebo and standard tricyclic antidepressants.
RESULTS: Our meta-analysis showed a greater response rate with SAMe when compared with placebo, with a global effect size ranging from 17% to 38% depending on the definition of response, and an antidepressant effect comparable with that of standard tricyclic antidepressants.
CONCLUSION: The efficacy of SAMe in treating depressive syndromes and disorders is superior with that of placebo and comparable to that of standard tricyclic antidepressants. Since SAMe is a naturally occurring compound with relatively few side-effects, it is a potentially important treatment for depression.
PMID: 7941964 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]