Experience with Valdoxan/Agomelatine?

Just wondering if anyone here has used Valdoxan and what you thought of it?

Any idea what it might be called over here?

Julie wrote:Any idea what it might be called over here?

Sorry I forgot us Aussies can have different names.

The active ingredient is Agomelatine trade names Valdoxan, Melitor, Thymanax

mgaggie wrote:Just wondering if anyone here has used Valdoxan and what you thought of it?

mgaggie,

I am curious, why were you put on it since it is an antidepressant?

The reason I am asking the question is as someone who is admittedly cynical regarding psych meds, it seems they are way overprescribed. Hopefully, that isn't the case in your situation since I do realize that people find them beneficial.

49er

49er wrote:

mgaggie wrote:Just wondering if anyone here has used Valdoxan and what you thought of it?

mgaggie,

I am curious, why were you put on it since it is an antidepressant?

The reason I am asking the question is as someone who is admittedly cynical regarding psych meds, it seems they are way overprescribed. Hopefully, that isn't the case in your situation since I do realize that people find them beneficial.

49er

I have suffered from chronic depression on and off for approx 20 years. I have been taking Effexor XR for the last 8 years and my respiratory specialist believes that it is cause of my fragmented sleep patterns and some of my insomnia. Unfortunately Effexor is an absolute b**ch to wean off, and as I am still not waking up feeling refreshed with the cpap the psychiatrist suggested I try valdoxan.

I would like to say that I don't need AD meds, but unfortunately it has been proven a few times that I can't function without them.

mgaggie wrote:

49er wrote:

mgaggie wrote:Just wondering if anyone here has used Valdoxan and what you thought of it?

mgaggie,

I am curious, why were you put on it since it is an antidepressant?

The reason I am asking the question is as someone who is admittedly cynical regarding psych meds, it seems they are way overprescribed. Hopefully, that isn't the case in your situation since I do realize that people find them beneficial.

49er

I have suffered from chronic depression on and off for approx 20 years. I have been taking Effexor XR for the last 8 years and my respiratory specialist believes that it is cause of my fragmented sleep patterns and some of my insomnia. Unfortunately Effexor is an absolute b**ch to wean off, and as I am still not waking up feeling refreshed with the cpap the psychiatrist suggested I try valdoxan.

I would like to say that I don't need AD meds, but unfortunately it has been proven a few times that I can't function without them.

Thanks mggaggie.

Something to consider that may or may not be applicable in your situation. Many people who felt they couldn't function without antidepressants found out that it was due to tapering too quickly. In other words, you can experience withdrawal symptoms that may look like a return of the depression but aren't.

Unfortunately, Effexor is one the worst meds to taper off of due to is short half life.

You might find this thread helpful for getting off of Effexor:

http://survivingantidepressants.org/ind ... enlafaxine

A few disclaimers - This is a site for people wanting to get off of psych meds permanently. Also, many physicians will look at you like you are speaking Greek if you ask them for their cooperation in tapering off of a med very slowly. Too long to get into.

Back to your initial question - Unfortunately, everyone is different regarding meds as I am sure you are well aware. In my opinion, when people are asking that question, they have doubt about whether they should take the med but of course, that may not be the case in your situation. Whatever you decide, trust your instincts. They have never let me know when I listen to them which is another issue.

49er

After the silly season of xmas and new year, I will be talking my psychiatrist about weaning off effexor. Even if I can only go as far as lowering the dose I take will at least be an improvement.

I've taken valdoxan the last two nights and they certainly helped me sleep, I just feel a bit extra sleepy in the morning atm, but from what I've read that will pass.

To the OP: I suggest you change your subject line to include something like Valdoxan: Could it help break the depression/insomnia cycle? It's easy to edit your subject line at any time, just go into the box at the top and retype the original text. There are tons of insomniacs on this forum who would be interested.

It's noteworthy, that the usual forum members who are biased against anti-depressants are out in force on this topic, flooding this thread with numerous anecdotal opinions. They are not doctors that I am aware of. Often they simply send people to fringe 'stop anti-depressant websites' as a one stop cure-all. They certainly have a right to an opinion but they don't have a right to dominate the forum just because anti-depressants failed to help them. As a result of these multiple slams on anti-depressants, it now seems the there is a vague unspoken stigma attached to ones coming forward to answer the OP's question and admitting on this forum that one currently takes or has taken anti-depressants. I suspect there are many on this forum that have taken Valdoxan or it's generic (it's been out ten years) and I personally would like to hear from them, especially since the drug was designed to treat the depression/insomnia cycle. So IMO, the question is NOT off topic/OT.

Here's what I'm going to do: If you've had experience with this drug please PM me. I'll strip out your name (avatar etc) and just post the text as a reply in this thread... ie. Reply A, Reply B etc. You will be totally anonymous and can tell your story. I'm a long time very trusted member so please send me your PMs. SORRY IF I RUFFLED ANYBODY'S FEATHERS BUT THE OFFER ABOVE STILL STANDS.

According to both my GP and my pharmacist Valdoxan/Agomelatine, while available everywhere else, is not yet approved in the USA, tho both these professional agree it shows a lot of promise for sleep disorders. So this issue may be a tempest in a teapot... unless anybody else has info that I'm not aware of. Release dates in the US?

mgaggie is from Australia as I recall. Oh well.

Sir NoddinOff wrote:
It's noteworthy, that the usual forum members who are biased against anti-depressants are out in force on this topic, flooding this thread with numerous anecdotal opinions.

They are allowed their opinion Noddin. I actually agree with 49er in that AD's are over prescribed. I know of people that were prescribed AD's when they weren't suffering from depression. 49er has been very polite in expressing their opinion. I don't quite get where the flooding of this topic with anecdotal opinions has happend.

Thankyou for your PM Noddin. But I will keep the topic as it is. I want to know of anyone's experiences in taking this med. People are more than welcome to PM me if they don't want to make it public (which I totally understand)

I've been on Agomelatine (Valdoxan) for three weeks. It was prescribed by my psychiatrist for anxiety/sleep disturbance because the benzodiazepine (Oxazepam) I was on to help me sleep was causing havoc with my OSA (sleep apnea), giving me four-fold the number of OSA events in a night (I have a good oximeter and test myself regularly). After three weeks on Agomelatine my anxiety is down by about 20-25% (for me, the difference between non-functional and functional), but the biggest change has been that I'm now getting a good night's sleep every night, without benzodiazepine. According to the blurb on Agomelatine, that it what’s supposed to happen, so perhaps no huge surprise there. However, the big surprise for me is that my OSA (desaturation below 88%) events, which I had already reduced to around 12-20 per night with the help of breathing exercises and sleeping on my side, suddenly reduced to zero without any further intervention. If this continues it will be a miracle – I have been resisting CPAP for too long.

Good to hear you have had success Jed27. I have had moderate success, my moods have stabilized (I don't go from one extreme to the other as often as I used to), it does help with my sleep to a degree.

Jed27, make sure you have regular liver function tests, as Valdoxan is known to mess up livers. My liver function is a bit screwy atm, so they are keeping a close eye on it and hopefully it will settle down.

Agomelatine was never approved in North America so no one from there will be able to tell you much about it.

Overall it has a very troubled approval history as the company developing the drug had a difficult time proving, in a general population, that it actually worked. Using subgroup analysis they were able to identify people where it seemed to provide significant relief. This group of individuals either had SAD and/or had insomnia that interfered with their daily activities. In this subgroup its efficacy equal or superior to several established medications that are 1st line treatments for depression.

If you have a history of SAD or insomnia with major depressive disorder, dysthymia, with or without anxiety, I think it would be worth considering. However, besides being a new drug, it is also the bellwether for an entirely new class of drugs. This usually means that the long term effects as well as adverse qualities of such medications are unknown. If you find other established treatments are not effective then I think it is worth considering. However, if you have other established treatments that you can try instead they may be a better choice if you don't want to take a medication where long term data is sparse at best.

I agree Parelel, if there are more established medications I would suggest those over ones that are new.