These comments are made for the purpose of discussion and should NOT be used as recommendations for or against therapies or other treatments. An individual patient is always advised to consult their own physician.
Despiramine
Question: Do you have any information on desipramine, and its both positive and negative uses?
Answer: Desimpramine (brand name Norpramin) is a tri-cyclic antidepressant. These have been
used for about twenty years for endogenous depression. The mode of action of this drug is
not clear, but appears to work on reuptake of different neurotransmitters. Tri-cyclics are good
drugs in depression, but are limited by the time of onset (3 weeks or more) and by their side
effects (mainly drowsiness). As a consequence, they are sometimes used as sleeping aids and
also in the treatment of chronic pain – neither approved by the FDA but both common uses.
Other uses include migraine prevention – very effective in some patients – also not an approved
use. The major problem of this class of drugs is the potential for cardiac irregularities. An
overdose of this drug is very hard to correct and often leads to death. Some patients
experience irregular heart beats with “usual” doses and it is a drug to be avoided with
anesthesia for this reason. There are other side effects like constipation and dry mouth-
sometimes limiting in this drug’s use.
