Posted by Toby on August 24, 1998, at 13:32:12
In reply to combination of prozac and serzone, posted by karen gibble on August 23, 1998, at 15:32:33
What and how much psychotherapy is your patient getting for the PTSD? If she has been in fairly consistent psychotherapy for a long time and has only minimally improved as far as the "physical" symptoms of the PTSD, like the nightmares, flashbacks, hyperarousal kind of symptoms, you might want to consider referring her for EMDR (look at www.emdr.com for a listing of therapists in your area) to quickly get rid of those symptoms. That will make her depression easier to treat. (Depression and PTSD together is like having a clogged drain. You can pour Draino (antidepressants) in the sink all you want, but if you don't get rid of the hairball (trauma) the sink is going to stay full of nasty water.)
As far as changing her meds, she could probably stay on the trazodone along with the Serzone at night. Serzone and Prozac is a "heroic" but not unheard of combo. The two are different enough in their actions that they can be safely taken together. If the doctor wants her off the trazodone altogether, a cross taper would be the most reasonable way to do that.
Serzone cannot be taken with Seldane or Hismanal. Claritin, Allegra and Zyrtec are OK.
poster:Toby
thread:362
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/19980801/msgs/369.html