Posted by Cam W. on February 18, 2000, at 21:23:19
In reply to Re: Patronizing Psychiatrists, posted by vesper on February 18, 2000, at 19:31:46
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> > I hate to say it but if you have clinical depression you should "grow up" and admit to yourself you are going to have to go thru a "get worse" phase where you will suffer from the meds during the adjustment period...lasts a few weeks and then usually goes away.
>
> Please don't tell me to grow up when you don't even know the facts yet. Thank you. I have had very bad experiences with SSRIs and Effexor, and I took them for quite a long time, far longer than is considered the minimum time required to get used to them. Paxil in particular was also very bad in terms of withdrawal symptoms.(Which one psychiatrist in a hospital insisted didn't exist. After such horrifying withdrawal symptoms were later well documented, my psychiatrist acknowledged it.)Vesper - The serotonin withdrawl syndrome you are talking about is especially seen with the shorter acting SRI agents like Paxil, Effexor, and Zoloft.
These meds have short half-lifes which means they clear the body fairly quickly upon stopping them and the faster you quit them, the worse the symptoms are going to be. Tapering the dose slowly over a long period of time is the best strategy. I have seen it take up to 4 months to wean someone from Effexor; who was extremely sensitive to the withdrawl symptoms. This person presented as almost manic, barely indistinguishable from bipolar disorder. Another person was weaned down to a quarter tablet of an antidepressant (can't remember which one) and we had to add 10mg of Prozac for 2 weeks. The offending AD was stopped after 1 week and the Prozac was continued one more week and stopped with no withdrawl symptoms this time. Because Prozac has a long half-life it leaves the body at a much slower rate, protecting against the severity of serotonin withdrawl symptoms. Just a little info - Cam W.
poster:Cam W.
thread:21971
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20000209/msgs/22341.html