Posted by Bunny Goldberg on July 19, 2000, at 2:17:23
In reply to Re: help withdrawal, posted by Cam W. on July 18, 2000, at 22:08:04
> Bunny - It is important that your doctor knows that you are taking the Prozac with the Effexor. He/She needs to watch you for signs of serotonin syndrome that some people get when mixing serotonergic drugs. Also, ask your doc about halving the powder in the capsule. This will give approximately a 10mg dose; it is hard to divide accurately, but will save money and decrease wasting of medication.
>
> As to your conccerns on Paxil; it is a fairly safe drug and it is a little cleaner than other SSRIs in regards to metabolic activity. Most of the other antidepressants have active metabolites which prolong the drug's action (this is the reason some antidepressants need two to five weeks to wash out of the system. Paxil has no active metabolites and a half life of approximately 24 hours, so it really doesn't accumulate in the body. Where other SSRIs stop the production of certain liver enzymes, Paxil does this very rarely. Paxil also has anti-anxiety activity and works in panic disorder in many people.
>
> Instead of the Prozac you could probably use the Paxil for the withdrawl from Effexor. The Paxil should work almost as well as the Prozac for stopping withdrawl syndrome. Again, ask your doctor about this as well. It is always good to go to your doctor with a couple different ideas, so it looks like he/she came up with the idea. It is always good to keep your doc happy; that way he will be more open to your ideas and more willing to help you (most of them, anyway).
>
> Hope this helps - CamCam, thanks for the info. I am just so disgusted with all the docs I've been too. I have not started the prozac and I'm actually hoping I can get off effexor without it. My main concern with Paxil is that because it is similar to effexor with the 24 hour out of the body time that I could have the same withdrawal problems. At least with prozac it takes about 3 weeks to fully leave your system so you don't have the same withdrawal problems. I will take your advice and call my rheumy tomorrow to at least try and get help with the withdrawl symptoms.
poster:Bunny Goldberg
thread:40847
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20000717/msgs/40931.html