Posted by Andrew D on March 3, 2001, at 17:48:32
I've been reading posts on this web site for a few days and have cried at finding people who are having the same kinds of problems I'm having. Thank you for being here!
I'm 28 and have been on and off Prozac (for depression, anxiety, and OCD) since age 20.
--on Prozac from age 20-22 (20 mg/day), starting shortly after the death of my mother (who had been terminally ill most of my life). It worked great except for a few OCD symptoms remained. Went off at 22 because I felt great and wanted to see if I could go it alone.
--went back on at age 25 because I felt miserable and couldn't go it alone. This time I was on 40 mg/day. Still worked great except for a few OCD symptoms remained. Went off it at 26 to try other meds to see if I could get rid of those OCD symptoms. Tried, one after the other, each for a few months: Celexa, Serzone, Effexor, Klonopin (only a week--it knocked me out), Neurontin. Most had no effect at all, and even those that had an effect were pale shadows of what Prozac had been.
--went back on Prozac (40 mg/day) at 27 but it simply didn't seem to work as well as it had. I went off it after a few months and tried the "natural" way--SAMe + Kava Kava. (Also tried adding Buspar but after a few weeks that made me anxious and I had trouble breathing.) I'm generally okay. But the last time I felt really good and happy and able to deal with life was on Prozac the time before last--i.e., 2 years ago.
A brief recap:
20-22 Prozac (20 mg/day)
22-25 nothing
25-26 Prozac (40 mg/day)
26-27 Celexa, Serzone, Effexor, Neurontin, Klonopin
27 Prozac (40 mg/day) "fails", go to SAMe + Kava
28 ???That's the big question--what to do now? It looks like my two most obvious options are:
1. Go back to Prozac, and if it still doesn't do it for me like it did before, augment with naltrexone or amisulpride or something; or
2. Try one of the SSRIs I didn't try before, like Luvox, Zoloft, or Paxil.
I guess I feel like I should do (2), try one of the other SSRIs. Do people think this is the right idea, or should I go back to Prozac since it worked, at least at first?
If Prozac worked (for a while) and Celexa, Effexor, and Serzone failed, are Luvox, Zoloft, and Paxil more likely to work or not to work? Are they chemically "closer" to Prozac than the others?
Does the phenomenon of Prozac not working as well after a hiatus fall under the category of "poop-out"?
Also--has anybody had any experience with Rapid Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation?
In any case--thank you so much for listening, and even more for being there. I really appreciate it. Thank God for the web!
Andrew
poster:Andrew D
thread:55467
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20010302/msgs/55467.html