Posted by Peter on May 18, 2003, at 11:33:05
In reply to Re: more med shuffling-adderall and strattera... » Peter, posted by Ritch on May 18, 2003, at 10:01:18
> Peter, I think your pdoc's idea of backing off the Prozac some might be a good idea. You are already on the lowest dose of Straterra (10mg), and you're med sensitive. I found it impossible to tolerate the anxiety from Prozac at 10mg a day for very long. When I started Prozac the first time (20mg/day), I could tolerate that for about ten days and then I couldn't sleep at all and my pupils were dilated, etc.... So, I cut it in half and could handle that no more than about another week, then I cut it in half again (to 5mg) and I could manage that for a few more weeks, but finally settled on a range of 2.5mg-4mg/day. That stuff accumulates a lot and very slowly, it is like you are increasing the dose just by maintaining a dose-I think it takes about a month to stop accumulating given the same dosage.>
< Hi Mitch! How are you? Haven't spoken to you in a long time.
I see what you mean about the prozac and my drug sensitivity. In fact, my pdoc told me that when Prozac was first released, the lowest dose was 20mg. Dr. Donald Klein actually had to petition the company to offer lower doses, because his patients were having panic attacks! They agreed to reduce it to 10mg which could be halved for 5mg. But still, my pdoc told me a lot of people take even less, and that Prozac is now offered in liquid form for that very reason.
I see the reasoning behind dropping it and letting its levels lower in my blood.
But there's also the issue of the adderall; I've been on 40mg for so long, that it seems very difficult to reduce it 5mg at a time, as my doc is instructing me to do each week. I've only reduced the first time so far, so I'm down to 35mg. Since I take it bid, there's a few hours in the early afternoon (in-between doses), when I get irritable, restless, unable to begin or continue a task, etc. As soon as I take my p.m adderall dose, these feelings are alleviated.
In fact, After cutting down my 20mg a.m dose to 15mg for a week, I began one night to reduce the p.m 20 mg to 15mg also. But I found that the 15mg didn't make me calm and focused like the 20mg; so I took that extra 5mg to get back to 20mg. I told my doc, and he said I should try further reducing the a.m dose. But man! I wake up like a zombie! 10mg adderall would have no effect on me whatsoever.
Since I'm gonna have to bite the bullet either way, I'm thinking of just forcing myselfd to stick with the original plan and begin to try to taper the p.m. dose down by 5mg (so I'll be taking 15mga.m+15mgp.m). That's why I wonder if strattera will be a sufficient replacement for the adderall for me. The reason he's changing it in the first place is because he finds that the adderall causes me more mood lability than necessary. But do you know if strattera helps for calm, focus, and motivation/drive like the adderall?
He's not even having me titrate the strattera from 10mg to compensate for my adderall decrease.
thanks,
Peter
poster:Peter
thread:227129
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20030514/msgs/227376.html