Posted by Kacy on September 21, 2003, at 17:37:48
In reply to Strattera + SSRI Experiences?, posted by rxexploration on September 21, 2003, at 10:29:55
Rxexploration: I take Effexor and Strattera. My experience may not help, though, because Effexor only did one thing for me. It has helped with what my psychiatrist calls "excessive ruminating". I went up to 225 mg and never got any additional benefits, just more side effects. I never had any mood brightening or anxiolytic effect.
I finally settled in at 112.5 mg of Effexor after considering the tradeoffs in side-effects and benefit. When I went on Strattera, I was able to drop to 75 mg of Effexor and get at least the benefit of 112.5 mg of Effexor. Strattera is a great anti-anxiety drug for me. I'm pretty classicly add/inattentive. The depression I have is related to anxiety or the life effects of add. When I started taking Strattera at night and lost its affects, anxiety set in and a stronger, anxiety-controlling depression came with it. (That's how I've come to understand it to be, anyway.)
Strattera works pretty quickly. You could try it.
On the weight note: I'm with you there. I didn't gain weight on Effexor but I found out I couldn't lose weight on it. Unfortunately, I had twenty extra pounds on when I started it. Actually, I did go up ten pounds a year into taking Effexor, but I'm not blaming that on the drug. (I wouldn't have still had the first twenty, though, that it added to. I lost that ten pounds.) I dieted well and couldn't lose until five weeks ago when, on a hopeful whim after reading one anecdotal report of weight loss with Tonalin CLA., I started taking it. So far, I've lost 4.5 pounds. I'm happy with that as a start. Fifteen and a half to go. However, after starting (See CLA thread in Alternative Psychobabble) I read an advisory about using it. I'm going to continue it, I think.
poster:Kacy
thread:262168
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20030917/msgs/262240.html