Posted by chemist on April 11, 2004, at 22:47:50
In reply to Re: Questions for Chemist - Pregabalin and Zoloft, posted by BobS, on April 11, 2004, at 18:10:38
hi bob....given your debilitating panic/anxiety, xanax is the answer. zoloft is one of the first generation SSRIs, and your doctor is likely prescribing it becuase he/she has had the most success with it. it inhibits reuptake of serotonin and that is all. pregabalin is in - i believe - phase II or II trials - and is a mimic of GABA, which would indeed releive your panic/anxiety. my *opinion* about zoloft is that it is somewhat ``old-school'' and perhaps the activating features are attributable to it. the good folks at pfizer indicate that, in ocd, insomnia prevalence on zoloft vs. placebo is 28% vs. 12%. i, personally, would stick with xanax and perhaps investigate the xanax sr alternative, and dump zoloft for something like effexor or serzone. seems to me that it is the zoloft that is making your situation worse...pindolol is a beta-blocker, and will not address the biochemical imbalance, it simply works with calcium gating for your heart, for lack of a more accurate explanation.
...please let me know if i can be of any help, and all the best, chemist> Keith/Chemist,
> Thanks for your replies. My pdoc believes Xanax is better than Klonopin and prefers it to Klonopin. I should note also that is is only the last month or so that I exceeded 2 mg of Xanax. If and when the Zoloft kicks in, I will begin an immediate taper of Xanax.
>
> However, the real issue are my symptoms. Even though my dx is harm avoidant OCD and atypical depression, my symptoms are severe anxiety, the punishing kind. Xanax is the only thing that allows me to get out of bed at the moment. Multiple exogenous triggers have put me into a depression, which naturally is mostly anxiety. I tried Zoloft a couple of weeks ago, but had to stop as I felt worse. Now we are having a second trial with a slow titration and a Pindolol preceding the trial by a week. So my real question was/is what do you think of Zoloft, because my pdoc, a psycho pharmacologist, is very high on it? In other words, what could make it better than the others?
>
> As to the combo of Xanax and Zoloft, could you please elaborate on your thoughts?
>
> BTW, my OCD is not the kind most are familiar with, but rather constant reading of abstracts on Medline, etc., which by the way I only comprehend about 2% of, looking for hope (Pregabalin) to alleviate anxiety.
> Thanks again,
> BobS.
poster:chemist
thread:334640
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040407/msgs/335381.html