Posted by SLS on April 27, 2004, at 6:02:51
In reply to Re: Does anyone know anything about Symbyax for BP? » greywolf, posted by chemist on April 26, 2004, at 23:03:55
> > The FDA apparently approved a drug called Symbyax for bipolar depression recently. Does anyone have any experience with it?
> again, it's prozac + zyprexa. proceed at your own risk, and prozac is among the most stimulating ssris, so unless your bipolar is more towards the depressed side, dump it. even if it is, get the generic fluoxetine and the zyprexa prnI was pretty irritated when I first heard about this combination preparation. Of course it's a money thing, but they can't make money unless doctors are silly enough to prescribe it. This strategy has been used before. Triavil is a very old drug preparation that combines an AD (amitriptyline) with an AP (perphenazine), and, like Symbyax, is available in two ratios of AD/AP. I guess the reason I was irritated was because I felt it would discourage doctors from optimizing an individual's treatment by titrating each drug independently. For those people who need higher dosages of fluoxetine (Prozac), this would foster a situation whereby the patient ends up taking more olanzapine (Zyprexa) than is ideal. This leads to an unnecessary increase in undesirable side effects and risks.
I will disagree with Chemist on one point. To glean the anti-manic, antidepressant, and mood-stabilizing therapeutic effects of Zyprexa, I believe that it should be taken on a daily basis at the same dosage.
- Scott
poster:SLS
thread:340380
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040423/msgs/340485.html