Posted by Tony P on May 25, 2004, at 7:43:45
In reply to Re: Addendum:Serzone still available after pulling, posted by MissAmy on May 23, 2004, at 2:57:21
> might as start weaning now and get it over with--takes awhile to wean off--sometimes 6 months for some people. i am aiming for three months.
I have weaned from Serzone in a matter of days more than once after several years on it -- had to do it quickly this last time because I was caught by surprise when it was pulled very suddenly and thoroughly in Canada, including generics. Luckily I had just enough left to go down from 400-500 mg/day over about two weeks - no discomfort at all, at least in going down to 100 mg/day. I was on a small dose of Valium and Imovane/Zopiclone for sleep, and overlapped the Serzone withdrawal with Lamictal startup, which may have helped. Oddly enough, I found it harder to stop Serzone earlier in my use of it - in the first year, I got quite uncomfortable if I even missed a dose by a couple of hours.
HOWEVER, it just occurred to me, after checking my drug diary, that I had a huge anxiety attack 2-3 days after going from 100 mg/day Serzone to none. Doesn't quite make sense that the Serzone would have caused it, as it has a short half-life -- I would have expected problems much earlier. At the time I put it down to ramping the Lamictal up from 50 to 100 mg/day, which was about the same time I stopped the Serzone. I guess I'll never know now which it was.
I will rant about WHY it has been pulled in a separate post.
Tony P
poster:Tony P
thread:348860
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040521/msgs/350358.html