Posted by Larry Hoover on March 20, 2005, at 11:10:10
In reply to Re: what does paxil plasma level mean? » Larry Hoover, posted by Slinky on March 19, 2005, at 23:38:27
> Thanks Larry
> Hmm..In your opinion is it wise to keep taking the paroxetine in the future..I mean do I have to go through withdrawal every evening or will my brain get to acclimatized to it.It's hard to say. If you liked or benefited from the effects of the paroxetine, then you may have to retitrate the dose. I'll give a hypothetical example.
Let's say you were taking 20 mg once a day, but now that you've added carbamazapine, you get the withdrawal effect (due to enhanced clearance). It might be possible to maintain the paroxetine effect, without withdrawal, by going to a 15 mg twice a day schedule, yielding 30 mg per day, thus accomodating both the lower plasma peak and the shorter half-life.
It's hard to put numbers to it, because you still have to "do the experiment" to find the new balance that works for you. Only you can say whether it's worth the trouble to do so, or not. Just figuring out how to get 15 mg per dose might be a problem, eh? Would going to 20 mg twice a day be a more pragmatic solution?
These are issues I'd take right back to the prescribing physician, as soon as it possible for you to get back there.
Lar
poster:Larry Hoover
thread:471521
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20050317/msgs/473146.html