Posted by yxibow on January 10, 2006, at 2:10:22
In reply to SSRI question, posted by Spiro Ghetti on January 9, 2006, at 8:25:07
> About 8 months ago I developed Agoraphobia/Anxiety. I raised my dose to 50 mg/night with no results, but haven't dosed up any further; I've been getting better result from graded exposure and want to avoid over-medicating myself so that I get effetive results from exposure. But I've still continued taking the 50 mg/night LUVOX to avoid complicating my recovery with withdrawal symptoms.
>
> So, again, my question is this: Am I doing more harm than good taking this med below effective blood levels for such a long time? Should I cut it off? Or should I just keep taking the 50 mg/night?
>
> Thanks in advance.
>It is the most sedating of SSRIs, I know, it was selected for me for that reason since others tended to hype up my anxiety. It has a very broad range of efficacy, up to and including 400mg / day (although that is in split dosage).
It is entirely possible that you are a low metabolizer for Luvox and 50mg is enough. It is a low dose, and barely on the clinical side some doctors would say, but if it works for you then so much the better. It is excellent for OCD and is cheap and generic now.
I don't think at that dose that there would be any long term effects, we just don't know these things though. If a drug is doing more good in your opinion, whether real or placebo effect, then there's no reason to suddenly stop it. Our history of SSRI effects on the general population is 19 years old (not to mention the years of clinical trials before), and I am sure there are still people out there on Prozac from the beginning in 1987. It is extremely rare, but there have been a few reported cases only on Zoloft of tardive dyskinesia, simply because of its slightly different effects with dopamine. But that is in the handful of case reports at most and the individuals may have been exposed to other medications before.tidings
poster:yxibow
thread:597038
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20060108/msgs/597468.html