Posted by psychobot5000 on December 21, 2006, at 2:17:30
In reply to Re: Oral dosing equivalence is very, very high » psychobot5000, posted by laima on December 21, 2006, at 0:43:19
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> Yet, my knowledgeable doctor told me that the 6mg Emsam was roughly equivalent to 20 mg oral selegeline- which is what I was using before starting Emsam. The switch was very smooth. If anything, I found the oral version of 20 mg to be more potent. I eventually had to start the 9mg Emsam.It's hard to know with certainty, but I used to think that 20mg oral was equivalent to 6mg transdermal--I now believe this to be a misunderstanding. You see, the 6mg patch actually contains 20mg selegiling, but if you wear it for 24 hours, an estimated 30%, or about 6 mg, will actually be absorbed. This is where the 6/20 mg equivalence comes from, I believe.
However, with the oral selegiline you have the amphetamines, and they are (often) beneficial for mood and motivation, so there is that added benefit. Also, the blood-levels spike suddenly, and maybe that's good too. I took 20mg oral selegiline daily for many months, and definitely found it beneficial. But a doc I spoke to once (who worked with developing EMSAM) explained to me that the blood-levels were not nearly as high from 20mg oral tablets as they would be from any EMSAM patch.
Glad to hear that the oral was a good replacement for you!
poster:psychobot5000
thread:703921
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20061217/msgs/715367.html