Posted by morgan miller on October 19, 2010, at 0:49:20
In reply to The potency of sertraline » michelle41a, posted by ed_uk2010 on October 18, 2010, at 22:32:25
> >What amazes me is that I can have such crazy side effects from such a small dose of Zoloft.
>
> 25mg of sertraline (Zoloft) generally leads to approximately 70% occupancy of brain serotonin re-uptake transporters. Adverse effects can (and do) occur at such doses in some patients. Whether you take a generic or Zoloft is not likely to make a difference, except to your wallet. The adverse effects are generally caused by sertraline itself, a potent SSRI, and not by the cellulose (or whatever) in the tablet. Since you are very sensitive to sertraline, it may be best to stabilise on the same generic if possible. Your pharmacist may be able to help with this.
>
> The graph on the left shows the relationship between sertraline dose in mg/day and % occupancy at serotonin re-uptake sites in the striatum (part of the brain). Small changes in dose within the range of 0-50mg per day can produce large changes in occupancy. At usual therapeutic doses (50-100mg per day), sertraline produces around 80% occupancy, as is the case with all SSRIs. Due to individual differences, lower doses are appropriate for some patients. Medicine would be a lot easier if everyone responded to the same dose, but this is unfortunately not the case. If sertraline does not work out, there are plenty of other options.
>
> http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/content/vol161/issue5/images/large/M88F3.jpegThis is good advice. Still, I felt a significant difference when I tried sertraline generic for a month. Not only did my stomach feel upset the entire time, but I did not feel as good. I understand you and others not seeing how there could be a difference between brand and generic other than the fillers, but there is. And if it is just the fillers, they are enough to change the way the drug reacts in the body-just enough to make a noticeable difference. Even my last psychiatrist believes there is quite a difference between brand and generic with some medications. He sometimes prescribes double the dose of generic fluoxetine if his patient is switching to it from brand Prozac.
poster:morgan miller
thread:963711
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20101009/msgs/966233.html