Posted by SLS on August 4, 2022, at 7:00:39
In reply to Retrying escitalopram, posted by linkadge on August 3, 2022, at 16:41:19
Linkadge.
I want to reiterate that my experiences with Pristiq and Effexor were not the same. I found Pristiq to feel milder than Effexor. It was less stimulating.
Of course, Pristiq might treat you as badly as At kinetic equilibrium, Effexor yields two active compounds: venlafaxine and desvenlafaxine.. However, when one takes Pristiq, the only active compound to be found in the blood stream is desvenlafaxine. It is possible that venlafaxine is the offensive drug, and not desvenlafaxine.
Another personal experience with medication is that 300 mg/day of lithium is absolutely necessary for the robust improvement in depression I am experiencing. In reality, it was dumb luck that I was taking lithium while combining the other three drugs I'm taking. My rationale for continuing it for almost a decade is that I wanted to attempt to prevent the emergence of Alzheimer's disease. In addition, whereas dosages of lithium 450 mg/day and higher makes my depression worse, 300 mg/day hits the bullseye. I experience *none* of the mental side effects that I experience at 450-1500 mg/day. This includes a cognitive numbing, affective blunting, and a passivity that feels much like apathy, but not exactly.
If low-dosage lithium is going to provide an improvement, it should show itself within 2-7 days at what will ultimately be your optimal dosage if you start at 300 mg/day and move up from there. According to the literature I have come across, 150 mg/day is not likely to produce a therapeutic response. However, given your sensitivity to so many drugs with respect to mental side effects, you might want to start at 150 mg/day and give each dosage increase 7 days before increasing it. Harvard played with adding low dosage lithium to Prozac 60 mg/day. The dosages used were 300-600 mg/day. The response rate for the combination of Prozac and lithium was higher, but not hugely so. However, if all of the subjects had been given 300-450 mg/day, I suspect that the response rate would have been higher.
The deleterious effects of lithium are dosage-dependent. The risk of major side effects are practically nil. Thyroid and kidney dysfunctions are not concerns of mine.
If low-dosage lithium is tolerable for you, I would suggest that you keep it in the background indefinitely. You never know what treatment you try will need lithium to work magic. As I've indicated, 300 mg /day of lithium is my sweet-spot. I relapse at 150 mg/day and 450 mg/day.
Sometimes, I think of lithium as being aspirin for the brain.
- Scott.Some see things as they are and ask why.
I dream of things that never were and ask why not.The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.
poster:SLS
thread:1120203
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20220530/msgs/1120208.html