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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 8 of 8. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by yazzer on May 14, 2002, at 19:16:33
Hi all:
I was wondering if others have faced this problem. I have had Panic Disorder (PD)/Depression for most of my adult life ( I am now 42) but was not diagnosed correctly until about 1990. My symptoms are mostly anxiety-related with the chief manifestation being the feaky derealization sensation. Anybody who has had this knows how strange this is and how disconcerting the feeling is!
Anyway, about 1990, I was finally diagnosed correctly and placed on Prozac (in 1991) and my symptoms disappeared almost completely - life was great. However, in about 1997, the symptoms returned as Prozac seemed to stop working inexplicably!
After months of trying other meds, my doctor finally hit upon Effexor XR and it worked! Now, after 4 years on Effexor, my symptoms are coming back in full force. :-( I guess I now have to work with doc to try and find something else.
My question to y'all is, Have others experienced this tendency for meds to stop working after a time? It's like a cruel joke where, when you finally find a "cure" and get back into life for a while, the meds stop working. Any comments/discussion would be greatly appreciated!
Yours sincerely,
Mike
Posted by Sarahmarie on May 14, 2002, at 20:35:05
In reply to Meds do not work after a time, posted by yazzer on May 14, 2002, at 19:16:33
> Hi all:
>
> I was wondering if others have faced this problem. I have had Panic Disorder (PD)/Depression for most of my adult life ( I am now 42) but was not diagnosed correctly until about 1990. My symptoms are mostly anxiety-related with the chief manifestation being the feaky derealization sensation. Anybody who has had this knows how strange this is and how disconcerting the feeling is!
>
> Anyway, about 1990, I was finally diagnosed correctly and placed on Prozac (in 1991) and my symptoms disappeared almost completely - life was great. However, in about 1997, the symptoms returned as Prozac seemed to stop working inexplicably!
>
> After months of trying other meds, my doctor finally hit upon Effexor XR and it worked! Now, after 4 years on Effexor, my symptoms are coming back in full force. :-( I guess I now have to work with doc to try and find something else.
>
> My question to y'all is, Have others experienced this tendency for meds to stop working after a time? It's like a cruel joke where, when you finally find a "cure" and get back into life for a while, the meds stop working. Any comments/discussion would be greatly appreciated!
>
> Yours sincerely,
> Mike
There have been many others who posted at different times regarding this. It is usually referred to as the drug "poop-out". I am on Prozac and had a similar experience after 1 year, when my depression seemed to relapse. I am now at a very high dose of Prozac and doing well. I have heard though, that in cases like yours when it takes several years, that after a short period on a different AD, you can be put back on the Prozac. I would check this out with your PDoc. Maybe others have some ideas on this. Good luck. I hate those downer periods.
SarahMarie
Posted by yazzer on May 14, 2002, at 20:53:22
In reply to Re: Meds do not work after a time » yazzer, posted by Sarahmarie on May 14, 2002, at 20:35:05
Thanks Sarah for the reply - I'm a newbie to this list so I did not know about the "poop out" effect! :-) Actually, My PDoc did relate once that just because Prozac stopped working didn't mean it could not be used effective again in the future. I only see him every 3 months for maintenance visits. Before the meds (12 yrs or so), I tried all kinds of therapy etc. with little effect. When trying meds after this - and they worked - it was like a revelation! Consequently, most of my anxiety/depression seems to be chemical in nature. However, I do benefit a lot from relaxation techniques and the like. Thanks again, Mike
>
> There have been many others who posted at different times regarding this. It is usually referred to as the drug "poop-out". I am on Prozac and had a similar experience after 1 year, when my depression seemed to relapse. I am now at a very high dose of Prozac and doing well. I have heard though, that in cases like yours when it takes several years, that after a short period on a different AD, you can be put back on the Prozac. I would check this out with your PDoc. Maybe others have some ideas on this. Good luck. I hate those downer periods.
> SarahMarie
Posted by Lia Mason on May 14, 2002, at 23:17:32
In reply to Meds do not work after a time, posted by yazzer on May 14, 2002, at 19:16:33
Hi,
Prozac poop-out was a real problem for me--heartbreaking. But mine hit much faster. I wouldn't get a whole year before it pooped out. Anyway. I added 500 Depakote and I felt that enabled me to get lots more mileage out of the Prozac. I don't take Prozac anymore, but when I last took it I got a few years out of it. I think depakote may have made the difference.
Lia
Posted by ben on May 15, 2002, at 7:38:32
In reply to Meds do not work after a time, posted by yazzer on May 14, 2002, at 19:16:33
> Hi all:
>
> I was wondering if others have faced this problem. I have had Panic Disorder (PD)/Depression for most of my adult life ( I am now 42) but was not diagnosed correctly until about 1990. My symptoms are mostly anxiety-related with the chief manifestation being the feaky derealization sensation. Anybody who has had this knows how strange this is and how disconcerting the feeling is!
>
> Anyway, about 1990, I was finally diagnosed correctly and placed on Prozac (in 1991) and my symptoms disappeared almost completely - life was great. However, in about 1997, the symptoms returned as Prozac seemed to stop working inexplicably!
>
> After months of trying other meds, my doctor finally hit upon Effexor XR and it worked! Now, after 4 years on Effexor, my symptoms are coming back in full force. :-( I guess I now have to work with doc to try and find something else.
>
> My question to y'all is, Have others experienced this tendency for meds to stop working after a time? It's like a cruel joke where, when you finally find a "cure" and get back into life for a while, the meds stop working. Any comments/discussion would be greatly appreciated!
>
> Yours sincerely,
> Mike
You may try:1) Increasing the dose of Effexor
2) Adding an other AD or Lithium
3) Switching to an other ADben
Posted by yazzer on May 15, 2002, at 8:28:02
In reply to Re: Meds do not work after a time, posted by ben on May 15, 2002, at 7:38:32
Yeah, I am actually trying to increase the Effexor. I am only at the 150 mg level and my doc tells me that's on the low side anyway. Usually, I get relief with relatively lower doses of an AD and that makes the doc believe my "problems" are more anxiety-related versus depression. [However, I have gotten quite depressed in the past.] However, since I have had the same doc and have been doing this so long, he lets me adjust the amount of the meds myself within certain bounds. I also have Klonopin which I can used to augment the Effexor, though I have rarely had to take it over the past 4 years. I have incorporated it more lately - esp. at bedtime and it helps on the sleep end. I am back at work this AM but had these nagging background feelings of "dread" having to come in. One would think that after 25 years of this, it would get easier, but it isn't. I guess it's the contrast between feeling well for a while then dropping back into the "funk" that seems troubling.
Thanks,
Mike>
> You may try:
>
> 1) Increasing the dose of Effexor
> 2) Adding an other AD or Lithium
> 3) Switching to an other AD
>
> ben
Posted by Jackster on May 16, 2002, at 1:08:21
In reply to Meds do not work after a time, posted by yazzer on May 14, 2002, at 19:16:33
> Hi all:
>
> I was wondering if others have faced this problem. I have had Panic Disorder (PD)/Depression for most of my adult life ( I am now 42) but was not diagnosed correctly until about 1990. My symptoms are mostly anxiety-related with the chief manifestation being the feaky derealization sensation. Anybody who has had this knows how strange this is and how disconcerting the feeling is!
>
> Anyway, about 1990, I was finally diagnosed correctly and placed on Prozac (in 1991) and my symptoms disappeared almost completely - life was great. However, in about 1997, the symptoms returned as Prozac seemed to stop working inexplicably!
>
> After months of trying other meds, my doctor finally hit upon Effexor XR and it worked! Now, after 4 years on Effexor, my symptoms are coming back in full force. :-( I guess I now have to work with doc to try and find something else.
>
> My question to y'all is, Have others experienced this tendency for meds to stop working after a time? It's like a cruel joke where, when you finally find a "cure" and get back into life for a while, the meds stop working. Any comments/discussion would be greatly appreciated!
>
> Yours sincerely,
> Mike
Hi MikeI know how you feel. After 10 years of Agorphobia w panic attacks, I finally found what I thought was a cure. Life was wonderful for 3 years on 40mg of Paxil, then I (foolishly) decided to come off it because of the side effects. The panic attacks came back, and when I went back on the Paxil, it no longer worked nearly as well as it had. That was devastating - like being shown how good life could be and then having it ripped away from you. I went on the medication round-a-bout with little success. Finally (due to some heavy research on my behalf) I augmented the Paxil with Tegretol, which seems to be doing the trick. I'm now getting out and about and working my way up to where I was. Maybe you could try augmenting Paxil or Effexor with something?
Posted by Zo on May 18, 2002, at 4:43:47
In reply to Meds do not work after a time, posted by yazzer on May 14, 2002, at 19:16:33
This is the end of the thread.
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