Posted by JohnL on March 16, 2000, at 3:05:52
In reply to Re: serzone to JohnL or anyone else for that matter, posted by sherry on March 15, 2000, at 15:31:44
The APs can work either alone or with an antidepressant. If your antidepressant is at least partially effective, then perhaps it can stay in the mix? An AP + AD is likely to work better than either alone.
AP side effects vary. Zyprexa is good for sleep. Stelazine is more alerting. Risperdal inbetween. I hear the best results with Zyprexa. Including myself. Unfortunately a common side effect of Zyprexa is weight gain. It blocks some of the receptors in the gut so you feel hungrier than you actually are. I have to fight the munchies to keep my weight stable, and eat healthy snacks instead of my beloved candy bars! :) At the healthfood store I discovered these $3 bags of dried blueberries or dried cranberries. These are fantastic snacks for the munchies.
Other than that, I can't really think of any side effects worth mentioning. As you know it will vary from person to person, so there's no way to tell without a personal trial. But I find 5mg Zyprexa to be quite tame. No sexual side effects either.
When an AP works, it does so quickly. You'll know inside two weeks, and maybe even a lot sooner. If your doctor will go along with it, you could try each of the three mentioned APs, one at at time, two weeks each. This allows comparison. Then choose the best to continue. Your chemistry will likely prefer one molecule over another dramatically. No way to tell without comparing. I can't think of any reason a doctor would object, so I hope he doesn't.
As an example, this is what my pdoc is doing with me right now...Effexor for two weeks, then add Adderall for a couple days. Then skip a day, start Desipramine for two weeks, add Adderall for a couple days at the end. The whole time there will still be some Prozac in my system. He believes I will get a good feel for each medication in these short trials, and then compare and pick the best to continue. He likes to continue with longer term trials only after superior drugs have been identified from relatively quick comparisons.
Anyway, hope all goes well. I'm on the sidelines cheering for ya! JohnL
poster:JohnL
thread:26959
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20000312/msgs/27172.html