Posted by Joy on April 16, 2001, at 20:56:22
In reply to Are Zoloft and Prozac dangerous?, posted by Buzz Aldrin2 on April 16, 2001, at 12:09:11
Hi. My friend is on Prozac over 10 years. An aquaintence of mine is on Zoloft 4 years. They have no major problems. I am on 40 mg Prozac for several months which works very well. I take generic Xanax at night for sleeping. If you take a 'benzo' as needed for panic attacks in conjuction with the proper theraputic dose of Zoloft or another AD; i.e. 20 mg Prozac or 75 mg to 100+ mg Zoloft; [Zoloft/depends on the individual]you should be fine. I had heart flutters once in a while before I ever took an antidepressant. It's anxiety more than likely; you probably need a higher AD dose and a benzo on an 'as needed' basis. Just my humble opinion.
Joy> Let me give some background before I ask my question:
> About five weeks ago I experienced two occurrences
> of heart palpitations and what I thought was a heart
> attack. My heart would feel like it had "twitched",
> and then it would pause for a few moments which would
> make me feel like it had stopped working. This would
> cause me to panic, hyperventilate, and my heart rate to
> take off. Both times I went to the emergency room
> because I truly thought I was going to die. After
> numerous tests by the ER docs, my GP, and a
> cardiologist, it was determined that I was experiencing
> premature ventricular contractions combined with panic attacks. (I had never had panic attacks before this)
> The cardiologist
> said it was caused by stress, which seemed to make
> sense because all of this coincided with an impossible
> deadline approaching at work, and me also having
> stopped my regular schedule of cardiovascular exercise,
> which is my main form of stress relief. My GP gave me
> a bunch of Zoloft and stepped me up to 25 mg/day.
> He said I needed to relax and the Zoloft, along with
> exercising and avoiding any kind of stimulants, would
> help me do that. He also gave me some Ativan in case I
> had another panic attack, which I did. I actually had a
> few more, but I would talk myself out of them before
> Ativan could take effect. Now to the question: the Zoloft
> seemed to be affecting my sleep, causing very vivid
> dreams where I was actually having trouble remembering
> if certain trivial events had actually occurred of if I
> had dreamt them. This isn't really a problem, and I
> actually find it very interesting. It also seemed to make
> me a much lighter sleeper, which I did not like. I would
> have trouble getting to sleep at night, intending to go
> to bed at 10 but not falling asleep until midnight, and
> if something woke me up early, I would have trouble getting
> back to sleep, only being able to stay in that weird
> half-in/half-out twilight sleep, never back to full blown
> sleeping. I informed my doctor of this, and he
> suggested trying Prozac and gave me a bunch of that,
> telling me to take 10mg/day. I am a little concerned
> about Prozac because of all the bad publicity I have
> heard. He told me not to worry, and that I was taking
> little enough doses where I could stop taking it easily,
> but I am still a little concerned. He also said I would
> be surprised how many executives at my company are or
> have taken an SSRI.
> Now here are the questions:
> Are Zoloft and Prozac dangerous? Is it typical for a person to just
> start having palpitations and panic attacks without any
> panic attack history? I used to enjoy work-related stress in a weird
> kind of way, is it possible that I burned myself out
> on it? Thanks for any info!
poster:Joy
thread:60075
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20010411/msgs/60120.html