Posted by Mitch on December 31, 2001, at 17:28:36
In reply to Re: effectiveness of prozac weekly vs prozac daily, posted by Bria on December 31, 2001, at 12:15:20
> > Prozac weekly is 90mgs of Prozac time released. If you take a daily dose, you can use the generic which works as well [10mg 'low dose' x 7 is 70 mgs thru the week] You can use 20 mgs every other day, etc. This is a just a market ploy to keep Eli Lily in the money since their exclusive rights to sell Prozac has has ended. Many people who vould not afford Prozac now will be able to. The weekly Prozac to me is nonsense. [Just my humble opinion]
> >
> >
> > > Hi all,
> > > Sorry if this is a re-post as I tried earlier to start this thread and still don't see it.
> > > Anyway, was wondering if someone could tell me why prozac weekly may not be as effective as daily for some people?
> > > Thanks
>
> Thanks for your response but I'm still in need of an answer to my question. I'm not referring to any discrepancy in dose or marketing ploy. I have heard from various people that prozac weekly is not as effective for 30-40% of users and I'd like to know why. Is there a reason related to metabolizing a time release dose or something similar? is it related to the daily dose being easier for folks to remember? Thanks for any input in advance!The difference in effectiveness may have something to do with the level of the primary drug (fluoxetine) and its metabolite (norfluoxetine). Fluoxetine has a long half-life, but norfluoxetine has a half-life of several days. What I am trying to say is if you took 70mg of generic Prozac in one day versus taking 10mg of generic Prozac every day for a week---you could conceivably wind up with very different levels of the primary drug vis a vis the metabolite. Norfluoxetine is definitely an active antidepressant and has different effects than its parent. That may explain the differences. While this may be *less* effective for some people, others might benefit from a much reduced overall level of side-effects by taking the weekly version (hey take 40mg generic fluoxetine in the morning, wait a few hrs and take another 40mg-you don't have to waste your money on the patented "time-release" version.
Mitch
poster:Mitch
thread:87970
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20011222/msgs/88380.html