Posted by jay on August 7, 2003, at 22:44:13
In reply to NYTimes:Debate on SSRIs and Suicide risk continues, posted by jrbecker on August 7, 2003, at 9:47:43
I would be one of the first to admit the SSRI's, as well as tricyclics, made life pretty bad at times in the first couple of months of their use for me. But, I eventually used some simple common sense and a couple of ways to 'ease' onto the meds, which included starting with a lower dose (I partially blame the drug companies for only doling out one initial dose for everyone at a time!), and simply using a good dose of a benzodiazepine. And I also partially blame the drug companies for going around and touting these meds as "first-line" treatment for anxiety, because it is that out-of-control anxiety at first that I think causes these problems! So, most of the actual *logic* goes against what the drug companies have promoted aggressively (i.e. first line, standard dose for all..etc..) If you think about it, and the "regulation" model of neurons that SSRI's supposedly partially work by, yes it could at first very well cause problems in a brain that has an 'excess' number of neurons caused by stress and altered neurochemicals, and that "regulation" could likely take that 3 or so month period, and possibly even longer in some. This means you have a *lot* of neurons being flooded by mostly serotonin, and ya that will cause some agitating and possibly suicidal effects until the neurons are "regulated". (And of course, this also affects regulation of many other neurotransmitters.) That's why having an educated pdoc who is up on every shred of research, and even takes into account various hypotheses, is important, but unfortunately a large number of pdocs are not like this. All of this can be controlled if only people and companies come "out of the closet", and lay all of their research on the table!
I just have to use Prozac as an example. The first time I tried it in 1991-92, for only a few days at 20mg's, I felt horrible and like I was going to explode! Now, just over ten years later, I am on 40 mg's a day of the drug, and it has greatly helped me overcome some of the basic hurdles in life that exacerbated my anxiety and depression in the past. I don't even think I now could blame the drug for causing any current "agitation", especially *not* "suicidal thoughts", as after weaning onto it properly and using benzos at the time, my day's are FAR much more smoother and way less stressful than most of the times I can remember in my life.
Jay...
poster:jay
thread:248910
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20030807/msgs/249166.html