Posted by Flipsactown on November 21, 2003, at 11:46:18
In reply to Prozac CRASH again -- Please help me., posted by Cindylou on September 6, 2001, at 14:41:14
Hello Cindy,
Don't get discouraged. I have been on prozac for the longest time on and off for 12 years. Initially, all I needed was prozac. After about 2 years prozac pooped out and was no longer working. My pdoc suggested zoloft and that worked for about a year but it also pooped out. Then my pdoc added desipramine and that worked because it enhanced the effectiveness of prozac. I alternated prozac and zoloft with desipramine a couple of times until they pooped out. My pdoc added wellbutrin to the prozac and desipramine and that worked for awhile then pooped out. I have tried paxil, celexa, effexor,elavil, etc. They either did not work or I was not able to tolerate the side effects.
Currently, I am on 100mgs of prozac, 60mgs of remeron and 300mgs lamictal. This combo is working just fine. Lamictal was added 2 months ago. I noticed my depression had lessened in my 6th week of taking lamictal. Now in my 8th week, I am feeling even better.
You just have to try different combos and you should finally get the relief from depression. However, what works for one person may not work for another.
Although lamictal is primarily used as an anti-seizure medication, ask your pdoc to prescribe lamictal for your depression because it has been shown to be effective on treatment resistance depression, bipolar and unipolar. I am unipolar. My depression is mainly caused by chronic back pain for which I take oxycontin. I hope this information will give you some encouragement. Hang in there.
Flipsactown
> Hi,
> I've tried Prozac on three different occasions, and every time I "hit a wall" after about two months. It just happened again.
>
> Out of desperation, I started Prozac again in June (nothing else was working -- all had horrible side effects. Tried Effexor, Paxil, Zoloft; combined with Wellbutrin to help the fatigue. I also tried adding Provigil for a day and felt like I had the worst hangover ever.) I thought maybe this time would be different.
>
> I started out the Prozac really low -- 2.5 mg. -- since I am very med sensitive. This seemed to work well -- eventually I increased up to 10 mg.
>
> I felt pretty good for a couple months, had energy, didn't need to nap, etc. I was even a bit agitated. But about a week ago -- WHAM. I hit that old familiar wall. I feel sick, exhausted, heavy-headed, can't focus, etc. It feels like there's a lead balloon in my head. This is the all-too-familiar feeling I get from SSRIs. I tried increasing the Prozac to see if that would work, but it only made it worse.
>
> I am taking Wellbutrin, and tried increasing that a bit, but it didn't help. Tried some Adderall. Didn't help. NOTHING WILL CUT THROUGH THIS FOG.
>
> I am so discouraged. Does anyone have suggestions for me???? Any good ideas for treatment of depression for people who feel this way on SSRIs???
>
> Any MAOIs that don't cause horrible fatigue?? I've tried the tri-cyclics, and all had horrible side effects I couldn't tolerate.
>
> I feel like I've tried everything but the MAOIs. Am a bit afraid of those.
>
> Please, please help. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated. Feel like giving up.
>
> cindy.
>
> P.S. My diagnosis is depression and anxiety; not bipolar.
poster:Flipsactown
thread:78035
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20031121/msgs/282102.html