Posted by incessant void on September 11, 2004, at 21:58:42
In reply to Re: Prozac 140mg - no improvement - time to switch?, posted by Daisy Elizabeth on September 10, 2004, at 19:21:42
thanks to everyone for the kind and helpful replies. i wish i had checked the board sooner but just didn't feel up to it, like everything else. i realized now, re-reading my post, that i made a mistake in my medications. i am NOT taking 150mg of trazodone -- i meant to say topamax. i used to be on trazodone for sleep and have no idea why i wrote that *rolls eyes* maybe being awake for 2 days had my confused. anyway sorry about that. thanks again for all the help. i hope i can try an MAOI soon. this is a long post because there are individual notes to people:
*Bill LL -- thank you for understanding my long explanations :) i think i should post more at this board; people seem to be more clear (which to me requires more length) than at other message boards where a long post would just be skipped. i would definitely agree that trazodone should be discontinued if was on 150mg!! i am a zombie as it is, and that dosage knocks me out... a horrible pdoc once put me on 200mg to sleep at night while i was in residential treatment, and i had a horrible "panic-attack-like" episode as a result -- heart rate in the 150s, blood pressure dropped to the 80s systolic -- thought i was going to die! FYI this doc was at rogers memorial hospital and if anyone want's his name i'd be happy to supply it ;)
i also have considered provigil, but was thinking i would most likely experience the tolerance that many people are having with it. i was thinking it would probably be just like the stimulants for me that require higher and higher dosages to have any reaction. why am i so apt at becoming tolerant to things?! i seem to build tolerance for everything and huge dosages of things don't affect me as they should. i'm a rather small person which is even weirder...
i've read scott's cymbalta thread and am afraid to go on it due to the sleepiness. i really need a stimulating drug which is why i want to try parnate. i've also been thinking a lot about ECT. thank you for that link. i was thinking that most doctors would want to try me on more meds before doing ECT though. what do you think?
*King Vultan -- i have heard that 80mg is the "maximum" dose of prozac but that it was the highest *suggestion* of a "therapeutic dose" and have seen posts suggesting the max is more like 160mg. i didn't give a thought to going above 100mg because i had 3 different doctors keep me on 100mg or more without a word on 80 being the max. but i wish they hadn't, because i could have been switched a long time ago instead of wasting all this time. like i said to Bill LL i seem to have such a high tolerance to drugs and i'm thinking that is why i can be on so much prozac and literally not notice when i take it and when i don't. i can stop it cold-turkey without any side effects of withdrawl. i could do the same with effexor, 450mg, which i have seen so many posts on this board about terrible withdrawl -- i left my meds at home once on a trip and had to go cold-turkey. i only got moderate headaches that advil cured. considering all this, would i really have to wait 6-8 weeks, after stopping prozac completely (didn't even take it today), to try an MAOI? that is so disappointing... i can't imagine having a problem with serotonin syndrome because it doesn't even seem to be affecting me. the prozac, that is. how long would i have to wait to go on desipramine? i really need a drug that is not at all sedating.
*irishcatholic -- i wish i were more med-sensitive like you are... "turbo setting" from prozac, 20mg?! i wish! i can take it right before i go to sleep lol.
*sexylexy -- well, obviously, i am not a prozac "fan" but the drug has helped many other people. i wouldn't want to tell you to try it or not try it, just based on my experience.
*4WD -- thanks marsha for the suggestion. are you experiencing the sedating effects from cymbalta? i was so emotionally numb on effexor, too. well, that is the only way i can describe it, but it was sort of different... it's funny that you had such relief from bulimia while on it, because for me, i went from anorexia with moderate purging to full-blown bulimia symptoms while on effexor. thank you for being so open. i understand bulimia well as i often exhibit all the symptoms, but the docs like to generalize everything into "anorexia" no matter what symptoms i am having that week/month. bulimia is even harder to have, in my opinion, because people understand it even less and think you can "just stop" -- SO FRUSTRATING.
*Joy -- thanks. i agree about side effects; i have had none from the beginning except this excessive yawning problem.
*Daisy Elizabeth -- maybe you became more depressed on prozac at a higher dosage because it wasn't the right drug for you, like me? i get the same response from 20mg as i do from 140.
poster:incessant void
thread:388557
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040909/msgs/389878.html