Question for scott re swapping

11-22-2003, 01:17 PM

Hi Scott - I know youvw said before that youve had to swap medications quite a bit in the past and I hope you dont mind me picking your brains for a sec. As you know Im at week 5 now of swap to prozac and not feeling great. My GP's view is that if I was going to be ok on prozac then it would have happened by now (she says that usually people are significantly better after max of 4 weeks on it if they are going to helped by it.) As a result - next time I see her we will be discussing me swapping to cipramil/citralopim(??). I dont realy want to do this because whole point of going on prozca was to get off seroxat and then in time the prozac BUT at the same time I know I need to get stable before I think about being drug free.

I just wondered with all your experience whether its taken you longer than the 'standard' time to stabilise on a drug when youve swapped from another one.

Hope youve managed to have another good week. Are you just about ready for another drop?

Kizziex

Scott · 11-22-2003, 03:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kizzie

I just wondered with all your experience whether its taken you longer than the 'standard' time to stabilise on a drug when youve swapped from another one.

Hope youve managed to have another good week. Are you just about ready for another drop?

actually i didnt want to mention it until i was sure it worked but i think im finally off paxil, i was down to taking a small piece and last night i didnt have anything.. which is weird because i expected more from the last 5mg. Anyhow, as for how long it took me to balance? i'll just list off my experiences.
summer 97'
after being pushed up from 20mg to 40mg of prozac (of all things to combat fatigue feeling ((my doctor was an idiot and probably still is))) i decided i really didnt want to be on it so i dropped to 20mg.. then a month later i quit all together.. i didnt know about tapering. Within a month i was at his office getting another prescription.. this time for serzone
That was an awful nightmare because to start that drug i had to reduce my 3mg of xanax to 1.5mg overnight.. needless to say how i felt doing that.
I was off work for about a month that time. Over the next few months he took me way up on the dose, which made me see stars, so that wasnt for me either..
I tapered all of that drug in about 2 weeks (again, i didnt know about withdrawal) at that point, nov. 98', i was so bad i went home from work on thanksgiving (end of nov.) again telling my manager i would need time off..
dec. 98' started effexor.. but this drug made me extremely dizzy so by the end of dec. i went on luvox.
Luvox seemed to be ok so thats where i stayed for a year and a half.
In all the med switches, for me, if it was going to work for me I knew in 1 month's time.. but its a little hard to compare to me as the entire time of all these switches i was on 3mg of xanax.. so any anxiety was blocked by that.
I kindof agree with your doctor in that if prozac was the drug you need to fill the void seroxat left behind, i think you should have had some relief by now.. not to say that wont come soon, but 5 weeks seems a little long to not have anything come from it. I hate to suggest this but if you were feeling ok on seroxat maybe that is your best bet in tapering, even if you have to cut 1mg at a time. This other drug they are suggesting, which im not familiar with, could set you behind another 5 weeks as its just a guess whether it will work or not. If your goal is tapering, there is nothing wrong with using paxil (seroxat) if thats what works for you.. even though it has a terribly short half-life, it is possible to taper with it.

11-23-2003, 11:08 AM

Thankyou and well done!!!!!
I really dont want to go back on seroxat if at all possible because in the end I really didnt feel well on it - as well as the fact that even with very slow tapering I wasnt able to get off it.
But I think Ive got to keep an open mind!
Thanks again for all the info and Im really pleased for you - youve done brilliantly.
Kizziex

Scott · 11-23-2003, 11:11 AM

its been a hard year

11-23-2003, 02:10 PM

It must have been such a roller coaster.

Your experience has made me wish though that my GP had given me something like valium or xanax just as a very short term thing when I first got off seroxat to get me over the worst of the withdrawal anxiety rather than just putting me back on it. It upsets me so much now to know that I was actually free of it and probably just needed a bit of help for a couple of weeks. (never managed to get to 0 again!)

What are you planning to do for the next few weeks /months. Take things easy to get yourself used to your new drug free life?
Kizziex

11-22-2003, 01:17 PM	#1
Posts: n/a	Question for scott re swapping Hi Scott - I know youvw said before that youve had to swap medications quite a bit in the past and I hope you dont mind me picking your brains for a sec. As you know Im at week 5 now of swap to prozac and not feeling great. My GP's view is that if I was going to be ok on prozac then it would have happened by now (she says that usually people are significantly better after max of 4 weeks on it if they are going to helped by it.) As a result - next time I see her we will be discussing me swapping to cipramil/citralopim(??). I dont realy want to do this because whole point of going on prozca was to get off seroxat and then in time the prozac BUT at the same time I know I need to get stable before I think about being drug free. I just wondered with all your experience whether its taken you longer than the 'standard' time to stabilise on a drug when youve swapped from another one. Hope youve managed to have another good week. Are you just about ready for another drop? Kizziex

11-23-2003, 11:08 AM	#3
Posts: n/a	Thanks Scott Thankyou and well done!!!!! I really dont want to go back on seroxat if at all possible because in the end I really didnt feel well on it - as well as the fact that even with very slow tapering I wasnt able to get off it. But I think Ive got to keep an open mind! Thanks again for all the info and Im really pleased for you - youve done brilliantly. Kizziex

11-23-2003, 11:11 AM	#4
Scott Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: somewhere in between Posts: 11,591	its been a hard year __________________ Scott aka Scott What has happened to it all? Crazy, some are saying Where is the life that I recognize? Gone away But I won't cry for yesterday There's an ordinary world Somehow I have to find And as I try to make my way To the ordinary world I will learn to survive surviving an ssri reaction alternative anxiety treatments

11-23-2003, 02:10 PM	#5
Posts: n/a	It must have been such a roller coaster. Your experience has made me wish though that my GP had given me something like valium or xanax just as a very short term thing when I first got off seroxat to get me over the worst of the withdrawal anxiety rather than just putting me back on it. It upsets me so much now to know that I was actually free of it and probably just needed a bit of help for a couple of weeks. (never managed to get to 0 again!) What are you planning to do for the next few weeks /months. Take things easy to get yourself used to your new drug free life? Kizziex

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