Posted by Tony P on May 30, 2003, at 8:48:38
In reply to dont want2 tahe efxr,any other med suggestions?, posted by fanni on May 27, 2003, at 17:29:11
> It depends on what you are taking it for... What are your symptoms? Depression or Anxiety? Both? Something totally different? [...clip...]
>If you have plain Depression and no anxiety, maybe Prozac? Basically because that has a very long half-life and tends to have less severe withdrawl symptoms if you ever decide to go off meds later on.I am also considering Effexor with my doc but am scared by the number of side-effects people here report. On the other hand, there is some research (manufacturer-supported, no doubt!) to show that it is much more effective in achieving actual remission ("cure") of depression, as opposed to mere "improvement". Taking that with a grain of salt, I have to wonder - since my depression is combined with a high anxiety level - what to think of a drug for anxiety+depression that has a high instance of anxiety as a side-effect! I see many people posting here finding it necessary to combine it with various benzodiazepines.
As a very different alternative, esp. if you have anxiety and imsomnia, consider Serzone or Serzone + Buspar - there are recent posts on that combo. Serzone is an SRI with an activating (NE) component like effexor but with almost none of the SSRI side effects. Both are also fast acting - relief of anxiety and insomnia is essentially immediate, and full A/D action typically takes only 2 weeks or less. Dosing regime for Serzone has to be worked out carefully for you personally to get maximum benefit / minimal side effects - I can post more on that if anyone's interested.
Good luck,
Tony
poster:Tony P
thread:229525
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20030530/msgs/230169.html