Posted by alesta on August 16, 2004, at 11:17:08
In reply to 40mg prozac, posted by lexman on August 14, 2004, at 19:04:28
Hi, there,
I would definitely not start out at 40 mg. Try the 20 mg for the full 8 weeks before you consider upping the dose. I’ve been on 20 mg for about 6 weeks and am just now starting to feel better on this med. (It started working at 3 1/2 weeks, but with extreme anhedonia.) If, after 8 weeks, you are still depressed, the reason for your depression should determine your course of action.If you are depressed because the 20 mg hasn’t raised your serotonin levels sufficiently, then you should raise the dosage.
If the 20 mg has raised your serotonin levels sufficiently, but you are depressed due to the lowering of dopamine levels, then increasing the dosage is definitely not the answer. It would be better to augment with something to raise your dopamine levels or to try another med altogether (one that won’t lower dopamine--don’t pick another SSRI!)
So how do you know which problem you have? If your sole problem is anhedonia, but you’ve experienced noticeable improvement in other areas, you probably are experiencing a dopamine deficiency. But if you haven’t really noticed much of a difference at all on the drug, you might want to raise the dose.
This is my own personal opinion, but I think it makes more sense than just upping the dose for the hell of it. oops....can I say hell...
Good Luck!
Amy
poster:alesta
thread:377708
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040811/msgs/378239.html