Posted by bleauberry on April 14, 2008, at 18:33:31
In reply to Which Antidepressant, posted by Fathe on April 13, 2008, at 19:10:55
You might want to try Kira brand or Nature's Way Perika brand St Johns Wortsfirst. For mild to medium depression they have as good a track record as heavy drugs. Those 2 brands are the ones used in the majority of worldwide clinical studies, with Kira being most common (can buy a month of it Rite-Aid pharmacy for about $12).
Give it a couple months. If that doesn't cut it, and any drug you choose might not cut it either, then try SAMe 200mg to 600mg for a week (if it is going to work you should feel it quickly).
Choosing drugs is really hard. Some people respond to the same drug they once took, and others don't. Biochemistry may have changed enough since back then to alter the whole scenario. And really, looking at it generally, no matter whether you choose effexor, lexapro, prozac, sertraline, duloxetine, remeron or wellburin, the odds of success just shooting blindly are about the same.
It can help somewhat to aim the medication at specific symptoms. Someone fatigued with lack of joy might put Wellbutrin at the top of the trial list for example. Someone with intense insomnia might go for Remeron. But it is still guesswork.
In reviewing user comments at askapatient.com, it is obvious that Duloxetine has harsh withdrawal effects similar or worse than Effexor in many, but not all, people. The way to lessen withdrawals is to wean off slowly in small steps. Capsules can be opened up and you can count how many "beads" to take each day, slowly decreasing. Going from 37.5mg effexor to zero is huge. But you can go from 37.5 to 35.0 to 33.0 to 30.00 and so on all the way to zero. Same with duloxetine. With prozac you do it by mixing the capsule contents in orange juice and drink a custom sized amount. As long as tablets are not extended release they can be broken into whatever sizes, chunks, chips, or dust you want for custom doses. A switch from extended release to regular release can help that. In any case, doctors do not educate us how to minimize pain of withdrawing. But you now know how.
poster:bleauberry
thread:823106
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20080412/msgs/823294.html