Posted by SLS on May 22, 2005, at 7:57:53
In reply to Re: Effexor withdrawal--WHEN WILL IT END???, posted by canadiangirl3 on May 21, 2005, at 22:10:27
> Ok now I'm confused. I'm not sure I understand your 20mg for 3 to 5 days theory. Can you explain that in plain language for me? Also How then does that jive with the 20mg every other day, every two days, every three days etc theory..? (I'm starting to think you are a pharmacologist)
Because Prozac has such a long half-life, it takes quite a few days for steady-state concentrations in the blood and brain to become established. 20mg of Prozac taken only once does not contribute very much to the total accumulation. It must be taken on a continual basis for some period of time to reach therapeutic levels.
Reaching therapeutic levels might not be warranted, however, when using Prozac as a substitute surrogate for discontinuing other SRI drugs like Effexor and Paxil. I have heard of people taking Prozac 20mg for one or two days in a row, and waiting a week before taking a 10mg or 20mg dose as a follow-up. Others have taken it for 5 consecutive days and not need a follow-up dose. Perhaps your system is stubborn enough to require a series of follow-up doses that follow a pattern of skipping days at increasing intervals.
I'm afraid you will have to be the best judge as to which method will work best for you.
One strategy that I like to use is to take a very small dose of a drug only when withdrawal symptoms appear. This might mean taking 5mg of Prozac at a time. Some experimentation is necessary. However, the idea is to allow the body to become your alarm clock as to when to take the next dose. In this way, you will be taking exactly the amount of medication that wards-off a full withdrawal syndrome while at the same time putting pressure on the system to change back to a more normal drug-free state. This manner of tapering is called flexible-dose. Flexibility is sometimes encouraged in discontinuing other drugs that one becomes physiologically habituated to - the benzodiazepines.
- Scott
poster:SLS
thread:494606
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/wdrawl/20050519/msgs/501113.html