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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 6 of 6. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by Deb on July 4, 1999, at 17:21:57
I'm fairly new to the board, so I apologize beforehand for diving into a subject that may have already been discussed to death. I have been on Prozac for several years with fairly good success. On my last vist to my psych. he gave me a month's worth of Paxil samples and told me to wean off the Prozac and start on them. I have read just a few posts and it doesn't sound very promising; in fact, some of them were downright scary. Would just like some feedback before I start on a new drug.
P.S. The paxil was prescribed because I was having some ocd symptoms during times of severe stress. I was told paxil would handle this better than prozac.
Posted by Rambo on July 4, 1999, at 19:15:27
In reply to Paxil: Lunatic Drug????, posted by Deb on July 4, 1999, at 17:21:57
> I'm fairly new to the board, so I apologize beforehand for diving into a subject that may have already been discussed to death. I have been on Prozac for several years with fairly good success. On my last vist to my psych. he gave me a month's worth of Paxil samples and told me to wean off the Prozac and start on them. I have read just a few posts and it doesn't sound very promising; in fact, some of them were downright scary. Would just like some feedback before I start on a new drug.
> P.S. The paxil was prescribed because I was having some ocd symptoms during times of severe stress. I was told paxil would handle this better than prozac.A good slug of Serotonin usually takes care of OCD Symptoms. Prozac is not the Serotonin front runner, but will do the job with a high enough dose (up to 80 mg.).
What dose of Prozac are you on? Any discussion of Luvox with your doc ?
Posted by Deb on July 4, 1999, at 20:43:52
In reply to Re: Paxil: Lunatic Drug????, posted by Rambo on July 4, 1999, at 19:15:27
> > I'm fairly new to the board, so I apologize beforehand for diving into a subject that may have already been discussed to death. I have been on Prozac for several years with fairly good success. On my last vist to my psych. he gave me a month's worth of Paxil samples and told me to wean off the Prozac and start on them. I have read just a few posts and it doesn't sound very promising; in fact, some of them were downright scary. Would just like some feedback before I start on a new drug.
> > P.S. The paxil was prescribed because I was having some ocd symptoms during times of severe stress. I was told paxil would handle this better than prozac.
>
> A good slug of Serotonin usually takes care of OCD Symptoms. Prozac is not the Serotonin front runner, but will do the job with a high enough dose (up to 80 mg.).
> What dose of Prozac are you on? Any discussion of Luvox with your doc ?
I've been on 40mg of Prozac daily for a few years, was on 60mg before that. I don't recall having any breakthrough ocd symptoms on that higher dose, now that you mention it. And what is Luvox? Another SSRI? I've never heard of it. Guess I've been on my regimen so long all the new advances have passed me by. I'll discuss the higher dose of Prozac with my pdoc and appreciate anything you can tell me about Luvox. We're all searching for that perfect combo, aren't we? Thanks a lot for the info! Deb.
Posted by Judy on July 5, 1999, at 10:03:45
In reply to Re: Paxil: Lunatic Drug????, posted by Deb on July 4, 1999, at 20:43:52
Deb,
I'm not even close to being a psychopharmacological expert, but I do have some experience to share. My daughter suffers from severe, incapacitating OCD and was initially prescribed Prozac. It didn't touch the OCD. With the advent of the Prozac-clones, she was put on Luvox (supposedly *the* SSRI for OCD). Helped her a little, but not enough. Finally she was put on Anafranil (a tricyclic touted to be the industry-standard for OCD). It did, in fact, clear up her OCD symptoms - but it did so by turning her into a Zombie for over a year, accompanied by a 25 pound weight gain.
She eventually chose to live without meds for awhile and did very well (an entire summer); but when she returned to college in the fall, the OCD returned with a vengeance. She began taking Zoloft and is doing very well on it (the OCD is still there, but she can deal with it most of the time). She's had no weight gain, in fact she's still losing the excess pounds put on by the Anafranil. Can't tell you about her sexual side-effects (that's someplace I don't want to go with my daughter!)
In summary, you never know what's going to *do it* for you. You can't apply anyone else's experience to yourself beforehand. Ya gotta keep experimenting! (You'll sometimes see posts here that end with 'YMMV' or 'Your Mileage May Vary' because everyone is totally different in what they experience on meds.) Best of luck.
Judy
----------------------------
> > > I'm fairly new to the board, so I apologize beforehand for diving into a subject that may have already been discussed to death. I have been on Prozac for several years with fairly good success. On my last vist to my psych. he gave me a month's worth of Paxil samples and told me to wean off the Prozac and start on them. I have read just a few posts and it doesn't sound very promising; in fact, some of them were downright scary. Would just like some feedback before I start on a new drug.
> > > P.S. The paxil was prescribed because I was having some ocd symptoms during times of severe stress. I was told paxil would handle this better than prozac.
> >
> > A good slug of Serotonin usually takes care of OCD Symptoms. Prozac is not the Serotonin front runner, but will do the job with a high enough dose (up to 80 mg.).
> > What dose of Prozac are you on? Any discussion of Luvox with your doc ?
>
>
> I've been on 40mg of Prozac daily for a few years, was on 60mg before that. I don't recall having any breakthrough ocd symptoms on that higher dose, now that you mention it. And what is Luvox? Another SSRI? I've never heard of it. Guess I've been on my regimen so long all the new advances have passed me by. I'll discuss the higher dose of Prozac with my pdoc and appreciate anything you can tell me about Luvox. We're all searching for that perfect combo, aren't we? Thanks a lot for the info! Deb.
Posted by Deb on July 5, 1999, at 10:29:39
In reply to Re: Paxil: Lunatic Drug????, posted by Judy on July 5, 1999, at 10:03:45
> Deb,
>
> I'm not even close to being a psychopharmacological expert, but I do have some experience to share. My daughter suffers from severe, incapacitating OCD and was initially prescribed Prozac. It didn't touch the OCD. With the advent of the Prozac-clones, she was put on Luvox (supposedly *the* SSRI for OCD). Helped her a little, but not enough. Finally she was put on Anafranil (a tricyclic touted to be the industry-standard for OCD). It did, in fact, clear up her OCD symptoms - but it did so by turning her into a Zombie for over a year, accompanied by a 25 pound weight gain.
>
> She eventually chose to live without meds for awhile and did very well (an entire summer); but when she returned to college in the fall, the OCD returned with a vengeance. She began taking Zoloft and is doing very well on it (the OCD is still there, but she can deal with it most of the time). She's had no weight gain, in fact she's still losing the excess pounds put on by the Anafranil. Can't tell you about her sexual side-effects (that's someplace I don't want to go with my daughter!)
>
> In summary, you never know what's going to *do it* for you. You can't apply anyone else's experience to yourself beforehand. Ya gotta keep experimenting! (You'll sometimes see posts here that end with 'YMMV' or 'Your Mileage May Vary' because everyone is totally different in what they experience on meds.) Best of luck.
>
> Judy
>
> ----------------------------
>
> > > > I'm fairly new to the board, so I apologize beforehand for diving into a subject that may have already been discussed to death. I have been on Prozac for several years with fairly good success. On my last vist to my psych. he gave me a month's worth of Paxil samples and told me to wean off the Prozac and start on them. I have read just a few posts and it doesn't sound very promising; in fact, some of them were downright scary. Would just like some feedback before I start on a new drug.
> > > > P.S. The paxil was prescribed because I was having some ocd symptoms during times of severe stress. I was told paxil would handle this better than prozac.
> > >
> > > A good slug of Serotonin usually takes care of OCD Symptoms. Prozac is not the Serotonin front runner, but will do the job with a high enough dose (up to 80 mg.).
> > > What dose of Prozac are you on? Any discussion of Luvox with your doc ?
> >
> >
> > I've been on 40mg of Prozac daily for a few years, was on 60mg before that. I don't recall having any breakthrough ocd symptoms on that higher dose, now that you mention it. And what is Luvox? Another SSRI? I've never heard of it. Guess I've been on my regimen so long all the new advances have passed me by. I'll discuss the higher dose of Prozac with my pdoc and appreciate anything you can tell me about Luvox. We're all searching for that perfect combo, aren't we? Thanks a lot for the info! Deb.Thanks for the info, Judy. I tried Anafranil several years ago and it was torture for me, so I can sympathize with your daughter. I was in a perpetually daze, couldn't even hold silverware in my hand. Forget driving, or having any kind of life! I didn't stay on it long enough to have a substantial weight gain. Believe me, I ran from that drug like a scalded dog (just an old southern term). You're right, we have to find our own way, with trial and error usually. It helps keep things clear in my mind just hearing from all you guys out there. Love to all, Deb
Posted by Elizabeth on July 5, 1999, at 13:03:35
In reply to Re: Paxil: Lunatic Drug????/been there, Judy, posted by Deb on July 5, 1999, at 10:29:39
Hi everyone.
I haven't heard about this thing about Prozac vs. Luvox vs. Paxil vs. whatever; as far as I know, all of them work in OCD, but one may be better than another for a particular person.
I do know that clomipramine (Anafranil) is supposed to work *better* than the newer SSRIs (it being a tricyclic antidepressant and a powerful inhibitor of both serotonin and noradrenaline reuptake). However, it does have some pretty nasty side effects for many people. I am not entirely convinced by the claims that it works "better," which are based on a somewhat controversial statistical technique; direct head-to-head comparisons of SSRIs vs. clomipramine have shown no significant difference in efficacy and better tolerability for the SSRIs. It is true that doses for OCD tend to be on the high end, and it can take a long time for improvement to become apparent. The recommendations I've seen have been that you shouldn't give up on an OCD drug until you've tried it at a fairly high dose (e.g., at least 60mg of Prozac or Paxil, 200 of Zoloft, 250 of clomipramine, 300 of Luvox) for 10-12 weeks.
FWIW, there are augmentation strategies that may prove helpful for some people. The ones I've heard of are Buspar, clonazepam (Klonopin or Rivotril), lithium, and Risperdal (be careful with this last, it's also been reported to worsen symptoms in some patients). Fenfluramine also has been used with success; for obvious reasons, I'm not recommending that!
This is the end of the thread.
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