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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 4 of 4. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by CarolW on January 7, 2004, at 0:15:28
I was on Zoloft for only 5 weeks. Had terrible side-effects (paresthesia, nausea...). Trying to get off of it for two weeks now, but can't seem to make it beyond three days without needing some. I just spent three hours in the ER because the body numbness got so bad I thought I was having a stroke.
I've heard about using Prozac as a more successful way to get off of the other SSRI's? Anyone been successful with the substitution? If so, how did you do it? In fact, any successful withdrawal stories/hints for success would be helpful.
Thanks.
Posted by Ame Sans Vie on January 7, 2004, at 5:56:42
In reply to Any success using Prozac to wean off other SSRI's?, posted by CarolW on January 7, 2004, at 0:15:28
I never was smart enough to attempt using Prozac to go off other SSRIs, but I have used it to wean off tramadol, and it worked beautifully. I still take it now for its anti-obsessional effects at 20mg/day.
Tramadol is a mild narcotic analgesic (50mg tramadol roughly equivalent to 60mg codeine, IMO); it also has serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibition properties which, in my experience, are pretty potent. I was prescribed 400mg/day for depression, but was forced to quit when it exacerbated my fibromyalgia. So I tried weaning off very slowly several times (25mg every week or two), but always found myself experiencing unbearable withdrawal symptoms with even the tiniest dose reduction. It definitely wasn't opioid withdrawal, either -- I've withdrawn from hydrocodone, fentanyl, and morphine with no problems, but this was a whole different animal. It felt like a 10x stronger version of Paxil or Luvox withdrawal (I never had withdrawal symptoms from Celexa, Lexapro, Zoloft, or Prozac). I tried about a dozen times to quit, and even gave cold-turkey a shot a couple times... boy, was that awful. So finally I made the decision to ask my pdoc about Prozac, and we replaced the full dose of tramadol with 20mg Prozac that day. Not a single moment of discomfort after that. I very highly recommend it. You should (most likely) be able to switch directly from Zoloft to Prozac without a problem. And though I personally am not weaning off the Prozac, it's supposedly not a difficult task. I imagine decreasing the dose by 5-10mg every week or so would be more than prudent.
Posted by Sad Panda on January 7, 2004, at 6:55:49
In reply to Re: Any success using Prozac to wean off other SSRI's?, posted by Ame Sans Vie on January 7, 2004, at 5:56:42
> I never was smart enough to attempt using Prozac to go off other SSRIs, but I have used it to wean off tramadol, and it worked beautifully. I still take it now for its anti-obsessional effects at 20mg/day.
>
> Tramadol is a mild narcotic analgesic (50mg tramadol roughly equivalent to 60mg codeine, IMO); it also has serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibition properties which, in my experience, are pretty potent. I was prescribed 400mg/day for depression, but was forced to quit when it exacerbated my fibromyalgia. So I tried weaning off very slowly several times (25mg every week or two), but always found myself experiencing unbearable withdrawal symptoms with even the tiniest dose reduction. It definitely wasn't opioid withdrawal, either -- I've withdrawn from hydrocodone, fentanyl, and morphine with no problems, but this was a whole different animal. It felt like a 10x stronger version of Paxil or Luvox withdrawal (I never had withdrawal symptoms from Celexa, Lexapro, Zoloft, or Prozac). I tried about a dozen times to quit, and even gave cold-turkey a shot a couple times... boy, was that awful. So finally I made the decision to ask my pdoc about Prozac, and we replaced the full dose of tramadol with 20mg Prozac that day. Not a single moment of discomfort after that. I very highly recommend it. You should (most likely) be able to switch directly from Zoloft to Prozac without a problem. And though I personally am not weaning off the Prozac, it's supposedly not a difficult task. I imagine decreasing the dose by 5-10mg every week or so would be more than prudent.---------------------------------------------------------
I read somewhere that Tramadol is very closely related to Efexor & that Efexor may have some affinity for opiod receptors too. With all the horror stories of people with Efexor withdrawl it's no surprise that Tramadol would be a hard habit to quit.
My undestanding of Prozac is that it has an extremely long half-life which is measured in days rather than hours & that makes it easy to withdrawl from & useful for helping in withdrawl from other SSRI's.
Posted by gabbix2 on January 7, 2004, at 12:21:37
In reply to Re: Any success using Prozac to wean off other SSRI's?, posted by Sad Panda on January 7, 2004, at 6:55:49
Yes, I was going mad from Effexor withdrawal, one of the most awful experiences of my life, and Prozac eliminated almost all of the negative side-effects I'd definitely recommend it for that.
This is the end of the thread.
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