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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 sabo on February 5, 2008, at 2:19:45
Hi,
I've been on prozac (for depression and anxiety) for over 10years and a few months ago completely stopped it (tapered off) and was clean from prozac for 2 -3 months. It just simply lost its effectiveness. I fell into a deep hole in the time I was off prozac and thought i could live without taking medication. I was wrong. After being put on avanza (made me sleep non-stop), cipramil (caused sexual dysfunction) I ended up back on prozac (this is my 3rd week back on it, have been on 20mg dose). It's done nothing and i've realised it is not going to work like it use to.
Today I saw my psychiatrist and he suggested to give lexapro a try. I sighed and embraced myself for another "dip". What worried me even more is that he said there was no need to taper off the prozac...just commence lexapro straight away. Is this strange ? What about serotonin syndrome ?
Posted by B2chica on February 5, 2008, at 7:45:52
In reply to Prozac to Lexapro - no washout ? is this dangerous, posted by sabo on February 5, 2008, at 2:19:45
Prozac has such a long half life that docs tend to do that...tell you no need to taper off cuz it does it's own taper off in your system because it stays in your system so long.
if you have concerns i would make your pdoc explain it to you..for peace of mind and such.
but its pretty common i think re;prozac not to have to taper.
b2c
Posted by Phillipa on February 5, 2008, at 12:03:53
In reply to Re: Prozac to Lexapro - no washout ? is this dange » sabo, posted by B2chica on February 5, 2008, at 7:45:52
I was always given another SSRI to just switch over to also. Good luck. Phillipa
Posted by bleauberry on February 5, 2008, at 18:01:35
In reply to Prozac to Lexapro - no washout ? is this dangerous, posted by sabo on February 5, 2008, at 2:19:45
Significant levels of prozac should remain in your system for about a week. After that it is roughly cut in half, and then half of that about a week later, and so on. So while you start lexapro, prozac is still there. I have done this switchover myself. I had to start at 2.5mg lexapro for a week, then 5mg for 2 weeks, then 7.5mg for a week, and finally to my top dose of 10mg. Me being very sensitive, this was safe.
It is confusing though. If you have a cluster of really bad days, you don't know if it is the diminishing prozac or if it is a reaction to the new drug or if it is just too darn much serotonin. I went slow and easy for two reasons. One, for safety. Two, to hopefully be able to judge better what was doing what.
In the end lexapro didn't do much for me. Maybe made me even more depressed, especially in the first two weeks.
This is the end of the thread.
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