Re: Sensitivity to ssri's - dosing

[Guest guest]

The following is a quote from the ocfoundation website on medication that

explains how sensitive some individuals can be to ssri's, and how, by going low

dose and increasing very slowly they can adapt to the medication, and aleviate

negative side effects.

Dr. Jenike who is quoted below, is a top OCD psychiatrist who works at MacLean

Hospital(inpatient treatment facility)

Here's the quote -

" Some patients are sensitive to these medicines and can't stand the effects that

come with even the lowest dose. However, patients can start at very low doses

(for example, 1-2 mg per day) and very slowly increase the dose. For most

people, they will eventually be able to handle the medicine at its normal dose.

This method has proven successful for so many people, that there is now a " fan

club " of those helped by this approach.

There are two main ways to try this either by breaking pills in half to allow

for lower doses os using a liquid form to slowly increases their doses.

Be sure to talk to your doctor before making any changes to the way you take

your medicines! "

The following is one example as told by Dr. Jenike:

" One woman, who was started on Prozac 20 mg/day, complained of bothersome side

effects such as increased anxiety, shakiness, and terrible insomnia. She felt it

made her OCD worse. She had horrible side effects from even 12.5 mg of

Anafranil, and later with low dosages of Paxil and Zoloft. She started 1-2

mg/day of liquid Prozac, because she heard it was good from other patients that

she met from a computer bulletin board. She felt no side effects, and over a

period of a few weeks, she got up to 20 mg/day without the previous side effects

that she had felt on this dose in the past. She continued to increase the Prozac

to 60 mg/day over a couple more months. Her OCD gradually improved quite

dramatically. "

I sure wish we knew about this when we started having difficulties!!!

Barb

[Guest guest]

How encouraging! Thanks, Barb!

Steffanie

To:

From: barbnesrallah@...

Date: Fri, 3 Sep 2010 03:48:04 +0000

Subject: Re: Sensitivity to ssri's - dosing

The following is a quote from the ocfoundation website on medication that

explains how sensitive some individuals can be to ssri's, and how, by going low

dose and increasing very slowly they can adapt to the medication, and aleviate

negative side effects.

Dr. Jenike who is quoted below, is a top OCD psychiatrist who works at MacLean

Hospital(inpatient treatment facility)

Here's the quote -

" Some patients are sensitive to these medicines and can't stand the effects that

come with even the lowest dose. However, patients can start at very low doses

(for example, 1-2 mg per day) and very slowly increase the dose. For most

people, they will eventually be able to handle the medicine at its normal dose.

This method has proven successful for so many people, that there is now a " fan

club " of those helped by this approach.

There are two main ways to try this either by breaking pills in half to allow

for lower doses os using a liquid form to slowly increases their doses.

Be sure to talk to your doctor before making any changes to the way you take

your medicines! "

The following is one example as told by Dr. Jenike:

" One woman, who was started on Prozac 20 mg/day, complained of bothersome side

effects such as increased anxiety, shakiness, and terrible insomnia. She felt it

made her OCD worse. She had horrible side effects from even 12.5 mg of

Anafranil, and later with low dosages of Paxil and Zoloft. She started 1-2

mg/day of liquid Prozac, because she heard it was good from other patients that

she met from a computer bulletin board. She felt no side effects, and over a

period of a few weeks, she got up to 20 mg/day without the previous side effects

that she had felt on this dose in the past. She continued to increase the Prozac

to 60 mg/day over a couple more months. Her OCD gradually improved quite

dramatically. "

I sure wish we knew about this when we started having difficulties!!!

Barb