Posted by SLS on November 26, 2000, at 19:50:08
In reply to To Scott, posted by natg on November 26, 2000, at 11:42:33
Dear NatG,
How are you today?
> I have decided to get off the Prozac and see what happens. Effexor may be my next choice.
Good luck. I'll be thinking of you. I don't think you have anything to worry about. Effexor is a very logical choice. I hope it will work well without producing the side effect of issue. Please post as you progress through your drug trials. I am glad that you feel so positive and confident in your decision.
> I have another question for you: Risperdal was perhaps the best medication I have tried thus far. I think that for the first time in my life I felt alive and " normal".
This is a very encouraging predictor of your finding a successful treatment. I am glad to hear this.
This is also good news for me. I started taking Risperdal last night. I still don't know what dosage I will want to target. Although my doctor wanted me to begin at 1.0mg, I am inclined to begin at a lower dosage. Because I only have 1.0mg tablets to work with, I can only divide them into 0.5mg halves. I might have started at 0.25mg if I had that dosage tablet.
How much Risperdal were you taking?
> I quit taking it after 8 weeks because of the same problem. Also, it sort of pooped out on me. Having said that, I think if I had lowered my dose, I might have recaptured the initial effect.
You possess an effective intellect. :-) Someone here has had the experience of losing an antidepressant effect at 0.50mg of Risperdal, but was able to recapture it when she lowered the dosage to 0.25mg. I haven't seen any follow-up posts from her, so I don't know if the lower dosage has produced a stable improvement. Everyone is different. Perhaps 0.50mg is my optimal dosage. I am crossing my fingers. It has been far too long for me.
> Do you think the other anti- psychotics you mentioned might be a better alternative? I have tried Zyprexa but the weight gain was pretty bad.
Aside from the weight gain, what was your experience with Zyprexa? Did it help?
> My other concern is that I would like to have children in the next 5-7 years, do you think that gallactorhea would in anyway affect my fertility? ( To answer your question, I have birthed a child)
I am going to see what I can find on this. If the galactorrhea is the result of elevated prolactin levels, the answer is yes. Hyperprolactinemia is associated with amenorrhea and infertility. It will also impair fertility in men.
> Maybe, these are difficult questions. I really appreciate your time and your valuable knowledge.
All knowledge is valuable. Mine is more limited than you might think. I would consider it a great favor if you would share some of yours when I need it. Even when I don't need it. I just like learning stuff. This seems to be a wonderfully pervasive trait amongst Psycho-Babblers. We are truly special people.
> One more thing, would Amantadine be comparable to bromocriptine?
You see! You taught me something. I didn't know that amantadine has been used to treat drug-induced hyperprolactinemia. You've done your homework. Amantadine seems to be used but very infrequently. However, a couple of the abstracts I found on Medline (NIH / NLM medical database) showed it to be effective to treat the elevation in prolactin that the older antipsychotics and Risperdal can cause. However, bromocriptine is still the drug of choice for hyperprolactinemia and is very effective.
According to the Jay Amsterdam study, the breast enlargement seen with the various SSRIs was not associated with elevated prolactin levels. Paxil did produce some elevation, but they didn't specify how much.
Perhaps amantadine would help in this SSRI situation in particular. Amantadine is nothing like bromocriptine. It does seem to increase dopamine activity, as does bromocriptine, but in an entirely different way and with less potency. Amantadine does a bunch of different things. Both amantadine and bromocriptine are used to augment antidepressant therapy. Maybe you can kill... - what a nasty metaphor. I hope you will have no need of either of these two drugs. If you do, you may end up being a pioneer of a remedial treatment for SSRI-induced macromastia using amantadine.
Speak to you soon.
- Scott
poster:SLS
thread:49179
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20001115/msgs/49463.html