Posted by colin wallace on March 8, 2002, at 4:54:31
In reply to Re: Does Sam-e come in 100mg tabs?Lizzy G. » colin wallace, posted by lizzyg on March 7, 2002, at 7:30:57
Hi Liz,
I'm afraid I'm going it alone with the sam-e too-My GP was at best sceptical of my intended sam-e experiment (especially as it entailed coming off effexor completely- a course which he seemed to believe was tantamount to suicide in my case).
Puzzlement and incredulity might best describe the reaction now- although I have 'switched' GP's and found one who is receptive to new ideas.
I think you said you'd recently come off prescription medication (lofepramine, zispin?)
If so, the sam- e effect will be less noticable at first as your brain re-adjusts itself for a few weeks.It should actually help with the transition (coming off meds).Personally, I took 400 mg at the end of my first week, then daily for a few months.As the effexor effects wore off, the sam-e effects became more apparrent, and I discovered that 400mg left me feeling overstimulated, and 200mg was too little (hence the pill splitting/alternating).Remember, coming off meds. is fraught with side effects in itself-this could account for the confused feelings etc.(or it may well be the sam-e).
Either way, it will settle down.Personally, I'd move up to 400 mg after a week, and keep it there for perhaps a month, to give everything a chance to normalize and re-adjust.People's responses to different doses sam-e seem to vary widely,and I'd say that after a month at 400mg, you 'll be better placed to gauge your own response.Overstimulation or anxiety,upset stomach etc, then perhaps 300mg would suit you too (or even 200mg).Nothing noticable-then move up to 600mg etc.This of course is just the way I approached it, and it worked for me.
Perhaps Ron may have a different angle/input, although we both seem to respond to lower doses.It is defeinitely worth persevering here, because this stuff brought me back into the land of the living where all else failed!
Hope it goes well anyway.
Right now, I'm idling by at 300mg of sam-e for two days, and 20 mg of prozac alone on the third.Because of the long half-life of prozac, it roughly works out at 7mg per day- enough for me as I'm med. sensitive.(I only added the small dose prozac because 400 mg sam-e daily is too much of an overstim. for me.)
When I think that two years ago I was on 90 mg (yes, 90mg!) of mirtazapine, I feel i've worked things out for myself the hard way!!!
poster:colin wallace
thread:95968
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020307/msgs/97016.html