Posted by Jumpy on November 13, 2002, at 17:58:05
In reply to question on testing imipramine levels-help?, posted by Lia Mason on November 13, 2002, at 11:10:28
Hey Lia,
> My question is this: My pain doc says that you need to be on a given dose for a full month before you test the level. My psychiatrist says you can test it after a week. I'm in pain and short on patience. Anyone here know how quickly a level can be established?
Your psychiatrist is right! To figure out how long it takes for a medication to reach a steady state in the blood, simply multiply 5 times its half life. Imipramine's half live is about 20 to 30 hours, so about five day is how long you should wait to get a level.
With rapid metabolizers, we often have to increase the dose to above normal FDA recommendations ... I have seen people need over 300mg of imipramine to reach adequate blood levels.
Good luck!
Jumpy
PS Make sure the lab gets both imipramine and desipramine levels ..... both count
poster:Jumpy
thread:127484
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20021108/msgs/127515.html