Posted by greywolf on April 23, 2004, at 19:08:04
In reply to Which AD's are most and least agitating, posted by Mr. Scott on April 22, 2004, at 22:22:49
I've been on every SSRI out there, and I've tried others like Effexor, and none of them were the least bit agitating. In fact, I gave up on them because of the sedating effect, and switched to Wellbutrin.
Now there's some agitating med. I was on Wellbutrin for about 4 days at a low dose, and I was almost out of my mind with anxiety--not my usual state. I quickly revisited my doctor, who asked me not to give up so easily. I got a scrip for Xanax and continued on with the Wellbutrin. A few weeks later, I'm now up to 300mg/day with no agitation and no need for the Xanax. Unfortunately, I've seen no therapeutic value either, so this looks like another failed med trial. Oh well.
One plus is I've got a doc who encourages me to give what he's prescribing a fair chance. A few times I've dropped some of the SSRIs pretty quickly because I saw the same old SEs popping up and there was no point trying to wait out SEs I knew weren't going to disappear. But I've taken longer with a couple of the tricyclics and Wellbutrin, and I've at least discovered an ability to get by most of the SEs associated with them in a relatively short period of time (of course, trazodone will always put me to sleep, but it's easier for me to regulate than, for instance, Lexapro or Effexor).
I would just try out what you can, but have an up front discussion about what to do if you develop an unacceptable level of anxiety. Knowing I can get in to my doc the same day and he doesn't treat me as if I'm abusing a privilege helps. Of course, I try hard not to abuse the privilege to begin with. In addition, the Xanax helped get over the bumps, but I wouldn't suggest any long-term dependence on it.
Best of luck.
poster:greywolf
thread:339005
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040423/msgs/339328.html