Posted by Roslynn on January 4, 2009, at 17:27:12
In reply to Re: is 4 weeks a long enough trial for Pristiq?? » Roslynn, posted by bleauberry on January 4, 2009, at 15:22:48
> Hmmm, feeling worse, not baseline and not better. Well, if it were me, I would do a cross taper to your next choice. Granted these meds do take weeks and even months to do their thing, but 4 weeks is plenty of time to see at least a distant glimmer of improvement if there is to be any. That is pretty evident in clinical trials and anecdotal evidence at all the forums. It is possible, but rare, that someone feels worse at 4 weeks than they did at the start and then somehow magically it turns around for the better. Worse in the first week or two is not uncommon. 4 weeks is a bit much I think.
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> Worse is not cool. Clinical trials that have looked at this topic show that the degree of improvement or deterioration in the first weeks is a fairly reliable predictor of whether the med will work. There is no black-and-white, no guarantee. But, if it were Las Vegas, the hand you have right now has poor odds.
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> Of course most people including doctors would debate that the med needs 6 to 8 weeks, that 4 isn't enough. True enough. But in that debate they totally miss the point...you have deteriorated and are worse than you started and the only thing that changed is the med. Hello?
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> I don't know what other meds you have been on, your history, or your symptoms. But from those things you can gather some clues as to what to choose as your next med trial.Bleauberry,
Thanks for your feedback.
That's kind of what I was thinking. Eight weeks is a long time to be in this much pain.
My doc also increased abilify from 5mg to 10mg which I think is making me nervous.
poster:Roslynn
thread:872135
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20090104/msgs/872269.html