Posted by MissThang on January 30, 2011, at 1:28:29
In reply to Re: ptsd meds » greenwillow, posted by phillipa on January 29, 2011, at 20:27:16
Green Willow,
Philippa is right -- nefazodone is the generic of the brand name drug serzone. What I like about it is that it's one of the few serotonin drugs that doesn't cause sexual dysfunction or weight gain. It's very good for anxiety with depression. So far, I'm on a very low dose (50mg -- just titrating up) but I can tell it's been very helpful with my anxiety already. As I continue to titrate up to the minimally effective therapeutic dose (at least 200mg/day), I anticipate greater antidepressant/anti-anxiety benefits.
Serzone came under fire a few years ago because of a few rare instances of liver damage from it -- about 1 in 250,000 - 300,000 people will get liver damage, which can be remedied if noticed early, so it's important to monitor liver function while on this drug, especially at first. Apparently, if you're one of the few who's susceptible to it, you'll have the effects within the first 6 months. On askapatient.com, there are quite a few people who've been on it a decade or more with no ill effects to their livers, so the risk isn't really all that great, but, out of an abundance of caution, I plan to get my liver tests run every month the first 6 months on the med and every 3 months thereafter.
I'm really hopeful that this med continues to work for me as it has so far, however, since in addition to helping with my anxiety (and hopefully, soon, on my depression), it also seems to be helping reduce my long term problem with nearly daily headaches, which have greatly reduced since I started on nefazodone.
I don't know if it's got many anti-histamine effects though -- so far, I haven't noticed any dry mouth, constipation or other symptoms like you would typically find with a med with strong antihistamine properties. It's considered safe to take with Zyrtec and Claritin, but must be used with caution with benedryl due to the possibility of excess sedation.
My eventual goal is to add this to wellbutrin, which gave me great AD effects but increased my anxiety level a bit too much. Stahl, the famous psychiatrist, labeled the combination of nefazodone and wellbutrin as one of 12 "heroic combinations" -- combos that are particularly effective even when other meds have failed.
Anyway -- hope I've answered all your questions -- good luck!
poster:MissThang
thread:977914
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20110115/msgs/978236.html