Posted by scleme1 on July 16, 2012, at 12:19:57
I've been a "lurker" here on the boards for a while now. I have OCD (mostly "O"), and I do a lot of reassurance seeking, so I try not to come on med forums too often. Doctor's orders...
However, I am currently in a bit of a mess, and I need to hear from someone with experience. I'm a 38 year old male. I took Paxil 40mg for over 10 years with pretty good results. I'd say that I was symptom free 75% of the time, and managed pretty well the other 25%. I worried a lot about being on it long term, and what withdrawal would be like. That worry would come and go, but was always in the back of my mind. I started CBT and ERP therapy, and my doc wanted me to switch SSRI's to prove that I would be OK.
We cross tapered to 150mg of Zoloft over the course of several weeks. I had no withdrawal or side effects when making the switch. It was very easy. That was November of 2011. I wasn't feeling great at 150 mg after a few weeks, so we went up to 200 mg, and everything was better for a while. I've been on 200 mg for several months now, and I feel horrible.
My anxiety and obsessive thinking are back with a vengeance. The anxiety feels like it did before I started taking anything. My doctor tried augmenting with Deplin, but that had no effect. She then tried augmenting with Buspar, but so far that's not helping either. I've been on 30mg Buspar + the Zoloft a little over a week now. If the Buspar doesn't work, she wants to try augmenting with 2.5mg Abilify.
I'm very worried that I'm not going to find a med that works. My psychiatrist believes that once an SSRI stops working, that the others probably won't work either. I miss Paxil!
I am at the max dose of Zoloft. It should be helping. Am I so jacked up that 200 mg's of Zoloft doesn't help?
My doctor wants to try Luvox CR next, and if that doesn't work...Anafranil.
I guess my main concern is that the Zoloft isn't working, even at 200 mg's. Will I ever find my way back to being symptom free???
Any experience or input would be much appreciated!
poster:scleme1
thread:1021540
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20120630/msgs/1021540.html