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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 7 of 7. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by bee on August 28, 2000, at 21:40:47
I have been on Elavil for a long time and wanted to try something that still helped with sleep and anxiety. I have previously tried pretty well all the SSRI's which made me anxious, an insomniac and aggressive. I just tried a week of doxepin and it did not work (I know pretty soon if something is going to work or not).
Any ideas? Trimipramine? Celexa? I need something that helps sleep and no anxiety. As my patient husband says, I need something that keeps me calm and not like I have had 30 cups of coffee.
Have I reached a dead end now?
What now?
Posted by stjames on August 28, 2000, at 22:01:05
In reply to Here we go again!, posted by bee on August 28, 2000, at 21:40:47
> I have been on Elavil for a long time and wanted to try something that still helped with sleep and anxiety. I have previously tried pretty well all the SSRI's which made me anxious, an insomniac and aggressive. I just tried a week of doxepin and it did not work (I know pretty soon if something is going to work or not).
James here....
I would be intrested in hearing about your reactions to doxipin
and what caused you to stop it. Often side effects
from unsuceffful meds give clues.james
Posted by Tony P on August 30, 2000, at 2:49:17
In reply to Re: Here we go again!, posted by stjames on August 28, 2000, at 22:01:05
> > I have been on Elavil for a long time and wanted to try something that still helped with sleep and anxiety. I have previously tried pretty well all the SSRI's which made me anxious, an insomniac and aggressive. ... [snipped]
Have you tried Serzone? I could not tolerate the regular SSRI's, but Serzone was really good for sleep regulation and helped a bit with anxiety as well. It also seems to have about the lowest incidence of severe side-effects - main one is drowsiness, so I take my full daily dose at bedtime.
Tony P.
Posted by bee on August 30, 2000, at 12:04:56
In reply to Re: Here we go again!, posted by Tony P on August 30, 2000, at 2:49:17
I went to my doctor yesterday and talked about the medications. I went straight to doxepin 50 mg. and dropped the 80 mg. elavil. We are going to go slow with 25mg. doxepin and 50-60 mg. elavil. Took my first dose last night. Slept fine but was really groggy this a.m. I might try 50 mg. elavil and 25 mg. doxepin tonight. My doctor says if we can stay on a low dose of elavil and doxepin, that would be great. I also have a prescription for trimipramine but she wants me to give this a good month before switching.
I tried serzone but it affected me the same as the other ssris.
> Have you tried Serzone? I could not tolerate the regular SSRI's, but Serzone was really good for sleep regulation and helped a bit with anxiety as well. It also seems to have about the lowest incidence of severe side-effects - main one is drowsiness, so I take my full daily dose at bedtime.
>
> Tony P.
Posted by nhgrandma on August 31, 2000, at 12:12:17
In reply to Here we go again!, posted by bee on August 28, 2000, at 21:40:47
> I have been on Elavil for a long time and wanted to try something that still helped with sleep and anxiety. I have previously tried pretty well all the SSRI's which made me anxious, an insomniac and aggressive. I just tried a week of doxepin and it did not work (I know pretty soon if something is going to work or not).
>
> Any ideas? Trimipramine? Celexa? I need something that helps sleep and no anxiety. As my patient husband says, I need something that keeps me calm and not like I have had 30 cups of coffee.
>
> Have I reached a dead end now?
>
> What now?
Bee,
I was on Elavil for over a year and just slept great but had a very flattened affect. Changed to Effexor and needed doxepin to sleep (extreme dry mouth and constipation). Depression increased and Effexor was increased to 225 mg. Switched to cycles of depression and extreme anxiety and nightmares. Then the doctor added xanax. Then he added a mood stabilizer (Lamictal)for only 3 weeks. I had a bad reaction (worse nightmares and feeling overmedicated, increasing anxiety.) St. James recommended to me a longer acting benzo and I weaned off with Dr.'s blessing the effexor and switched to Klonopin. Now I sleep great, (it took 1-2 weeks to get over the initial weakness), and have no anxiety. It has made a world of difference. I need to keep a steady level and take .25 mg in am and .25 mg pm. It is the only med I am taking now and regardless of all the controversy of using benzos long term I am convinced that this is the med for me. The SSRI meds (Zoloft, Effexor, Luvox all gave muscle pain and increased anxiety.) Klonopin seems most like Elavil without the troubling side effects of weight gain, dull emotions, dry mouth, constipation, etc. I believe the SSRI meds were causing cyclothymia. (St. James) Do my conclusions seem valid? or helpful to Bee?
Posted by stjames on September 4, 2000, at 1:32:01
In reply to Re: Here we go again!Bee and St. James » bee, posted by nhgrandma on August 31, 2000, at 12:12:17
Klonopin seems most like Elavil without the
troubling side effects of weight gain,
dull emotions, dry mouth, constipation, etc.
I believe the SSRI meds were causing cyclothymia.
(St. James) Do my conclusions seem valid? or helpful to Bee?James here....
SSRI's and many AD's can cause cyclying in Bipolor, don't
know about cyclothymia. Klonopin does help with cyclying.
Are yor satisfied that the Klonopin is taking care of everything
or do you fell you need something else ? Can't say how this applys
to Bee.james
Posted by bee on September 4, 2000, at 12:24:51
In reply to Re: Here we go again!Bee and St. James, posted by stjames on September 4, 2000, at 1:32:01
Hi all
I have been taking 25 mg. of doxepin and have decreased my elavil to 60 mg (was 80 mg) at night. I have been on this combo for 5 days. I am finding it harder to fall asleep at night (anywhere from 1 to 3 hours) and am waking up at 7 a.m. I am still feeling tired but not getting a restful sleep.
I had a bad day yesterday what with crying and feeling very down. The same sort of feeling I would get when I have decreased meds. before so obviously, I still need to be on meds.
What with it being a long weekend, I can't get to my doctor till Tuesday.
How long before everything kicks back in? I am guessing that decreasing the elavil has brought the first signs of depression back. Will it take a while longer for the doxepin to kick in? How long should I give this combo a chance? I have a prescription for trimipramine also if this doesn't work.
Any ideas/thoughts?
bee
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