Posted by Sad Panda on March 21, 2004, at 13:20:38
In reply to Re: SSRIs » Lindsay Rae, posted by Questionmark on March 21, 2004, at 13:03:13
> Good points. i've only been on one SSRI-- Paxil-- so i can't answer your other questions, but i do want to comment on the one. i really do not think that it is a good idea to "flip-flop from Lexapro to Zoloft while the pharmacy mails you the correct antidepressant" because, in addition to the fact that each of the SSRIs have mild pharmacological differences other than 5-HT reuptake inhibition, they also have different pharmakinetic profiles and varying degrees of reuptake inhibition. And is impossible to completely accurately estimate the comparitive potencies of reuptake inhibition between one SSRI and the next, so you go from one to another and you'll be getting either greater or lesser inhibition of serotonin reuptake-- frequently enough to have at least somewhat detrimental subjective consequences for the patient. i have heard about a number of people doing this and feeling bad for awhile after the switch, until the leveled out again on the old or replacement SSRI. It bothers me so much that so many pdocs even fail to see this alot.
>
>When I said it was probably OK, I meant in the context of taking some Zoloft instead of going cold turkey until the script arrives.
Cheers,
Panda.
poster:Sad Panda
thread:326681
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040319/msgs/326710.html