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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 5 of 5. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by blueberry on December 2, 2006, at 6:59:43
Situation: Depression and anxiety. Stopped 10mg prozac 13 days ago. Weaning off zyprexa after 10 years of 5mg and 3 months of 2.5mg, now at 1.25mg. Withdrawals are cloudiness, disconnectedness, fatigue, anxiety of the free-floating unfounded fear type.
Started SJW 14 days ago at 150mg. Now at 450mg. From previous trials it can work fairly ok for a while. I would like to keep at least 300mg onboard no matter what else, because it provides other benefits...improved sex, social comfort, elimination of swolen boils where I sit (probably from its antiviral action or anti-inflammatory action?)
I've tried rhodiola before and got excellent antidepressant results the first day. I especially liked the increased energy, which I desperately need. But I could never stick with it because anxiety was increased to severe panic levels. Similar things like ginseng sucked.
Considering the early good results from rhodiola and withdrawals from zyprexa, there will be and already is significant anxiety and nervousness. I've tried most supplements and they worsen my depression. The only thing that helps is xanax.
I'm wondering if xanax would get in the way of rhodiola doing its job?
Other supplements I take: Omega3 (850mg EPA/200mg DHA), 400mg GLA from borage. Of all the amino acids I've tried, only one works half decent for depression without causing other significant problems...acetyl-l-carnitine. I might start that again, but even that I found overly stimulating at just 250mg.
What do you think?
Posted by Meri-Tuuli on December 2, 2006, at 9:33:00
In reply to Would Xanax Prevent Rhodiola From Working?, posted by blueberry on December 2, 2006, at 6:59:43
So are you trying to get off the Zyprexa and the prozac completely? In which case you'd be left with the SJW and the Rhodiola?
Interestingly, I have had the same experience with rhodiola, increased my anxiety but it was great for depression+energy issues. And I also think that with the SJW you had a panic attack from hell a week after stopping it, right?
Well I would think that the SJW would offset the anxiety associated with the rhodiola or at least I would predict this to happen (hopefully!).
I think SJW and Rhodiola would be an extremely good combination, and I would be very interested to see how it goes, I've often thought of trying this combo, but well, my 'poisening myself fears' are too great to actually try it myself but well.
But back to your orginal question, I'm not sure if xanax would prevent rhodiola from working. I think they've got quite different modes of action, so perhaps it might be worth a shot? I doubt they're contraindicated, the only meds that I've read which are contraindicted are the traditional stims. Masterminsta said that he considered rhodiola to be a stimulant, so perhaps if you treat it like a stim, how does it feel to take Xanax with a stim?? I have no idea, I haven't taken either a benzo or a stim....
Just some thoughts.
Kind regards
Meri
Posted by blueberry on December 2, 2006, at 11:53:13
In reply to Re: Would Xanax Prevent Rhodiola From Working? » blueberry, posted by Meri-Tuuli on December 2, 2006, at 9:33:00
> So are you trying to get off the Zyprexa and the prozac completely? In which case you'd be left with the SJW and the Rhodiola?
>
> Interestingly, I have had the same experience with rhodiola, increased my anxiety but it was great for depression+energy issues. And I also think that with the SJW you had a panic attack from hell a week after stopping it, right?
>
> Well I would think that the SJW would offset the anxiety associated with the rhodiola or at least I would predict this to happen (hopefully!).
>
> I think SJW and Rhodiola would be an extremely good combination, and I would be very interested to see how it goes, I've often thought of trying this combo, but well, my 'poisening myself fears' are too great to actually try it myself but well.
>
> But back to your orginal question, I'm not sure if xanax would prevent rhodiola from working. I think they've got quite different modes of action, so perhaps it might be worth a shot? I doubt they're contraindicated, the only meds that I've read which are contraindicted are the traditional stims. Masterminsta said that he considered rhodiola to be a stimulant, so perhaps if you treat it like a stim, how does it feel to take Xanax with a stim?? I have no idea, I haven't taken either a benzo or a stim....
>
> Just some thoughts.
>
> Kind regards
>
> MeriYeah, prozac and zyprexa for 10 years. Enough is enough already. They stopped working.
I did have a panic attack from hell after getting off sjw. I'm surprised anyone remembers that. That was when it was combined with 10mg prozac and 5mg zyprexa. While sjw decreases blood levels of many meds, I later found out it increases zypexa blood levels by 300%. So my 5mg was actually closer to 15mg. So when I stopped sjw, I was also rapidly dropping from 15mg zyprexa to 5mg without realizing it.
I think sjw and rhodiola combined at therapeutic doses could lead to serotonin syndrome. It happened to someone else I remember. Doses of both would have to be watched carefully. But then, there is a Amoryn sjw brand that has sjw+rhodiola+5htp in it. That sounds like a definit serotonin syndrom setup, but if it was happening I think we would be hearing about it.
Anyway, I don't know what to do. I'll just keep inching up the sjw and take xanax now and then if I need it. Hopefully I'll get some more pointers from good folks here.
Posted by Meri-Tuuli on December 6, 2006, at 5:16:07
In reply to Re: Would Xanax Prevent Rhodiola From Working? » Meri-Tuuli, posted by blueberry on December 2, 2006, at 11:53:13
Hiya, sorry its taken awhile to get back to you.
Hmmmm. Well when I did all my research into Rhodiola, I didn't really discover anything that was contraindicated with it, except traditional stims, and even then, the Rhodiola was supposed to increase the effect of the stims. Well as an 'adaptogen' I thought that by defination there weren't supposed to be many things that were contraindicated with it. Certainly, my herbalist was happy for me to take rhodiola and a blend containing schizandra, gingko, sib ginseng, damiana and rosemary. There is nothing in the research to indicated that rhodiola and SJW might induce SS. But then again, rhodiola hasn't been around that long in the western markets.
Yeah I was assuming that SJW + Rhodiola would be a safe combination. I assumed that rhodiola didn't really have any action on sertontin at all.
Well have a look at:
http://www.herbalgram.org/herbalgram/articleview.asp?a=2333
I just checked out sjwinfo.org and 'blackbird' claims to have gotten SS with SJW+rhodiola...hmmmm.....well I really dunno. I've never heard anything to confirm this possible interaction.
Meri
Posted by Meri-Tuuli on December 6, 2006, at 5:21:12
In reply to Re: Would Xanax Prevent Rhodiola From Working? » Meri-Tuuli, posted by blueberry on December 2, 2006, at 11:53:13
I forgot to say I remembered the panic attack from SJW because I had exactly the same thing happen to me, although I wasn't taking anything else. Strange huh!
Yes that Amoryn brand is definately a setup for SS, well you'd think wouldn't you? I think there would definately have been some news if Amoryn were causing any problems....the mechanisms of these plants must be incredibly complicated.
Kind regards
Meri
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