Posted by pellmell on July 12, 2001, at 13:30:29
In reply to How LONG should one try med for (ATTN:pellmell), posted by Janelle on July 11, 2001, at 20:32:23
> Pellmell, I hope you read this because you posted something above that has me confused - you wrote that from your experience with antidepressants, and I'll quote the rest: "I think you can tell whether a drug might be doing you good by the end of an eight week trial after having taken it for only two."
>
> What do you mean by this or did you do a typo? Do you mean that you can tell after about 2 weeks if a drug might be starting to do some good? Or do you mean you need at least 8 weeks to tell?
>Janelle,
I'm sorry about that grammatical sleight-of-hand. < g > Yes, I did mean that I think you can tell after two weeks whether you should stay on an antidepressant. That is, at the end of two weeks if the side-effects are still hard to tolerate *and* you're not feeling at least slightly better, you should strongly consider calling your pdoc. Listen to your body and brain; it'll tell you whether it's willing to play nice with any new biochemical buddy.
For instance, I felt my body accept Effexor almost immediately. Within a week I was feeling less anxious and able to enjoy life a little more. On the other hand, I stuck it out with Wellbutrin for a whole month in spite of the fact that it seriously exacerbated my symptoms of anxiety, made me irritable and fidgety, and did nothing for my depression. If I'd've listened to what my body and brain were telling me, I would've quit sooner and had a much better quality of life for those two weeks.
I'll write more soon.
My advice, though, is to call your doctor and ask to start on samples of something else.
-pm
poster:pellmell
thread:69796
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20010708/msgs/69857.html