Dosage timing off prozac to insitol? DHEA?

[Guest Tracy]

new to the forum. I've been on a series of Tricycs and SSRI's over the past 8 years or so. Anafranil, Luvox, Prozac, Buspar. I'm getting a little sick of the side effects (weight gain and a completely dead libido) which I've had to varying degrees with each one. I just tried Zoloft and gained 5 pounds in 5 days, since I'm already about 30 lbs overweight (thanks to anafranil) gaining more is a health issue.

 

I study yoga, meditate and get massages twice a month but haven't been abel to kick the SSRI's. I was diagnosed with OCD in 1997 after my Mother died and have been on meds ever since.

 

I've tried amino acids to boost dopamine (to help with the libido problem) but ended up feeling like I've drunk 2 pots of coffee (they're also precursors to norepenephrine and my body couldn't take it). I've recently begun to eliminate caffeine from my diet but am not there yet.

 

I want to try inositol. It's going to take me a few months to get up to the 18 grams a day recommended. in the meantime I'm sticking with prozac until I get there. I know that inositol doesn't augment SSRI's but I'm wondering how and when in the dosage process I should start scaling back on my Prozac to see if the inositol is effective in taking it's place. I'd also like to try something else besides the buspar (only something non-addictive). I've decided not to risk 5HTP or L-tryptophan because of the contamination issues I've got a two year old daughter to share my life with so EMS is not an option.

 

I'm also interested in DHEA. I've started a 5 mg dose once a day and would like to get my DHEA/Cortisol ratio tested. Does anyone know if I have to be off of the supplement DHEA for any period of time before the test? I don't want to skew it. Does anyone know of information about SSRI effect on DHEA/cortisol levels?

 

Tracy

[Guest Guest_shannon]

I recently started taking Inositol for my OCD and it seems to be working. Like you, I was tired of all the side effects of the meds my Dr prescribed -- especially the weight gain from Anafranil! I weened myself off the Anafranil by taking it every other day for two weeks. The second week, I started the Inositol. Since my OCD is not severe, I thought I'd try a smaller dose than what was used in the clinical trials. I went with 7g a day. Coming off the Anafranil was horrible -- I felt hung over and edgy all the time for two weeks straight. The good news is, the OCD was under control! The third week, the hangover feeling was gone, but my mood was awful. I guess I'm feeling emotions again, but the emotions I'm feeling are all negative -- Anger, irritation, frustration, sadness, depression and a very short fuse. I know this is depression, but I never felt this way before I was diagnosed with OCD and (mild) depression. I'm at the end of my third week, and I'm thrilled that the OCD is 95% gone, but I can't handle the constant, negative emotions. Maybe I need to up my dose of Inositol? Maybe I need an anti-depressant for the depression? I have an appt with my Dr tomorrow -- I'm curious to see how he'll react to my taking Inositol, as most MD's don't approve of natural remedies...

Shannon

[Guest Tracy]

Shannon,

 

Do you take in any caffeine during the day? The reason I ask is that I've been reading that cortisol levels in people with anxiety disorders is usually pretty high (cortisol=stress hormone) and caffeine can raise those levels even higher. A lot of scientific study is showing that high cortisol levels are found in people with Mood disorders. Yoga and meditation have also been shown to lower cortisol.

 

I'm finding that, apparently, treating cortisol levels alone doesn't really result in much. The trick seems to be getting the balance between DHEA and cortisol levels to normalize. My theory for myself is that those levels are completely out of whack. That's why I'm getting my DHEA/Cortisol levels checked with my doctor. It's a saliva test, I believe.

 

There's also a theory out there that SSRI's have an effect on testosterone levels (lowers them). That might be the reason behind the sexual side effects. If that's true and you went off the SSRI to inositol (which doesn't seem to affect testosterone) then you might be feeling the mood swings because your testosterone levels have gone back up. When I tried to give up prozac I had the same irritability/aggressive behavior/short fuse problem. I'm getting my testoterone levels checked too (that's a blood workup). It will probably be a few weeks before I can get the tests and the results back from the lab, but I'll let you know what they find. I hope my theories pan out.....it would mean this ((^)*%*^%)* problems could actually be treated!

 

Tracy

[Guest Guest]

have all your hormones (estrogen,cortisol,testosteron,progesterone,DHEA etc.) checked with a blood work up. the saliva tests are not as accurate. also, have thyroid levels checked by someone who knows what levels to look for. these people are hard to find. your problem sounds hormonal/chemical.