Switch from one ssri to another. I've done it before with no problema.

[raccoon]

Switched from Lexapro to Prozac--becuase of cost--about a month ago. Fairly recently I've been feeling less happy and I'm wondering if it's the drug, or if it's just what's going on with me.

Any experience in this area?

[hunter]

1. Yes. It's always hit and miss.

Did you try going from Lexapro to Citalopram (generic Celexa)?

Lexapro is Citalopram with an ineffective isomer washed out.

(What's that noise? Oh, it's the sound of pharm reps gasping, like vampires driving past a garlic field. No free lunches for this boy!)

No, no, this is not medical advice. It is sad commentary about the broken U.S. health care system.

-- because of cost --

Lexapro is the bread and butter of Forest Labs, and they are fighting generics with everything they've got, using their somewhat questionable patent as a club, and spreading incredible stinking mountains of Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt (FUD).

Forest Laboratories Wins Lexapro Suit Against Teva

By Joel Rosenblatt

July 13, 2006 (Bloomberg) -- Forest Laboratories Inc.'s patent for the antidepressant Lexapro is valid, a federal judge ruled. The shares of the company, which makes drugs that treat depression and Alzheimer's disease, surged as much as 18 percent after hours.

In a trial before U.S. District Judge Joseph Farnan Jr. in Wilmington, Delaware, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.'s Ivax Corp. acknowledged that it infringes the 1994 patent, licensed by Forest from Denmark's H. Lundbeck A/S. Teva argued it should never have been issued.

Lexapro is New York-based Forest's biggest moneymaker, generating $2.08 billion in U.S. sales in the year ended November on 29.5 million prescriptions, according to court papers. Forest's sales in the year ended March 2005 were $3.11 billion.

"The court will enter judgment in favor of'' Forest Laboratories, Farnan wrote in his opinion today.

Forest initiated the legal dispute in 2003 with a lawsuit alleging infringement by Ivax. Invalidating Lexapro's patent would have allowed Ivax and Cipla Ltd. of India to sell a generic version of the drug.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aTjLZcSfCZ8c&refer=us

[fed-up]

2. please, please, please have a close friend/relative know how you are doing

When my son's father was taking Prozac he had really violent mood swings and then when he stopped abruptly is when I walked into the bedroom when our son was crying and found the dad with his hands around his neck. No damage, but I never have figured out what was do to medication and what may have been his own problems.

If you start feeling really abnormal or depressed/suicidal CALL your doctor...

I have to deal with bi-polar without meds as I am very hypersensitive and am too scared to try anything else after a couple of bad experiences with much wilder mood swings and other ill effects.

I try to take it one minute, one hour and sometimes one day at a time...

[hunter]

3. Very good advice.

One of the most frustrating things about serious mental health problems is that you've got to have a good support system, especially when you are changing meds. Unfortunately many mental health problems isolate people.

I learned a long time ago that I can't be a loner. I'm too close to the edge of the chasm in which I'm just another semi-homeless crazy guy.

[hedgehog]

4. I've used several different drugs over the years and they aren't

always interchangeable. I've also found out that generic buprion is not as effective as the brand name version Welbrutin.


Also, the different responses to the assorted anti-depressents are leading to theories that there are actually different forms of depression. Unfortunately, I haven't heard of a fool proof way to predict exactly what cocktail will work in a given case.

[fed-up]

5. just checking in to see how things are going-are the new meds working out? nt

[EFerrari]

6. It should hit full strength / benefit after about two weeks of full dose.

How're things going, raccoon?

:hi: