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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 4 of 4. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by jack smith on April 9, 2003, at 11:08:07
When I tried Paxil, I experienced pretty bad sedation so much so that even though I had a pretty good ad and anxiolytic effect, I quit it after four months. Now, I am on Effexor XR and am experiencing extreme sedation (150mg). Is it possible that shorter half life ssri's cause more sedation than longer half lives. At 150, Effexor acts mainly as an ssri so if I raised it to 225 is it possible that the NE effect will counter sedation?
BTW, I was on celexa which has a longer half life than effexor and paxil and did not experience significant tiredness or sedation. What do people think?
Posted by Ritch on April 9, 2003, at 23:27:22
In reply to Connections between Short Half Lives and Sedation?, posted by jack smith on April 9, 2003, at 11:08:07
> When I tried Paxil, I experienced pretty bad sedation so much so that even though I had a pretty good ad and anxiolytic effect, I quit it after four months. Now, I am on Effexor XR and am experiencing extreme sedation (150mg). Is it possible that shorter half life ssri's cause more sedation than longer half lives. At 150, Effexor acts mainly as an ssri so if I raised it to 225 is it possible that the NE effect will counter sedation?
>
> BTW, I was on celexa which has a longer half life than effexor and paxil and did not experience significant tiredness or sedation. What do people think?I doubt that shorter half-lives would reliably correlate to increased sedation. I think it has more to do with whether the medication is relatively activating or not. I found Paxil and Luvox very tiring. Effexor makes me tired too. Of the SSRI's Prozac was the most activating, with Zoloft and Celexa just after that. It just could be a coincidence. Some of the very sedative TCA's such as amitriptyline have half-lives that are quite lengthy. Remeron has a half-life of about 30+hrs., and it is very sedative.
Posted by jack smith on April 10, 2003, at 17:35:44
In reply to Re: Connections between Short Half Lives and Sedation? » jack smith, posted by Ritch on April 9, 2003, at 23:27:22
> I doubt that shorter half-lives would reliably correlate to increased sedation. I think it has more to do with whether the medication is relatively activating or not. I found Paxil and Luvox very tiring. Effexor makes me tired too. Of the SSRI's Prozac was the most activating, with Zoloft and Celexa just after that. It just could be a coincidence. Some of the very sedative TCA's such as amitriptyline have half-lives that are quite lengthy. Remeron has a half-life of about 30+hrs., and it is very sedative.
Given my VERY LIMITED scientific knowledge, I trust that you are correct that there is no correlation between half life and sedation. It does seem like a strange coincidence though that, at least with ssri's, the degree of sedation generally is least with prozac (the longest half life), then zoloft, celexa and lexapro (mid range half lives, more reports of sedation on lex than celexa and lex has a shorther half life) and then paxil and luvox (very short half lives). But of course everyone's experiences vary. At least for me, the half life of an ssri has thus far correllated to sedation but then I have only tried three (if you include effexor as an ssri).
JACK
Posted by noa on April 10, 2003, at 18:37:44
In reply to Re: Connections between Short Half Lives and Sedation? » Ritch, posted by jack smith on April 10, 2003, at 17:35:44
Keep in mind that the same medication can be very activating for one person and very sedating for another.
This is the end of the thread.
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