prozac vs. paxil

is paxil 40mg equal to prozac 20mg?

[Hensley258]

I wouldn't exactly say "equal to."

Different SSRI medications require different dosing simply because they all have different active ingredients.

For example: an average therputic dosage of Zoloft (Sertraline) would be 100Mgs a day, while the average dosage of Prozac (Fluxotine) is 20Mgs. Some people take 40 and even 60Mgs a day of Prozac, just as some people take as much as 250Mgs a day of Zoloft.

It is a huge misconception that if a depression suffer has to take; for example: 200Mgs a day of Zoloft that he or she must have much more severe Depression than, for example: Bob who only takes 50Mgs of Zoloft for his Depression.

Totally not true. Dosage size of any given AD medication has absolutly nothing to do with "how messed up someone is."

What determines a theraputic dosage is an individuals biology. Some people require higher dosages to get the same theraputic effect because their bodys metabolism is more efficient. It all depends on how your body reacts to the medication. Some people have higher tolerences for this stuff then other people.

You have also probably heard the term, "Maximium effective dose." when it comes to AD medications. For example Zoloft has a maximum effective dosage of 250Mgs a day. That doesn't mean that a patient would be in danger of an overdose if he or she took 300 or even 350Mgs a day of Zoloft. What it means is that during clinical trials the drug Zoloft (setraline) has not shown to offer any better chance of response above the 250Mg per day dosage. In other words if your not responding to Zoloft after 6 weeks at 250Mgs (max dosage) then your not going to respond no matter what the dosage is raised to.

As for Paxil........ If I remember correctly dosages for paxil range from 40Mgs a day to 80Mgs a day. I could be off on that, I would have to look it up again.