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Mental Health (Expert Forum)
Reducing depression medications
Answered by
Roger Gould, M.D. - Mental Health, Wellness
Questions posted in the Mental Health forum are being answered by Dr. Roger L. Gould, author of the Mastering Stress and Depression program and affiliated with the UCLA. Department of Psychiatry. Topics covered include anger, attention deficit disorder (ADD) , bipolar disorder , dementia , electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) , learning disabilities, memory, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) , panic , personality disorders, phobias , post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) , schizophrenia , stress , transitions, and work problems.
Reducing depression medications
by chelan3, Oct 13, 2007 11:53AM
I've been on effexor xr for about 4 and a half years. I'm now at 150mg a day (started at a low dosage and it's been increased 3 times over the years), it was last increased about a year ago. I've recently been diagnosed and treated for sleep apnea which I've had for several years but only recently treated. I'm feeling the best I have in years. My sleep dr mentioned that sometimes antidepressants can be reduced once treatment for sleep apnea starts as sometimes the depression symptoms are from the sleep apnea. Is this true? How will I know if it's right to discuss reducing my dosage with my doctor? I know when to discuss with my dr when the dosage "feels" too low but how do you know if the dosage is to high and should be reduced?
Doctor's Answer
by Roger Gould, M.D., Oct 15, 2007 04:14PM
, Oct 15, 2007 04:14PMTo: chelan
You know only by experimenting. Your sleep therapist may be right, its worthwhile talking to your doctor about lowering the dose and see what happens.
