AD "Booster" Med?

mandy26 · 07-20-2007, 01:42 PM

Hi. Has anyone been prescribed an additional medication specifically to boost the effects of their AD? If so, what med was it? I've heard of Buspar being used for this, but wondering about others. Did it seem to help? Any thoughts on why this course might be tried versus just an increase in AD dosage?

I'm currently on 10mg of Lexapro and still getting a fair bit of "breakthrough" anxiety and depression. I know 10mg is still a low dose for this med (I started on 5mg), but I'm a small person and usually sensitive to side effects of any meds.

trg247 · 07-20-2007, 03:12 PM

Hi:

I went through a number of antidepressants before hitting this combo: Effexor, Wellbutrin, Remeron. The Remeron is mainly for sleeping but the Wellbutrin acts like a booster for the Effexor. I take another couple of meds on top of this as well. Still not sure why the doctors decided to do this but it has been a couple of years that I have been on it.

take care
trg247

even_sly · 07-20-2007, 03:41 PM

I've taken Buspar before... Also tried Ritalin once (I have OCD and it seemed to help me "focus" a bit?).

OH... Also took Anafranil once with Celexa. For me though, the biggest relief has been with just Zoloft.

Sometimes the combo helps, but in my case the higher dose did. Sorry I don't have more info for you. I've heard of Wellbutrin and Effexor working well together before... (((((((((hugs))))))))))

mycatwillow · 07-21-2007, 11:04 AM

When the Remeron stopped working my doctor added Trazodone and I felt better. I now have a psychiatrist who added Effexor after that comb stopped working. I don't know yet if she plans on taking me off of either of the others. But apparently it is common to have a 2nd antideppresant added to the first if the first one has stopped working.

mandy26 · 07-23-2007, 03:33 PM

Thank you for the replies, guys. Please keep them coming if anyone has any other experiences to add. All are helpful as I try to wade through...

I'll be talking w/ my doc next week about the next step, medication-wise. I've been on the Lexapro for about 4.5 weeks now, and just don't feel that it's working well enough for me. It has helped a little bit--doing better on it than without, but I still don't feel that I'm functioning very "normally". Not even close, really. I don't know if I'm just not on a high enough dose or if I need a different med. I hate the prospect of switching to a different AD completely, and then waiting another 4-6 weeks to see if it's the "magic" one for me, just further continuing this frustrating game of medication roulette. (Sigh.)