QUESTION:
Dear Dr. Heller,
Your site and book have been invaluable in understanding many of my problems. Thank you for providing this information. Recently seeing a doctor for dysphoria and anxiety, I think my diagnosis is GAD, but I believe I may have OCPD too. Currently I am taking Celexa. Due to what may have been hypersensitivity, I found my start dosage of 20mg to cause intense grogginess and other side effects. After a few days I reduced my dosage to 10mg. I then experienced two wonderful anxiety free days. On the 3rd day my anxiety came back. Bumping the dosage to 20mg had no effect in anxiety reduction. I read on your site BuSpar may be helpful in this situation. My questions are: 1) Would high doses of Celexa be required for OCPD? 2) Would Celexa and BuSpar work well together, or would Prozac and BuSpar be the best combination for OCPD/GAD?
Thank You.
ANSWER:
Thank you for your kind remarks.
1) High doses of SSRI medications would be required to stop everything
from feeling like it's "life or death". Because I've had much greater
successes with Prozac I usually recommend Prozac. Some patients do fine with Celexa.
2) Yes, BuSpar and Celexa or Prozac would be fine. Once the BuSpar is in
your system for a few weeks, high SSRI doses can be used. You'll be amazed what
happens when both of these genetic diagnoses are treated.
