Starting, stopping and then re-starting an AD

[username]

I have spoken to 3 GPs about the prospect of ADs working well a second time around.  I highlighted PAXIL since that seems to be the one that is pointed to on this site.  All of them tell me that if an AD works the first time, it will always work the second time.  They confirmed that the same was true of PAXIL.  Out of their thousands of patients, they claim that no-one has ever had the problem of an AD not working so well the second time around.

Personally, I have had sertraline work BETTER a second time around.

My psychiatrist seems to go blank whenever I bring this up - I don't think that I have ever had a straight answer from him.

I am tired of being kept in the dark.  What's the deal guys?

[username]

Bump

[Fiona]

I have spoken to 3 GPs about the prospect of ADs working well a second time around.  I highlighted PAXIL since that seems to be the one that is pointed to on this site.  All of them tell me that if an AD works the first time, it will always work the second time.  They confirmed that the same was true of PAXIL.  Out of their thousands of patients, they claim that no-one has ever had the problem of an AD not working so well the second time around.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

If something worked the first time around, and then you have another depression it's a good place to start with that one again. Often it does work, often enough to be worth the effort. Or if you've worked through a range of meds, going back to something that worked may help a bit that can then be combined with other things.

Unfortunately Paxil has a fondness for not being as effective on a second try. I know this was the case for me, and my pdoc acknowledged that this is sometimes true. I suppose there aren't good studies of this effect, and as a result some pdocs and general doctors will either not know or haven't watched closely enough to see the pattern. Or we're seeing a pattern that isn't there.

Fiona