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Why Would My Doctor Switch Me From Effexor XR 150mg To Brintellix?
Question: How would my doctor switch me from Effexor XR 150mg to Brintellix? My GI prefers SSRI's for his patients and my PA managing my psychiatric meds said she didn't know the process. Also, I'm a pharmacist and watched a doctor at work do a short bridge between to antidepressants. Any suggestions that I can talk to her about would be helpful. Thanks. XXXXXXX
Brief Answer:
Tapering the dosage is recommended
Detailed Answer:
Hi,
Thank you for using Healthcaremagic, I would love to help
The Effexor cannot be stopped "cold turkey" and needs to be tapered. The fastest safe way to do that would be to decrease to 75mg a day for a week, then 37.5 mg per day for a week. In the meantime, you can also start the brintellix at a very low dose and raise the dose as you decrease the Effexor. this is the general idea. However, I must advise that if your PA is not comfortable with this, then he/she really needs to have a physician who is familiar with it to talk to and work with.
I hope this was helpful, please let me know if you have any further questions.
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Raju A.T
Do you start with 5 mg of brintellix the first day of decreasing the effexor and then stop the effexor after two weeks of tapering off ? How long do you take 5 mg before increasing to a 10mg dose?
Brief Answer:
There are many ways..
Detailed Answer:
There is no one right way to do it, but I would start with the 5 mg brintillex the day I start to taper off the effexor, and increase to 10 when I stop the Effexor. But there are many ways to do it. I hope this helps, and I hope you get the results you are looking for from the new medication. let me know if you need anything else.
Note: For further guidance on mental health, Click here.
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Prasad
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