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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 5 of 5. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by bravohr98 on June 8, 2007, at 6:06:57
I have been taking zoloft before for a few months for depression with medium success.
A week ago I decided Ill give it another try; maybe on a higher dosage. I was taking 50mg before.
First time I took it I felt it work within a few days, especially for social anxiety. But this time I was on it for a week and felt like it was not working at all. I know it takes quite a while for SSRI to start working so I decided to sick with 50mg for few weeks before I up the dose.
Yesterday I made myself a cup of grapefruit juice. I drank only half and then I remebered that I read somewhere that it can have interaction with some medication so I threw away other half of the juice.
Well, I was minding my own business and then all of a sudden I realized lift in my depression. It was very subtile at first but as the time went by I could feel the effect getting stronger.
for the next 5-6 hours I actually felt like 30-40% lift in my depression witch is remarkably good since I have been having depression and dysthymia for years now.
After 6 hours or so the effect was gradually lost but I was really amazed what effect it had on me.
Today I researched grapefruit a little more and it seems that it inhibits enzymes responsible for drug metabolism. Also found a research page about grapefriut and sertraline. It seems to inhibit sertraline degradation in liver.
I know its very dangerous to take grapefruit with drugs because of its drug metabolism effects, and it can raise drug level in blood to high; 300-400% for some drugs - but it really helps.
I think this is something to look into a bit more and it may have some therapeutical importance.
Maybe it could be used in small amounts when ADs stop working. Or maybe even trying a smaller dosages ADs with grapefruit.
I will definitely try it again and post the results, but this time ill try a smaller dose and see how its works.
Posted by bravohr98 on June 8, 2007, at 10:12:52
In reply to Grapefruit and Zoloft experiment, posted by bravohr98 on June 8, 2007, at 6:06:57
Also, I forgot to mention one more important thing:
Yesterday when I took grapefruit juice i did not take zoloft. I forgot to fill in my prescription so I was without zoloft for that whole day.This actually seems VERY important since grapefruit is said to raise the concentration of drugs by inhibiting CYP3A4 in intestines and liver.
But in my case that could not have happened because I did not take any sertraline that day. Sertraline has approx. 26 hrs drug half life so I only had 1/2 in my system that day.I found some web pages that say there is also some amount of CYP3A4 in the brain. They still dont really know what is its role in the brain but maybe it aslo works in the same way it works in the liver and gut.
My theory is that grapefruit may have blocked the CYP3A4 in the brain effectively raising the sertraline availability in the neurons - this is the only logical explanation.
It could not have raised the blood levels since my last dose of zoloft was some 30 hrs before grapefruit consumption. Sertraline is known to have big first pass metabolism witch happens within few hrs after dosing. I dont think that sertraline blood concentration could have been raised in my case since there was a big time gap from this first pass metabolism.
Posted by Phillipa on June 8, 2007, at 12:43:07
In reply to Grapefruit and Zoloft experiment-IMPORTANT, posted by bravohr98 on June 8, 2007, at 10:12:52
I thought grapefruit juice lessened the drugs? Love Phillipa
Posted by Phillipa on June 8, 2007, at 14:00:04
In reply to Re: Grapefruit and Zoloft experiment-IMPORTANT » bravohr98, posted by Phillipa on June 8, 2007, at 12:43:07
Oh wow googled it and it can cause a toxic reaction in the liver. Don't do it. Love Phillipa
Posted by bravohr98 on June 11, 2007, at 3:34:07
In reply to Re: Grapefruit and Zoloft experiment-IMPORTANT, posted by Phillipa on June 8, 2007, at 14:00:04
It does not cause toxic reaction in liver. It blocks cytochrome P450 enzyme CYP3A4 that metabolizes many drugs, including sertraline.
All I know is that it made my zoloft work...
I also found some research data that says Rhodiola also has P450 blocking properties, especially on CYP3A4. It may have drug interactions same as grapefruit.
This is the end of the thread.
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