AboutEric Brandt Expertise I am a practicing pharmacist.On my drug information website, I have answered hundreds of questions to date. The articles posted on my site include Parkinson`s disease. depression, menopause, diabetes, sleep and aging, congestive heart failure, calcium channel blockers, thyroid hormone replacement therapy, ADHD, multiple sclerosis an more.
Experience I have experience in retail as well as hospital pharmacy pracice. Currently working in a hospital pharmacy. I am experienced in drug information. Over the last 6 years I have developed a successful web site for drug information.
The addressfor my drug information website is http://www.druginformation.bc.caThere you can read articles on varios areas of health interest. You can also leave me questions which I will personally answer. I also have a free health information newsletter called The Caplet. To subscribe send e-mail to
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Question I'm sorry. I forgot to include one of the prescriptions in my question. In addition to the following, the doctor has prescribed trazadone. This was the other "downer" I was referring to.
Here is the original question....
"Hi. I'll make this short as possible. My wife's doctor prescribed ambien and prozac and has recently added phentermine to the mix. I am concerned about it. I have read about seratonin syndrome and she is experiencing the severe mood swings and very bad aggressiveness. Does the combination of these drugs sound reasonable or even safe? The combination of an "upper" and two "downers" seems illogical to me and I'm worried that it will make things even worse for her.
Thank you for any info you could provide."
Answer Hi Evan,
My drug interaction program did not identify an adverse drug interaction between Phentermine and Prozac. Trazodone in low doses is used as a sleep aide, not an antidepressant. It is often added in combination with anti-depressant to help with sleep and is safe to use in that way. If this is the reason for its use then perhaps Ambien is not necessary. Phentermine is used as a diet pill. I think its benefit is marginal at best. The doctor needs to review all these meds and decide which ones can be tried to be discontinued.
Thank you for using Allexperts
Sincerely,
Eric Brandt, B.Sc. Pharm
