Posted by stephanie l. on September 10, 2000, at 19:35:16
In reply to Re: Stopping, Restarting an MAOI 2 Shellie, posted by Jennifer on August 31, 2000, at 4:26:28
> Shellie,
> You didn't say what your dose of Nardil is and I'm wondering if it could be "upped" for awhile. I took Nardil 30mg twice a day for years. Then after being off it for a couple years, my symptoms returned and I found that the 30mg no longer worked. My pdoc said that up to 10% of those that restart MAOI's do not respond as well the second time. That was scary since nothing else worked. Ended up increasing my dose to 45mg (3tabs) twice a day for the last year, and have just started to lower it back. It took the increased dose for awhile to "kick the poop-out", and now I feel as though I don't need as much.
> I don't know if this helps, but at least you might feel better increasing you dose (within an acceptable dose range) and knowing that you might not always need as much. Jennifer
>
> > I've been successfully on nardil for about twenty years (before ssris existed). I can't take tricyclics. About five years ago, I experienced Nardil poopout, pdoc tried me on various ssris, none successful, went back on nardil, worked again.
> >
> > Starting last January, same thing again. I've tried to augment the nardil with aricept (shakey, drugged feeling),revia (same reaction), lamictal (good, but large weight gain), ritalin (no benefit), dexadrine (no benefit), provigal (slept all the time) and now I'm stopping tomopax (sleeping 16 hours a day, muscles hurt--got up to 150, no benefit for depression).
> >
> > Basically between the provigal and topomax, I have slept the summer away. I am wondering where to get information on what the odds are if I stop the nardil for a week to ten days then go back on it. How big a chance am I taking. I know I will crash, but it might be worth it if it brings me another 3 to 5 years. I can't find any data on this on the internet.
> >
> > Any information would be appreciated. Also, if you can think of something I've missed in the augmentation process (I am taking thyroid; I've tried lithium, deserel and sam-e unsuccessfully), but at this point I am really tired of trying different meds. The one thing I might be willing to do is change from nardil to parnate, but my preference would still be to stay on nardil since I know it so well and it produces very few side effects for me. Thanks, ShellieShellie: My experience has been very similar to yours. I took Marplan, then Nardil, for 11 years.
Then it pooped out. I began trying med after med, new combination after new combination.
I ended up on my current combination of Nardil, Wellbutrin, Vivactil -- I later added dexedrine and Yohimbe. I know that this is an unusual combination, but I have had no serious problems from it. As I experimented with meds, I realized that stimulating meds were the only ones worth trying for me, and not to waste my time on any more "sedating type" medications (which included SSRIs). Vivactil -- which is a tricyclic -- affected me much differently than the other two I tried --- amitriptaline and desipramine. With both of these, I was sleeping l8 hours a day (even after a long trial period.) But Vivactil (protriptyline) was more stimulatiing.
I don''t think the dexedrine is helping much anymore; I've gotten used to it. But the yohimbe is continuing to work at a very small dose. I am resigned to the fact that I will have to keep finding new stimulants as the current ones lose their effectiveness. Basically, I am just waiting to try reboxetine. I hope you find what you need and soon. I know how frustrating it is to go through endless trials of medications.
Stephanie
poster:stephanie l.
thread:43829
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20000905/msgs/44576.html