Posted by Sparkboy on March 1, 2002, at 23:10:08
In reply to Re: Atypical Depression, posted by jsarirose on March 1, 2002, at 2:53:58
It's terrible when you're that young because you really have no frame of reference for what normal is. I was always a little nervous and reserved, but it gradually got worse and when I hit teen years my nerves went completely haywire. I hid it for a long time. It was many years later and my first experience with Parnate that I realized that my "normal" is terrible. That level of anxiety should be experienced only by someone undergoing a bad life experience and not as a matter of course in day to day living. I think the oversleeping developed as an escape and to further short-circuit the system and dull some of the anxiety. Parnate showed me what normal can and should be. A calmness and warmth most people take for granted.
Unfortunately, it only worked for 3 months before I crashed off of it. Before that, I had relapses, where the anti-depressant effect would fade out for periods of time, like a radio station in the hills. Very strange, but I learned that most of my difficulties stem from a painful baseline emotion, and lack of pleasure. There is certainly no bad background to account for it. Retrials of Parnate failed even more quickly. My high dose was 60 mg/day. After the AD effect failed, side-effects intensified and higher doses were not possible. A specific response to Parnate makes me believe something is awry with the dopamine system because Parnate is a modified amphetamine molecule and very active on dopamine. I found no substitute and have had to settle for various meds to manage anxiety and sleep. Haven't been bothered with oversleeping or leaden fatigue for several years now, but anxiety and social phobia are still problems.
I read on here that gepirone, a new drug still in stage 3 trials, may help as many as 40% of atypicals. We can hope.
--John
poster:Sparkboy
thread:95469
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020301/msgs/96019.html