Posted by Iansf on April 13, 2004, at 19:12:42
In reply to Re: Nardil, Parnate, NE, Social Phobia, posted by zeugma on April 13, 2004, at 8:05:55
> > My understanding is that Nardil is better for social phobia than Parnate for two reasons: 1) Nardil is skewed much more towards serotonin than is Parnate and 2) Nardil also works on GABA, while Parnate does not. Serotonin seems to be the neurotransmitter most identified with social phobia. Paxil, which is FDA approved for social anxiety disorder, is obviously a very powerful SSRI. Nardil's actions on GABA likely have further anti-anxiety effects, which it would have in common with the benzodiazepines.
>
> It's my understanding that serotonin is involved in stable bodily self-perception somehow. Social phobia for me is a very visceral feeling of being physically inadequate, and even repulsive. this causes tremendous self-consciousness and anxiety when interacting with others. Clonazepam calms me down, but does not eliminate this feeling (similar effect to a little alcohol). Definitely, GABA is involved, but it's not the whole story, at least for me.
> >I would have to agree that serotonin seems to be the main neurotransmitter involved with social phobia. I had the most success dealing with it when I took Prozac and Luvox, both of which work primarily on serotonin. if the side effects hadn't been so problematic, I'd be on one of them now. Life was SO much easier and more fulfilling when I was on them. In contrast, I'm now taking Wellbutrin, which acts on norepinephrine and dopamine, and it is virturally useless in terms of reducing social phobia.
Wellburtin helps with depression, but the continued presence of social phobia limits its effectiveness even in this regard. Because I can't do what I want to do, because I'm alone so much and because I struggle financially - all due to social phobia - it's very difficult to keep my spirits up.
So for me at least, what's needed is an SSRI that doesn't destroy my sex life, make me too uncaring and make me sleep either too much or too little. How I wish a med like that were available.
poster:Iansf
thread:205134
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040412/msgs/336115.html