Psycho-Babble Medication | about biological treatments | Framed
This thread | Show all | Post follow-up | Start new thread | List of forums | Search | FAQ

Re: tachycardia vs. bradycardia

Posted by KaraS on July 10, 2004, at 16:55:21

In reply to Re: tachycardia vs. bradycardia » KaraS, posted by SLS on July 10, 2004, at 12:55:17

> Hi Kara.
>
> > I am considering taking Parnate down the road (if what I'm trying now doesn't work out). I also got tachycardia from desipramine and nortryptiline.
>
> What exactly were your reasons for discontinuing the tricyclics? Perhaps you didn't need to. I don't think what you consider to be "tachycardia" should be of much concern, especially if accepting it as a side-effect yields a huge pay-off.

Those were the two reasons - the 100 bpm heart rate and the insomnia. I can't remember what dosage of nortriptyline I was on but I don't think I was anywhere near a therapeutic dosage yet either when I got that much tachycardia.
(More on that below)

>
> A number of years ago, I began taking a combination of Parnate 60mg + desipramine 150mg.
>
> 1. My resting HR went from 54 to 110-120 at first. This didn't affect any aspect of my life. I continued to perform my day to day activities as usual, including athletic training (weight-lifting). Over the course of several months, my resting HR gradually came down and settled to about 80-90.

You didn't feel uncomfortable with your heart beating that quickly? I was always aware of it because it felt so strange. Plus I was scared that maybe we have only so many heart beats in the old ticker and that I was too quickly using them up. I'm particularly sensitive to heart issues because my father died of a heart attack at age 45 (and that wasn't his first attack).


>
> 2. I experienced total insomnia for nearly two weeks before intervening aggressively with a combination of Halcion 1.0mg + Ativan 4.0mg. I slept great afterwards, sleeping between 11:00pm - 6:30am and experiencing brief awakenings at 2:00am and 5:00am.

At the time I started the nortriptyline I had recently become addicted to Ativan and managed to get off of it so I was very reticent to take a benzo for sleep. I tried adding a little doxepin and got a very strange reaction - my heart felt like it was going to beat right out of my body all of a sudden about an hour after taking it. That scared the hell out of me. Trazadone made me so nauseous. (Back then there was no Ambien around either nor did I know anything about tryptophan or Valerian.) I think that were it to happen now, I'd know of other options to add for sleep.


>
> I don't know how severe your condition is, but I guess the seriousness of a particular side-effect is a matter of perspective.
>
I find it encouraging that your bpm did eventually drop. Did anyone ever suggest a beta blocker for you? I had asked my pdoc at the time but she nixed that idea. I guess that can produce depression as well so probably wasn't a good idea anyway.

It might be worth it for me to revisit that drug. I didn't get to a high enough dosage to know if it would help depression much for me but I sure did love that energy! I could always combine it with something else for depression. Also, I'm beginning to think that if I do find something(s) that will help with the energy, that they will have a strong noradrenergic effect and therefore I will always have the tachycardia issue.

Take care,
Kara


> Best wishes.
>
>
> - Scott
>


Share
Tweet  

Thread

 

Post a new follow-up

Your message only Include above post


Notify the administrators

They will then review this post with the posting guidelines in mind.

To contact them about something other than this post, please use this form instead.

 

Start a new thread

 
Google
dr-bob.org www
Search options and examples
[amazon] for
in

This thread | Show all | Post follow-up | Start new thread | FAQ
Psycho-Babble Medication | Framed

poster:KaraS thread:13117
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040710/msgs/364799.html