Posted by King Vultan on July 28, 2004, at 17:41:31
In reply to Stimulants as an Antidepressant, posted by sedona on July 28, 2004, at 15:57:47
The tricyclics desipramine and protriptyline (Vivactil) are both relatively activating and may be worth trying; although, I always caution people that Vivactil has rather severe anticholinergic effects. Both of these are selective norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors, which, in my experience, do tend to reduce the need for sleep, as do the MAO inhibitors.
As for the MAO inhibitors, Nardil is neutral/sedating, while Parnate has a direct stimulant effect and lacks the weight gain side effects that many people have reported for Nardil. I am in the process of tapering off Nardil and will be going on Parnate myself in late August; although, it took a bit of convincing to talk my pdoc into it.
My own particular bias is that I tend to look very much askance at amphetamines because of the tolerance/abuse potential, but I know that they are widely used and do not present a problem for many people. On my last visit with my pdoc a couple days ago, the issue of substance abuse came up (in regard to Parnate, which does have a slight abuse potential), and I was surprised to hear him say that my personality was of a type that he doesn't generally associate with abusing substances. He feels that there is a strong element of control in my personality, which I suppose I have to agree with (at least from his perspective) because I am so heavily involved in my own treatment. In fact, it winds up being almost self directed, with his experience and wisdom as a safety net. He said that abusers, OTOH, don't have such a priority with control and are more comfortable with giving that up and going for a ride on whatever substance of abuse is their preference, and in essence, letting the substance control them. I must say I had no comprehension of this line of thinking, and there is apparently a great deal about psychology I do not have a clue about.
Todd
poster:King Vultan
thread:371725
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040724/msgs/371778.html