Posted by King Vultan on October 10, 2004, at 19:36:46
In reply to Re: Parnate Experience » King Vultan, posted by karaS on October 10, 2004, at 14:57:45
>
>
> Todd,
> Do you mean that Parnate is neutral for you in terms of fatigue/energy and side effects? It's still working out well for you in terms of AD action, isn't it? Are you able to exercise on it? Does it help you with motivation and concentration?
>
> I don't mean to drill you but since you may have the same issue that I do with regard to hypersensitive dopamine autoreceptors, I'm very interested in what works for you. Did you have good responses to any other ADs in the past? Do you also have paradoxical responses to stimulants/dopaminergics?
>
> I'm starting Cymbalta soon. (I've been putting it off for a couple of reasons.) If that doesn't work out for me, then I'll probably try Marplan or Parnate - so any info you can give me would be appreciated.
>
> Thanks,
> Kara
>It's neutral for me as far as stimulation vs. sedation. However, since I tend to be rather anergic and lethargic in an unmedicated state, I suppose it has been activating in that respect. It is definitely helping both my concentration and motivation and seems pretty effective as an antidepressant. I've been at 50 mg/day for a week now, and on this dosage increase, I haven't suffered the significant bouts of depression I experienced going from 20 to 30 and 30 to 40, well at least not yet, anyway. Perhaps my hypersensitive autoreceptors were mostly down regulated by the two previous dosage increases. I am able to exercise much easier on it than I was on Nardil, and it seems to have no negative impacts in that area. I took my heart monitor out with me while running 6+ miles today, and it was mostly reading between 140-160 while running at a good but not overly strenuous pace that probably would not have been possible on the Nardil.
The drugs I've tried that I've suffered excessive sedation on were Provigil, Strattera, and nortriptyline. Nortriptyline also induced some amount of depression at first, and trazodone caused intolerable depression when I was on Nardil. I believe that in every case, this can be related to the issue of hypersensitive dopamine autoreceptors, as I believe all these drugs do have a secondary dopaminergic effect (nortriptyline and trazodone from blockading 5-HT2A receptors, the same as atypical antipsychotics do). I was thinking of perhaps trying the trazodone again at some point and see if it doesn't work better on Parnate. I expect it probably will, and if so, this would also tend to confirm the hypothesis that my dopamine autoreceptors have been effectively downregulated.
As for the other drugs I've had positive antidepressant responses to without unusual sedation, these would include Prozac, Effexor, Zoloft, Wellbutrin, desipramine, protriptyline, and Nardil.
Todd
poster:King Vultan
thread:400754
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20041007/msgs/401282.html