Posted by sfy on December 20, 2004, at 12:51:45
In reply to Re: Questions for Nardil users (present or past) » sfy, posted by KaraS on December 19, 2004, at 14:08:23
> I wonder how much of the fact that you didn't have terrible side effects was due to the fact that you took the old formula? It seemed like it was a helpful medication for you. Why did you go off of it?
I reached a point where I had made some substantial progress with Nardil and the CBT (as well as a small daily dose of Klonopin). The Nardil was starting to cause some severe insomnia so my pdoc at the time thought we could discontinue it and see what happened (now I would probably ask for something to help me sleep). After I went off it, I was able to maintain my progress so I didn't go back on the Nardil. However, the insomnia remained (and arises frequently today) and I was put on Remeron to deal with it.
> Do you still practice the CBT method? If so, is it still helpful?
Not formally but some of the practiced methods of counteracting the automatic negative thoughts do arise when facing some social situations. Unfortunately, because of my anhedonia/dysthymia I seemed to have hit a plateau with my last round of CBT (which was with Heimberg's group). It makes it difficult to find activities I'm interested in in which to put the CBT to use. Additionally, it turns out that some of those negative thoughts (e.g., I'll run out of things to say) are actually true in many instances (my mind tends to run out of things to say even absent any anxiety) so CBT cannot deal with that.
> Also, since your experiment with selegiline wasn't very successful, what have you decided to try next?
Right now, I'm trying nortryptiline. I'm up to a 50 mg. dose but haven't yet noticed any dramatic impact. The side effects are bearable (dry, yucky tasting mouth and slight constipation) and it does help me sleep well without any hangover the next morning. I'm going to give the 50 mg. another couple of weeks and then probably go up to 75 mg. My pdoc says the dose could go as high as 100 mg. (But he didn't mention testing my blood plasma levels and I forgot to ask.)
poster:sfy
thread:431382
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20041217/msgs/432055.html