Posted by Ktemene on January 26, 2005, at 11:10:04
In reply to Nardil - VERY SCARED, posted by Maxime on January 25, 2005, at 19:14:47
> Hi
>
> I've been in denial for months now, but the Parnate is not working for me anymore. I didn't want to admit it because I've been on everything.
>
> My doctor wants me to try Nardil again. I was on it before but had to stop it because the sedation was overbearing. I could not function. But now I am taking Adderall so maybe it won't be as bad.
>
> But I am so scared about weight gain. You have no idea. I am anorexic and gaining weight is a huge issue. Unless you have had an eating disorder you cannot understand the fear I am going through even if there is a possibility that Nardil will bring me out of my depression.
>
> How much weight will I gain? Does it make you crave food the way zyprexa does? Weight gain leds to self-injury for me.
>
> For those of you who are on it, how many pounds have you gained. I need to know, please.
>
> I've been crying all afternoon. I just don't know if I can handle this.
>
> Please, tell me about the weight gain.
>
> MaximeHi Maxime,
I am sorry to hear you are having such a bad time. I have never been on Nardil, but I was (and am) on Remeron and Adderall. As you know, Remeron is notorious for weight gain. I was worried about this, because about 5 years ago my pdoc had me on an SSRI + lithium, and I gained a lot of weight. (I didn't realize myself how much I gained at the time, because I did not weight myself. But after I lost the weight, my friends who had not seen me in a while said things like: Wow, you look like you have lost 40 pounds! My conclusion from those remarks is that I really gained an enormous amount of weight from the SSRI + Lithium combo.) But at the time that I gained that weight, Adderall was not part of my combo.I started taking Remeron about three months ago, to help deal with anxiety issues. I was very concerned about weight gain, because of the earlier experience with med-induced weight gain. But I need not have worried. My med cocktail for the last six months has been 20 mg Adderall + 400mg Provigil + 5 mg Selegiline + DLPA. Before I started Remeron, I was sort of careless about making sure that I took the whole 20 mg Adderall over the course of the day. I think of Adderall mostly as a med to help me concentrate, rather than as an antidepressant. So when I did not need to concentrate, I did not take Adderall. Then I started low dose Remeron. My appetite did increase. I started gaining a bit of weight. And then I decided to stop being careless about taking Adderall. I started making sure that I took full dose over the course of the day; and I got a pill cutter to divide it into smaller bits. I took Adderall whenever I thought I was excessively hungry. And it was very effective. So was taking extra DLPA. I lost the few Remeron pounds I had gained and actually lost a few pounds beyond that. Now I am taking higher doses of Remeron, and since, as you know, increased appetite is a side-effect mostly at the lower doses, I don't need to depend on Adderall and DLPA so much to control my weight. But I remember being very grateful at the time (when I started Remeron and started gaining weight) that I had Adderall to counter it.
Of course, YMMV. But I would say that your Adderall will be a very effective defense against weight gain if you do decide to go onto Nardil.
Concerning alternatives, I know you have tried a lot of meds without much luck. But I thought I would mention that the Selegiline patch should be available fairly soon. And, if I remember correctly, you have not tried Selegiline yet, and the patch delivery system is supposed to make it especially helpful. You respond pretty well to MAOIs. The Selegiline patch may be a good option for you. (Unlike Parnate, Selegiline is not known for the strange fatigue/sleepiness attacks that Parnate sometimes produces.) Also, I know that you do not want to try ETC. But have you considered trying TMS? There is, as far as I have heard, no danger of losing memory or any of the other bad effects of ETC, and it does help some people a lot. Pfinstegg, for instance, had great success with it.
Hang in there! And keep posting!
Ktemene
poster:Ktemene
thread:447683
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20050124/msgs/448092.html