Posted by RN320 on December 23, 2006, at 14:54:15
In reply to Re: Emsam Users, length of time, effects,pros/cons? » stargazer, posted by shoshana on December 23, 2006, at 13:57:59
hi Shoshana-
I read your post with great interest. I'm now stabilized at the 12mg dose of EMSAM and doing really well. I can relate to a lot of the side effects that you're reporting.At the 6mg dose my anxiety went up a little. Any anxiety that i experience at 12mg is much more manageable and is only related to things like extreme personal stress or unfamiliar places and people. I do pretty well day-to-day now.
I had insomnia prior to the EMSAM, so i can't say that it caused it. I took seroquel for over a year to help with sleep, but although it is still effective to augment the EMSAM, it has ceased to be useful for insomnia- so my pdoc has put me on trazadone, and that is starting to work well for me. I'm now averaging 7-9 hours of sleep almost every day (vs. 1-3 hours per night for the month of November!).
I also have the major changes in blood pressure. I used to have hypertension, and I have some cardiac problems, so I'm sure that this all adds to the hypotensive effect of EMSAM. Because I get so orthostatic, I've had to train myself to get up verrrry slowly from bed in the morning. I actually sit with my legs dangling for at least 5 minutes....otherwise I have a pretty good chance of passing out. I also try to be really careful when I've been sitting for any longer than 15 minutes because going from sitting to standing can also cause me to pass out. My internist and pdoc are working together on this problem, and they are thinking about using a drug called Florinef or something like that, which helps to increase your BP.
My experience has been that it takes a long time for your body to acclimate to the initial drug and subsequent dose changes. It seems like most of these side effects could be manageable if you feel that you're getting really good results with the EMSAM and want to stay on it.
As far as the diet goes, even though my pdoc reiterated to me that I had no restrictions at the 6mg dose, I chose to implement them anyway. That was in June, so I'm pretty used to reading labels and avoiding any food that's moderate to high in tyramine now. After reading about your dietary experiences/reactions I think I'm glad that I chose to go the route I did.
Good luck to you, Shoshana. I hope you have a happy holiday.
/m
poster:RN320
thread:703921
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20061217/msgs/715971.html