Posted by UgottaHaveHope on April 6, 2007, at 12:10:44
In reply to 3rd month on EMSAM, posted by Johann on April 6, 2007, at 1:06:22
He's my pdoc. First of all, to my knowledge, there have never been any MAJOR studies of diet restrictions of the Emsam patch performed over 6mg. So you could very well be correct: There is really no proof the diet restrictions are needed at 9mg to 12mg, but they advise you to follow them for liability reasons. Only you will know by trying those foods and checking your BP (although I would never test the OTC meds, please).
I also took Emsam 6mg for three months for anxiety (GAD) with 100 mg of Seroquel and 3mg of Klonopin. Emsam seems to have an energizing affect on me, which did not help the anxiety at first. But over time, combined with the other drugs, I felt like a 6 or 7 at times on a scale of 1-10. Right now, I am trying Nardil for the first time in my life (at 45mg for the sixth day), which is supposed to really hit anxiety. Well, it has hit anxiety but also makes me feel stoned. But these side effects are supposed to lessen with time. We will see. Have you ever tried Nardil or Parnate? I didn't know this was available, but my pdoc took a blood test before I began Nardil, saying he could measure later on how much Nardil was reaching my bloodstream. I wish they could do that with all meds because you would be able to tell if an effective dose is in your system and if it is not working, then that would be proof and give you confidence to move on to the next drug. One other thing: According to my pdoc, who again is one of the founders of Emsam, just for your own knowledge there is no washout between switching from Emsam to Nardil or Parnate or back to Emsam. Sounds like you are doing well on Emsam 12mg, please keep posting because I am very interest in following your situation because it closely resembles mine.
That is very encouraging to read that increasing your dosage of the patch made it more effective in treating anxiety. That is something I may try if Nardil does not work after 2-3 months.
Why are you worried about cost? As a pdoc, you should be able to get endless samples? :) There are plenty of researchers, pdocs and therapists that post on this board. I encourage you to share any of your experiences, and you will find these people very helpful. Welcome to PBabble.
Michael
sportscarvell@yahoo.com
poster:UgottaHaveHope
thread:747415
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20070402/msgs/747529.html