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8 weeks on Nardil

Posted by 4WD on May 3, 2008, at 19:01:59

Hi all,

Just wanted to update my Nardil experience. I've not had a great day today so it's maybe not the best day to post but I feel okay right now.

I am still having days where I am depressed. I sometimes have spells of depression which last a few hours. But I hope that after I've been on Nardil for a full 12 weeks, that will stop. When I have those bad days or spells, I drink caffeine and that seems to help my motivation and lessens the depression.

Trouble is my anxiety level is through the roof. I have had days where I have had to take 30 mg of Valium in addition to my 1mg of Klonopin. This all started about a week ago. Before that I was fine on 15mg of Valium and 1.5 mg Klonopin. I know it's not the lowering of the Klonopin dose that is doing it because it started before I lowered the dose. When I have those depressed spells, I drink caffeine to feel better and then I get even more anxious so I have to take more benzos. It's a fine line.

I am trying to treat the increased anxiety by lowering my Geodon dosage. I'm going from 80mg a day to 60. It's the only thing I can think of to do. I am also going to ask my pdoc on Thursday if I can try a short trial of Xanax instead of Valium to see if it works better. I already have some Xanax and I find that it does take care of the anxiety better but it doesn't last very long.

Can anybody figure out why I am suddenly more anxious? I have tried skipping caffeine entirely one day and I was still scared all day, although not quite as bad. It sometimes doesn't matter how much benzos I take, I am still scared. The day I took 30 mg of Valium I was still scared all day. I don't know what's going on.

The other problem is my blood pressure. It is fluctuating a lot. Occasionally it is roughly normal but usually it is either too high (160/110) or too low (55/40). When I first get up in the morning, I feel very faint and lightheaded and have to keep my head between my legs a lot. This usually lasts about an hour. Then I have spells during the day where it feels like it has dropped really low because I feel so faint. When I measure it, sometimes it is normal and sometimes it is remarkable low.

I bought a blood pressure monitor and starting using it. I had thought my BP was low all the time and that was causing the faintness. So I had been drinking salt water every day (about 2 pints with a teaspoon of salt in each pint). Imagine my surprise when I first measured my BP and it was 180 over something. So I quit drinking the salt water. I don't know if it's better for it to be too high or too low. In any case, there is nothing I can do about it so I have turned it over to God to handle. He'll work something out. My hope is that as I get more used to the Nardil the BP will stabilize more.

But the increased anxiety is what's driving me crazy. I don't WANT to take 30mg of Valium a day. It's too much. But sometimes it's that or be very very scared all day. Any suggestions?

In general, though I am feeling so much better than before I went on the Nardil. I have my life back now. I can clean the house and clean out closets and accomplish stuff. I have more energy and motivation and except for the days or spells of depression, I am not depressed anymore.

Nardil is a wonder drug. I wish I had had the courage to try it years ago instead of staying on the SSRI/SNRI merry-go-round so long. It's the first AD that has worked since I got so sick four years ago. The dietary restrictions don't bother me much. I just miss Chinese food and I don't like having to check the ingredients on everything I buy. I don't eat out so that's not a problem.

Please, someone, tell me what to do about the extremely increased anxiety/scaredness. Or at least tell me what could be causing it.

Marsha


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poster:4WD thread:827035
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20080430/msgs/827035.html