Posted by uncouth on August 23, 2008, at 18:00:46
In reply to Re: Positive Nardil Experience, posted by Vik07 on August 20, 2008, at 15:17:21
I seem to be at a similar stage in my nardil trial as some of you all. Close to five weeks ago I started out at 30 and quickly titrated up to 60, and last week went to 90. Unbelievably I'm not feeing much of anything, except for two days last week when I definitely felt soem sort of stimulation...felt a bit like methylphenidate. But then it went away.
At 90, I am just starting to get occasional orthostatic hypotension. Only other effect I feel is a slight increased-increase in mood from vigorous (45 minutes) cardio.
I'm also getting some afternoon sedation but my sleep is relatively OK. I'm taking it with a low dose of lithium which I want to decrease (450mg now) as I feel as though it's fogging up my cognition a bit.
I'm extremely disappointed I haven't felt much of anything from nardil yet. No social anxiety improvement, no mood lift, and only a day or two of stimulation which went away. My next pdoc appointment is on Tuesday and as I'm hte only person he has on nardil right now, I'm not sure what he's going to advise. Last time he suggested a combo of Effexor and Cymbalta as Effexor has definitely worked in the past for me, often rapidly, but it has the tendency to push me into a bit of a blissed out hypomanic-like state, and what's worse, it seems to be killer for apathy and just sorta numbs my emotions. I was on effexor for a very long time at one point and it also eventually pooped out.
I guess there is always a combo I could use with Effexor to also hit dopamine, but I really wished that Nardil would do the trick, and I also really hoped it would resolve my longstanding social isolation (unnecessarily isolating myself) problems. I just can't believe it's not working, it makes me very sad. I was hoping to be able to look for work again about htis time, and i'm not sure I can take another med change, as the last time I moved from an MAOI (Emsam patch) to Effexor (this was 4 mos ago) I sunk into the worst, suicidal, depression of my life.
Anyone know if it is worth staying on Nardil? Does Nardil ever NOT work? I'm BP2, social phobia, and probably have some ADHD and addictive tendencies as well.
Sometimes I'm afraid that I'm just afraid of feeling better, and it's not necessarily wrong to feel blissed out on Effexor. But I know how my life was the last time I was on long term SSRIs, and I just didn't care that I was alone, without a girlfriend, and engaged in compulsive internet use. I knew intellectually, but it didn't "feel" bad, I didn't feel any motivation to change things. It's all psychodynamic as well and I have certainly long-standing family and self-esteem issues that I'm dealing with in therapy, but I was so hoping Nardil would give me the relief, motivation, I needed -- giving me my spirit back so I can live life. I'm 28 and the best years have passed me by and it's getting to a point of being unbearable, living at a capacity such a low percent of my capability. I know drugs are not necessarily the full solution and I often wonder what people who felt like I did 70 years ago did -- certainly many of them were able to come out of it by themselves - and often I feel like i'm asking too much of medication especially when these multiple trials and self-knowledge of these effects are considered. Perhaps I just need to fight the fear and get a job or start dating in spite of the daily misery I feel...but I sure was hoping Nardil would help.
poster:uncouth
thread:847257
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20080822/msgs/847883.html