Posted by Vincent_QC on January 9, 2009, at 9:26:21
Hi Everyone ;-)Another long post here...Sorry...
I think a lot about my health since my last family doctor appointment and I wish to switch for a drug with less side-effects. I was already on 30mg/day of Parnate, I stop it cold turkey (I never had side-effects with abrupt interruption of Ads), I quit the Nardil before at 90mg/day to 0mg/day with no withdraw symptom at all. Don't worry ...I will be ok ;-) I'm used to switch from a drug to another...I never die of this!!! lol ;-)
The main reasons why I decide to quit the Parnate boat was the BIG physical fatigue I feel all day long. It was not the same kind of fatigue I had with the Nardil. It was really physical. It was also not the same fatigue than the one I always experience on all the SSRI's ADs (mental fatigue).
The "no energy at all" feeling is not tolerable for me. I had to kick my *ss so hard to succeed to leave my house at night and do something. Just take my shower and be ready to go out exhausted me to the point that I had some faint. I think it's related to the hypertensions that often occur at daytime, the hypotension that I had at night and my sensibility to the epinephrine effect. Such a variation on my blood pressure make me feel so tired, Im not able to do anything physical without having the feeling that I just do 3 hours of aerobic exercises. My muscles burns, I feel like I will do a faint at each corner of the street I reach I also continue to gain weight, even if I dont eat a lot and I have an oedema problem as well. With all this lack of energy, I see also a major degradation in my life organisation. Im not able to do my regular activities and do things like just cleaning my room or make good food to eat, thats unthinkable. I also lack the motivation or the interest I had before to things that always make me smile or just entertaining.
I also think the small improve I see on my social phobia was probably due to the fact that I put too much attention to the side-effects of the Parnate, It seem that I had so much side-effects that I forget almost anything else in my life and thats not good.
I'm not interested to wait another 3 weeks at 30mg/day of Parnate, and see if I will improve, and up my dose again and feel more side-effects for an undetermined period of time where I will be more disable that Im already in my life. I have a therapy (CTB) to do, some social exposition times and exercises to do also, I need to find again some energy (a minimum level) to be able at least to have a minimal normal life.
At this point I think that what I need is just an easy to tolerate drug to help me to cope more with the depression (lack of motivation and interest, lack of energy) and the panic disorder with agoraphobia I have in my lifenot a drug who will knock me out and cause a lot of side-effectsFor the social phobia, I can cope with this problem, especially if all the others problems are under control.
I have also to say that Im not really interested in a Stimulant drug, since they will produce a more bad energy feeling on me, increasing my anxiety in general (Ritalin was like this, Adderall-XR will not be more good and its not insurance cover anyway)If I need some not natural energy, I prefer to drink some coffeeor pop up some "Wake-up pills" even if I don't tolerate them very well...(panic attacks)...but not the coffee...
I have some questions and I hope some people here will be able to help me to answer them. Note that I never react well to the antidepressant drugs who hit harder the Serotonin, especially the Prozac, Paxil, Zoloft, Celexa or Lexapro. When the action on the SE is less selective like the Prozac, It makes my general anxiety, panic disorder with agoraphobia and depression worst, I feel very excited on it but tired at the same time, like I will do always a panic attack... Strange stuff for me really... When a SSRI is highly selective like Lexapro(Cipralex), I feel drained of all my energy (mentally or physically) and my depression, general anxiety, panic disorder or social phobia doesnt improve also, I just eat more and more and gain weight...to end up after 3 months with a low self-esteem because of my weight gain and no improve at all....I always get a massive weight gain on them...even if I eat or notbut in general I eat a LOT on themI cant stop.
I never get the chance to try correctly the SRNIs class of drugs because in the Canada we only have the Effexor-XR version, not the regular version and with my gastric by-pass, the drug dont have the time to reach a normal peak level in my blood stream, even if I up the dose to a very high level. I try to open my pills of Effexor-xr, chew the small round balls inside them but the taste was so bad, I never succeed to take one 37.5mg pill completely like this. I also never try the Cymbaltathats relatively new in Canada, thats not insurance cover but I think I can work it out with my pdoc, have some samplesbut I will have some question about it later for you For the Pristiq, forget it, in the Canada, we will not have it before 3 or 4 years...Health Canada is very slow on the approvoal of new drugs...We don't have also the Emsam patch, most of PDOC here are not aware of the existence of this produc. So you can see how we are retarded here in the Canada...;-)
It's why I want to try something different now. The only one class of AD's I never try completely is the TCA's. I try just the basic imipramine and it fails to produce a good effect, I don't remember it in fact, it'S a long time ago... If I don't remember it, it's probably because it was ok for the side-effects... I took also a little bit of Elavil to help me with my headache problem but thats never help me so I stop after 2 months at a very low dose...but I know it cause a lot of sedation at dose more than 25mg...
The first time I meet my new psychiatrist 2 months ago, he suggest me at first a TCA drug call Nortriptyline. I know it work more on the NE than the SE, so its maybe a good solution for me. Everyone else try it for depression and anxiety problems like the ones I have? Is it true that with all the TCAs, I will gain more weight? Is it worth the trail? Should I go for another TCAs than the Nortriptyline before, like the Desipramine or the Clomipramine??? Which one is the best for depression, anxiety and to retrieve more energy (physical and mentally).
For the Cymbalta, someone open a pill to see how its made inside? Is it like the Effexor-xr, small round balls that you cant chew or crunch, or its just a powder? Is it easy to open the capsule and is it possible to take it without the time release capsule? I absolutely need to know how its made inside the pills to be able to know if my intestine will be able to absorb the drug or not The cymbalta seem to work more on the NE than the SE alsomy sister take it since a couple of months, she told me that she dont improve a lot, she still have some energy slumps and depressive moment where she cry a lot... but she have more energy than when she was on the Celexa and she also lost some weight on it Do you think it worth the trial?
My last question is for the people who try the Manerix (reversible MAOI avaible in the Canada). Is it less hard on the hypertension or hypotension produce normally from more common MAOIs like Nardil and Parnate? Is it doing something good in the depression or anxiety disorders? Do you think it cause less side-effects than others SSRIs or SRNIs? If you experienced some side-effects, witch ones I will be more susceptible to have? Is it giving some energy or its more neutral on that domain? For the weight gain, is it neutral or not? I read that one 300mg dose of Manerix inhibit 80% of type-a and 30% of type-b MAOI...someone know the difference between the Type-A and the Type-B...If I well remember, Type-B play a role more in the DA and Type-A is more NE, SE ?
Well, so much questions, too few answers
If someone here can help me it will be really appreciate ;-)
Thanks for your support again!!!
Bye!
Vincent ;-)
poster:Vincent_QC
thread:872941
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20090104/msgs/872941.html