Posted by maoi_wowee on January 18, 2009, at 12:18:31
In reply to Re: Marplan is GREAT! » maoi_wowee, posted by desolationrower on January 18, 2009, at 6:25:16
> would you mind explaining how all three MAOIs affected you, pros cons, especially the details of marplan? hearing from someone who has actually taken it woudl be really valuable.
>
OK, a brief rundown of the three:Parnate
Was on Parnate for 2+ years, at doses up to 90mg/day, and in combination with several other drugs (Lithium, dexedrine, ritalin, valium and others that I'm forgetting).I found Parnate to be energizing and definitely pulled me out of and kept me out of real depressive episodes. What it didn't do was help at all with social anxiety issues. Also, I found it raised my anxiety levels at times and made me obsess about things in an anxious/angry kind of way.
Side effects, which did get better over time to some extent: SEVERE insomnia, BP fluctuations.
Nardil
The first 2-3 weeks when Nardil really kicked in was probably the best time in my life. I got to experience a life free of depression and free of social anxiety for the first time ever. I felt open to the world and everything wonderful in it.Unfortunately, that didn't last. Nardil continued to help with the depression and the social anxiety to some degree, but nothing in comparison to how it was initially.
The major problem I had with Nardil was the weight gain. I happened to have started taking Nardil during a period in my life where I was exercising rigorously for about 3 hours day (I was in boot camp in the mornings and had a personal trainer after work) and was also watching what I ate.
I hadn't weighed myself in a few weeks, so I was excited to get on the scale in the gym. About four weeks earlier, when I was just ramping up my workout regimen and as I was starting Nardil, I had weighed in at about 170lbs (I'm a 5'8" male, goal weight for me is in the mid-150's, I can balloon up to the 220's though).
I got on the scale, telling myself that I would be happy if I had gone to 165lbs or below, really trying to psych myself out because I KNEW that I was really going to weigh in closer to 160lbs. Instead, I was shocked beyond belief to come in at over 180lbs, having gained almost 15 lbs in this four week period of intense exercise and moderate eating.
This trend continued and within weeks I was back up over 200lbs. I really have no explanation for how this could have happened as my food consumption hadn't increased appreciably. The Nardil was just too much and I had to pull the plug on it.
Marplan
Marplan has proved to be a totally stable and reliable drug that could definitely last me for the long haul. I don't really have any side effects, though I honestly can't determine if it has caused me to gain more weight (I have gained weight while on Marplan, but, unlike on Nardil, I haven't been exercising and my diet has been rotten so weight gain makes sense).Taking Marplan is like taking nothing at all. I take 50-55mg/day and I just don't notice it. I don't get depressed and I don't have any real anxiety issues (though I still avoid social situations). Everything on Marplan is just fine and it's hard to say much that is bad at all about the drug.
Marplan feels like a very different drug than Parnate (the only resemblance being that both alleviate my depression better than any non-MAOI drugs ever have).
Marplan does feel like Nardil to some degree. I certainly don't have that total relief of depression that I experienced on Nardil at first (though, again, that only really lasted a few weeks), but I also don't have any lows and don't have the terrible side effect issues that I had with Nardil.
I think Marplan would throw a lot of people who are used to cycling through drugs fairly quickly after experiencing each drug's ups and downs. Marplan has no major ups and also no major downs.
It just relieves depression and anxiety plain and simple. Which can be challenging in its own way as it seems to really take care of the clinical aspects of depression and forces you to confront how your own voluntary behaviors help exacerbate the disease.
poster:maoi_wowee
thread:874502
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20090104/msgs/874742.html