Posted by MissThang on November 16, 2010, at 18:06:51
Hi Everyone -- Long story short, after trying a host of medications over the years (and having had decent success with Wellbutrin until it pooped out on me a couple of years ago), I've finally decided to go the MAOI route and started Parnate yesterday.
As many of you know, this was a somewhat agonizing decision, given the restrictions it comes with, but I had an amazing reaction to some supplements about 6 weeks ago that showed me what COMPLETE REMISSION felt like and I realized I no longer want to go on living life halfway -- the way I have been for years since the primary benefits of the Wellbutrin wore off. The effects from the ingested supplements lasted only 3 days (no matter how much I increased the dose, I was unable to extend the relief), but that showed me that my brain WAS capable of feeling good -- really good -- and I decided if I had to give up some cheese and Chinese to regain that feeling, it would be so worth it.
I'm posting here partially just to have someone to share my experiences with, but also to hopefully get some positive feedback from people who've had success with Parnate (taking name brand, btw). I'm looking for reinforcement, I guess, because during my 2 week wash-out after the Wellbutrin, I ready probably 200 posts on this site about MAOI's in general and many about Parnate specifically and while I certainly remember reading posts about people having great success with Parnate, I also see many of the same names posting here who are currently trying other meds who seemed to be enjoying much success with Parnate in the past.
So...if you've had success with Parnate in the past, could you tell me about your experience? How long did it take for you to reach remission? To feel significant improvement? I just started taking it yesterday (20mg/day) and after the 2nd 10mg dose both days, I do believe I started feeling just a little better -- a tiny bit less anxious and maybe just a little brighter, but it's really hard to tell about the possibly mood-brightening...I may just be feeling relieved to not be experiencing as much anxiety. My primary diagnosis is MDD with a good dose of anxiety thrown in for good measure, though it's hard to say how much of the anxiety is from the Nuvigil and/or caffeine I consume to try to motivate myself or whether that's there all by itself. In any event, I'm trying to relieve both symptoms.
My Dr. is willing to prescribe Nuvigil w/the Parnate (which I understand is rare) and I have a couple left over from when I took them for a while w/the Wellbutrin, so I took half of one today with my first dose of Parnate because I seemed a little groggier when I awoke this morning than normal...still felt overall less anxious today, despite adding 1/2 a Nuvigil.
I'm rambling here about myself, when what I'd really like is some encouragement that I might be on the right path. I've read so many amazing things on AskaPatient and I want those things to be true for me too, but the (seemingly) limited success experienced by many here on this board has me a bit discouraged. Your thoughts?
poster:MissThang
thread:970500
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20101107/msgs/970500.html