![[dr. bob]](/dr-bob-sm.gif)
Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 12 of 12. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by KellyM on July 26, 2002, at 8:10:15
I have been taking Nardil for about seven weeks now. I would have to say it is definately the most effective medication that I have ever taken, and I have tried quite a few. I can see why it's the "gold standard" for social anxiety (from which I suffer). In the preceding time frame, I have gone back to my old job after not working for three months. I feel more confident and at ease than I ever thought possible. From that perspective, it's great news from the little orange pills.
A somewhat unsettling consequence of my lifting depression is a dread (I can't think of another word) that now sometimes hits me. When I have a project or I'm working, I do it with a vigor that I have not had in a long time. The problem comes into play when I have completed such things. I begin to think of my problems- purpose in life, what I want to do with my future, etc. In a very ironic way, when I was depressed such things may have concerned me, but now they have this new vigor of their own. Perhaps I'm not fully explaining this well, but I hope you get an idea.
I guess what I have to learn is that with the blessing of Nardil, I have the work of trying to fix some underlying problems. I think I had the idea that the medication would be the cure- as it turns out, it goes pretty darn far, just not all the way. If anyone has some perspective on this subject, I'd love to hear about.
Kelly
Posted by jaby on July 26, 2002, at 9:43:33
In reply to Nardil and the New Me, posted by KellyM on July 26, 2002, at 8:10:15
Just curious...was your anxiety an everyday thing or only in certain situations? You make mention of it lifting your depression as well. Was this situational or fairly constant before also?
The MAOI's sound like very effective medications. Had you tried almost all of the other classes? I suffere from GAD/depression/BPII and feel like I'm running out of options. All of these positive posts about the MAOI's may just give me the courage to give it a try. Thanks for sharing
Posted by KellyM on July 26, 2002, at 11:30:27
In reply to Re: Nardil and the New MeKellyM, posted by jaby on July 26, 2002, at 9:43:33
> Just curious...was your anxiety an everyday thing or only in certain situations? You make mention of it lifting your depression as well. Was this situational or fairly constant before also?
>
> The MAOI's sound like very effective medications. Had you tried almost all of the other classes? I suffere from GAD/depression/BPII and feel like I'm running out of options. All of these positive posts about the MAOI's may just give me the courage to give it a try. Thanks for sharingAnxiety was pretty constant, I usually just avoided social situations. Depression came and went over the last few years. I quit working four months ago because of it. I tried Prozac, Paxil, Zoloft, Wellbutrin, Serzone, Effexor, and Buspar and I think a couple of others. All had some effect on my depression, but did nothing for social anxiety (even Paxil). I used Klonopin situationaly, although in retrospect it might have been more effective had I used it more.
I pretty much decided on my own to use Nardil. I wasn't sure my doctor would go for it (I prepared all my arguments before hand). Surprisingly, she didn't have a problem with it. I think everyone has a fear over the diet dangers, but for me those are pretty much gone now. As I said in my previous post, I haven't used anything as effective before. It doesn't come without some side effects (at least for me): insomnia and sexual problems being the biggest. But as effective as Nardil is, I consider them an almost non issue all things considered. As long as you educate yourself going in, I would recommend an MAOI highly based on my experience and others I have read about.
Hope that helps,
Kelly
Posted by cybercafe on July 26, 2002, at 11:54:25
In reply to Re: Nardil and the New MeKellyM, posted by jaby on July 26, 2002, at 9:43:33
> The MAOI's sound like very effective medications. Had you tried almost all of the other classes? I suffere from GAD/depression/BPII and feel like I'm running out of options. All of these positive posts about the MAOI's may just give me the courage to give it a try. Thanks for sharing
i suffer from BPII as well and i behaved like a real fool when my doc suggested Parnate... i desperately suggested other meds, or selective MAOIs (RIMA like moclobemide), but my fears were completely unfounded...
i guess what i didn't realize was that avoiding aged cheeses and fermented alcohol is not bothersome at all...
... in fact i had only ever taken 2 antidepressants (SSRIs) before going to parnate... my doc actually said if he were to take an AD, he would go for parnate first (he doesn't like nardil cuz of side effects, but a lot of people feel so good on it they don't seem to mind)...i mean my side effects are as follows
- increased libido
- more energy
- sleep 7 hours a night instead of 10
- decreased appetite/weight lossi find parnate is much much easier to tolerate than SSRIs were and i really hope no one else suffers needlessly like i did because of irrational fears/overly negative thoughts...
Posted by MarkCSF on July 26, 2002, at 12:01:20
In reply to Re: Nardil and the New MeKellyM » jaby, posted by KellyM on July 26, 2002, at 11:30:27
Kelly,
Why did you decide to use Nardil over Parnate? Was it because they say its the best for social anxiety? I tried Parnate once but it was making my heartbeat abnormal so had to quit but I did see some promise from MAOI's so was thinking about trying Nardil. How are the sexual side effects? Decreased drive or just like anorgasmia?
Also, despite the good effects on social anxiety, how is it for just like an overall depression and say, anhedonia, if you had any..? Thanks..-Mark
Posted by KellyM on July 26, 2002, at 16:01:07
In reply to Re: Nardil and the New MeKellyM, posted by MarkCSF on July 26, 2002, at 12:01:20
Mark,
I chose Nardil over Parnate because I read quite a bit that it was considered better for social phobia (although like cybercafe said, many consider it to have more side effects). I actually decreased the dose of the beta blocker I take (Lopressor) for hypertension because of it's blood pressure lowering characteristic- no major dizziness or anything like that though.
For me the sexual effects are similar to Prozac or Paxil. Decreased Libidio and more time taking to reach orgasm. It definately has an antidepressant effect as well as helping the social anxiety. Some people report getting almost a "buzz" from Nardil. Personally, I haven't experienced that. What I noticed especially is increased motivation. I'm much more likely to get off my rump to do something. I suppose that may fit in with the anxiety angle, but actually feeling like doing something is saying something also.
Kelly
Posted by hildi on July 27, 2002, at 15:53:40
In reply to Re: Nardil and the New MeKellyM, posted by cybercafe on July 26, 2002, at 11:54:25
I am very interested in trying Nardil or Parnate. My dr. doesn't seem interested in letting me try, though. What other meds are you guys on, what were you 'switched from' a/d wise, and how long did you have to wait before you were able to start the nardil or parnate?
IF I can talk my dr. into this, I am worried about the 'in between time'. I have been on various SSRI's and still taking them now. I will flip out if I have to be med-free for a while- and I cannot take benzos in between- thats not an option for me.
Hildi
Posted by hildi on July 27, 2002, at 15:53:48
In reply to Re: Nardil and the New MeKellyM, posted by cybercafe on July 26, 2002, at 11:54:25
I am very interested in trying Nardil or Parnate. My dr. doesn't seem interested in letting me try, though. What other meds are you guys on, what were you 'switched from' a/d wise, and how long did you have to wait before you were able to start the nardil or parnate?
IF I can talk my dr. into this, I am worried about the 'in between time'. I have been on various SSRI's and still taking them now. I will flip out if I have to be med-free for a while- and I cannot take benzos in between- thats not an option for me.
Hildi
Posted by KellyM on July 27, 2002, at 21:08:23
In reply to How long medfree before starting nardil or parnat?, posted by hildi on July 27, 2002, at 15:53:48
In my case I was pretty lucky. I was just taking Wellbutrin, so I was able to switch almost immeditaley. If your on an SSRI, I don't think I have real good news for you. I seem to recall that the wash out time on most of them is about two weeks (even longer with Prozac because it has a very long half life).
Maybe I'm wrong, but I though I recalled reading in the Psychopharmacology Tips section, http://www.dr-bob.org/tips/ that some doctors fudged a little on this. Of course you have to have an interested doctor to begin with.
I realize the idea of not being on any medication sucks. Not trying to dissuade you, but are there any medications like Wellbutrin or Remeron that you haven't tried? Don't know about Remeron, but I was able to go right from an SSRI to Wellbutrin without any delay- in fact I took them together. I actually thought Wellbutrin was a pretty decent med. Again if you've never taken it, I'd talk to your doctor about it. If it's not to your liking, you could go from there to a MAOI without delay (don't let anyone try to tell you there's a two week wait-there is from a MAOI to Wellbutrin but not the reverse). If this is all academic, or you have your heart set on a MAOI to begin with you may just have to bite the bullet for a little while unless someone else has any ideas.
Hope that helps a little,
Kelly
Posted by cybercafe on July 28, 2002, at 1:34:26
In reply to How long medfree before starting nardil or parnat?, posted by hildi on July 27, 2002, at 15:53:48
> I am very interested in trying Nardil or Parnate. My dr. doesn't seem interested in letting me try, though. What other meds are you guys on, what were you 'switched from' a/d wise, and how long did you have to wait before you were able to start the nardil or parnate?
i went from effexor to parnate and had to wait 2 weeks?
though i suppose i was taking some clonazepam for effexor withdrawal effects, and the clonazepam i suppose had anti-depressant effects of it's own + i was happy enough to be getting off effexor without any withdrawal effects (thanks again to clonazepam) ...
... now the bad news, in my case, is that i found, perhaps because parnate has a different mechanism, that after the wonderful stimulant effects of parnate wore off (say 4 weeks?), my depression seemed to get worse before it got better... but it did get better, and parnate is really an awesome medication .... though it seems to work for anxiety a lot faster than depression, in my case..
but really a lot of people who have never taken an MAOI and never had much success have had miraculous results on an MAOI, so i don't want to discourage you ...my doc said he would not mind using parnate as a first line medication ... i mean besides being really effective, it has a really benign side effect profile (for me, anyways)
> IF I can talk my dr. into this, I am worried about the 'in between time'. I have been on various SSRI's and still taking them now. I will flip out if I have to be med-free for a while- and I cannot take benzos in between- thats not an option for me.
... perhaps you could try a mood stabilizer or something ... lithium perhaps? .. just to make things a bit easier on you
Posted by hildi on July 28, 2002, at 12:50:01
In reply to Re: How long medfree before starting nardil or parnat?, posted by cybercafe on July 28, 2002, at 1:34:26
Posted by angel1 on July 29, 2002, at 18:20:48
In reply to Re: Nardil and the New MeKellyM, posted by cybercafe on July 26, 2002, at 11:54:25
Any weight gain on Nardil?
This is the end of the thread.
Psycho-Babble Medication | Extras | FAQ
Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.org
Script revised: February 4, 2008
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/cgi-bin/pb/mget.pl
Copyright 2006-17 Robert Hsiung.
Owned and operated by Dr. Bob LLC and not the University of Chicago.