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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 7 of 7. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by rose45 on June 23, 2019, at 11:38:43
Please,please help if you can as I am becoming suicidal with the problem of cognitive impairment, which Im sure must have been caused by being on 2 maois: Nardil for 20 yrs and Parnate for the past 5 yrs, which are no longer working.
I can barely function at the moment, and have overwhelming anxiety.My GP has given me some valium, and I take a small dose every night, but my memory is practically non-existent, and I can barely do shopping and prepare food any more. My mind sees to just not work.
Ive already posted the beginnings of this on this on https://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20190206/msgs/1103922.htmlBut nothing has improved and I see no hope for regaining my mind. Has anyone else had this problem? Am I correctly assuming that this has been caused by the mAOIs which were a miracle as long as they worked.... I did have the same problem when I was first put onto nardil, during the first few weeks while the dosage was being increased I just couldnt look after myself, totally clumsy, couldnt do simple tasks which had been easy in the past etc. But that all disappeared once it started working at 60 mg after 8 weeks.
Im now seeing a private psychiatrist who has put me on olanzapine, starting with a very small dose, but I dont have much hope in this, because when nardil stopped working 5 yrs ago, I was put on seroquel, which just made me feel more suicidal, and it was only once i convinced the nhs psychiatrist (here in the UK) to put me on parnate, that I became fine again within 3 weeks.
Has anyone else reacted in this way to the maois pooping out on them? PLEASE PLEASE respond if you can.
I am very sensitive to medication and have always suffered from depression after operations where I had to take pain killers many years ago
Posted by atypical on June 24, 2019, at 0:28:18
In reply to HELP-cognitive impairment result of MAOI poopout, posted by rose45 on June 23, 2019, at 11:38:43
Blood tests ok -- thyroid, etc.? Augment with Lithium? Try magnesium supplement? The former helps me, the latter no. With Nardil. Zinc supplement once pulled me out of a small hole. Not sure if it was a coincidence or correlation, though. Did you switch generic manufacturers? That tends to be an issue for me.
Posted by SLS on June 24, 2019, at 19:11:20
In reply to HELP-cognitive impairment result of MAOI poopout, posted by rose45 on June 23, 2019, at 11:38:43
As one ages, depression becomes less about depressed mood and more about cognitive impairment - pseudodementia. I don't know if this explains things in your case.
How long ago did you discontinue medication?
- Scott
Posted by rjlockhart37 on June 25, 2019, at 14:34:51
In reply to HELP-cognitive impairment result of MAOI poopout, posted by rose45 on June 23, 2019, at 11:38:43
just had something similar happen with mixing supplements with zyprexa, i have been doing memory exverises and forcing myself to rerember thoughts, whatever it did, it altered or damaged somthing. So don't give up, ask your doctor about memory enhancement or treating medications like Nemanda, or even small dose of methyphenidate. Both those help memory and cogntive function by working on dopamine. So ... your not alone, i've just had a similar thing to me.
Posted by rose45 on June 25, 2019, at 16:58:34
In reply to Re: HELP-cognitive impairment result of MAOI poopout, posted by rjlockhart37 on June 25, 2019, at 14:34:51
Thank you all for your responses.
Scott, I am in the UK, so methods here may be different. Also, I had a very bad and complicated breakdown originally, before going on to meds, although Ive suffered from depression all my life, but was against the idea of anti depressants.
so now, when they stop working, I am pretty much incapacitated.So I have never discontinued the medication. I was on parnate 30 mg very happily for 5 yrs. I stupidly reduced it to 20 mg and it stopped working altogether. I then increased it back to 30 and then 40mg. But I became very agitated and anxious. So obviously it was no longer working. A psychiatrist suggested going to 45 and 50mg.I tried 50 but could not tolerate it that high. I felt totally suicidal on 50 mg.(IM very sensitive to meds and always take lower doses than most other people on here)
The psychiatrists here are against discontinuing medication in my case as they say it is very painful and could be dangerous in my case as my 'baseline' is such that I am very ill when med freeand in a very precarious state at the moment. So they add another med, like olanzapine, and augment it, and the plan is to become stable and then decrease the parnate.
So to answer your question, Im still taking 40mg parnate, even though it no longer works, although I keep trying to tell them it would make sense to come off the parnate as it might work again in the future. Their response to that is that the chances are not high for a drug to start working again, once it has stopped.
I know you were on parnate and it pooped out on you too. Have you found anything nearly as effective for you? I would really appreciate knowing, as I can see you have tried so many things.
In my case the cognitive impairment is definitely NOT due to age. It happened when I first became ill, and became worse when they put me on nardil, until it started working. I have a very painful time titrating up on nardil
and the same thing happened when nardil stopped working and when parnate stopped working. While the meds were working (parnate until last January) my mind worked really well.All feeedback would be very much appreciated as I am desperate as I cannot see any hope. The Maois are the only meds that have ever worked for me ...
It would also be interesting to know re. other people who had maois stop working, whether they found an alternative that worked for them
Posted by radish on June 25, 2019, at 17:57:28
In reply to HELP-cognitive impairment result of MAOI poopout, posted by rose45 on June 23, 2019, at 11:38:43
can you try going on a higher dose of parnate (or nardil)? what dose were you at before it pooped out? i know of cases where someone was on 150mg of nardil, and someone else was on 120mg of parnate. not sure if doses in that range would come bundled with a counter-productive level of side effects.
depression/anxiety-induced cognitive impairment affects me greatly as well and depression makes it feel overwhelming and scary. so you are not alone in that regard. it helps me to remember that one can get back up to speed cognitively relatively soon after depression lifts. i hope we both achieve this sooner rather than later.
Posted by rose45 on June 26, 2019, at 5:26:35
In reply to Re: HELP-cognitive impairment result of MAOI poopout, posted by radish on June 25, 2019, at 17:57:28
thanks Radish. good luck to us both. Im in a very bad state, but simply cannot tolerate higher doses, they make me feel even worse. Im just wondering how long one has to wait after a drug has pooped out, for it to perhaps work again... but that is risky. This whole poopout thing is so scary. And I am in England and have to depend on the NHS. I actually paid out of my pocket for a private psychiatrist, who knows about maois because he is very old, and has good reviews. But for various reasons, he has been a disaster. I dont dare come off the parnate on my own as I am very unwell. And I dont want to go back onto nardil, as it was almost unbearable for me during the 8 weeks it takes me to get to 60
This is the end of the thread.
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