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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 8 of 8. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by germanium20 on May 25, 2004, at 23:37:31
Hello my name is Ron & I have suffered from depression for most of my 47 years of life & have tied almost all of the traditional antidepressants. Though they helped somewhat the trycyclics were very very dirty & as such were intolerable to me. The SSRI's helped somewhat initially but then robbed me of any emotional feeling whatsoever which became its own form of depression. The lone candidate (Marplan)that I tried of the nonselective MAO inhibitors did help modestly but was very restrictive on the diet.
Ive tried effexor as well as effexor & well butrin combined. That appeared to help for a short time but I seamed to develope a tolerance at the low doses & I couldn't take the higher doses so that was a bust.
My search ended with learning of Selegiline but getting someone to prescribe it was like pulling hens teeth (they don't have any so its a virtual impossibilty) so I imported some to try on my own & it worked great but still had trouble finding someone to prescribe it for me & I really needed a script for it in case I was drug tested at work as it has metabolites that are suggestive of potential drug abuse which I have never abused any of my meds or street drugs. I'm speaking of levo-amphetemine & levo-methamphetemine. the street version starts with dextro instead on levo & is much more potent than the levo version. but the basic drug test does not differentiate between the two but if you have a script they can run the the second test that does differentiate the two.
This medicine is a MAO type B inhibitor which means it's selective & only blocks the type of MAO that is in the brain at doses at or lower than 10mg/day. Above 10mg/day it starts to loose it selectiveness & the MAOI diet becomes neccessay but I only need 2.5mg/day to get the desired effect for me.
At any rate the I finaly found a DR. willing to prescibe it to me provided I followed up with him. He was also interested in this drugs potential for other deppressed patients as well providing my treatment continues to go well.
This medicine is not only non-addictive but has been found to reduce ones addiction to other addictive substances such as nicotine & cocaine as it cancelles the bodies reaction that brings about addiction by blocking the enzyme that causes the increased tolerance to these substances as well as reducing the relative high that one gets from these street drugs. the continious mood & energy boost that one gets from this medicine is much much better & likely cleaner frome a side-effect point of view than either of these stimulants.
Side effects are very modest at my low dose (2.5mg/day). A very very modest headache & mild tremors that appear sporadically (some days not at all but if I do get them it is usually in late afternoon or early evening). These appear to be mostly due to the metabolites of selegiline rather than the selegiline itself as there are currently preporations out there that avoide the first pass metabolization where most of the metabolites come from & from what I read it is relatively free of those side-effects
Posted by linkadge on May 26, 2004, at 19:22:32
In reply to Selegiline as an antidepressant, posted by germanium20 on May 25, 2004, at 23:37:31
Let me know how it goes. I would like to try selegeline as an AD at some point in my life.
Linkadge
Posted by platinumbride on May 27, 2004, at 11:54:13
In reply to Selegiline as an antidepressant, posted by germanium20 on May 25, 2004, at 23:37:31
I am totally jealous that you respond to such a low dose of the selegiline!!!
When did you start to notice that you were feeling better from the selegiline?
My maoi-phobic doc prescribed it to me along with phenylalanine. (Wouldn't go for the irreverible maois) I'm taking 10 mgs of S. and 500 of the P. I keep imagining that I should at least have some burst of energy, even though it hasn't even been a week yet. Am I way off base?
Does even the effect of the amino acid take a few weeks to kick in?
Anyone with info or ideas......please shoot them my way.Thanks,
Diane
Posted by germanium20 on May 28, 2004, at 20:52:06
In reply to Re: Selegiline as an antidepressant, posted by platinumbride on May 27, 2004, at 11:54:13
For me it happened in only 2 days but it actually seemed more effctive for me at low doses than higher ones???
I tryed it at other times at higher doses (5mg/day) but actually took longer to take effect for me. This I did over a period of 2 years taking it off & on as I only had a limited supply & couldn't get anymore without a prescription. It got me through some tough times though even at the higher dose.
The reason I started taking 2 1/2 mg/day was due to limited supply but was really in serious need of a lift & needed it to last as long as possible as that was the last of it before I could get a DR. to prescribe more fore me.
When I took 5mg/day it took about 5 days to take effect but with 2.5mg/day it only took 2 days, go figure & that was with no boosters like phenylalanine either.
Posted by germanium20 on May 28, 2004, at 21:12:01
In reply to Re: Selegiline as an antidepressant, posted by germanium20 on May 28, 2004, at 20:52:06
Note Selegiline is an irreversable MAOI but it is selective to type B which is only found in the brain & platelet cells in blood not the digestive system as a result it doesn't have the cheese effect at lower doses (less than 10mg/day).
Posted by platinumbride on May 28, 2004, at 22:34:53
In reply to Re: Selegiline as an antidepressant, posted by germanium20 on May 28, 2004, at 20:52:06
I'm afraid to get too excited too soon, but I think that my mood may be improving....
I hope you can get some more, if that is what you wish.
Thanks again....Diane
> For me it happened in only 2 days but it actually seemed more effctive for me at low doses than higher ones???
>
> I tryed it at other times at higher doses (5mg/day) but actually took longer to take effect for me. This I did over a period of 2 years taking it off & on as I only had a limited supply & couldn't get anymore without a prescription. It got me through some tough times though even at the higher dose.
>
> The reason I started taking 2 1/2 mg/day was due to limited supply but was really in serious need of a lift & needed it to last as long as possible as that was the last of it before I could get a DR. to prescribe more fore me.
>
> When I took 5mg/day it took about 5 days to take effect but with 2.5mg/day it only took 2 days, go figure & that was with no boosters like phenylalanine either.
>
Posted by germanium20 on May 29, 2004, at 8:50:58
In reply to Re: Selegiline as an antidepressant, posted by platinumbride on May 28, 2004, at 22:34:53
I already have got a prescription for more through a PDR. but he wanted me to follow up with a psychiatrist which I have done & he is continueing me on selegiline. Thank you for your concern however. I am continueing at 2.5 mg/day (1/2 a 5mg pill).
Posted by germanium20 on May 29, 2004, at 12:06:20
In reply to Re: Selegiline as an antidepressant, posted by germanium20 on May 28, 2004, at 20:52:06
I take bake the no booster part as hot chocolate contains phenylethylamine (a catacholimine activity enhancer) which l-phenylalanine is a precurser to & for me has a more direct effect than phenylalanine. 1 cup max or the effect is overblown.
This is the end of the thread.
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