Posted by Tori on November 10, 2000, at 4:10:36
Greetings,
An urgent posting; it's kinda long so bear with me an my run-on sentences......
I have decided to stop Parnate 40 mg as it has done nothing for me and I have been on it for over two months. I get hypertensive for no reason at all; am extremely exhausted due to sleep problems (even though now I have been taking both doses in the a.m.); fall asleep at work, at home, even if I take a one hour nap I can't get to sleep. Hair loss; no sex drive, no energy whatsoever; everything I had read on it for treatment-resistant depression has not worked for me. I'm also on lamictal 300 mg / day and have been so since march of this year when I was dx as bipolar (which is something I now have an issue with....).
Some more info -- I don't want to be on AD's for the rest of my life if I have to, especially Parnate. I'm 26 and I have a life to live; I want to have a family after 30 and if I keep going through this brutal cycle of depression/low-functionality I'm afraid I will end it eventually as the pain and suffering is just unbearable. I could never have a family in this condition; I would never want to put my children through having a mother that isn't mentally fit to care for children (i.e. "mommy's in the hospital again").
Anyways I went to my GP today and asked that I switch to Effexor XR (was on it before for a week; incredible headaches, but all AD's do that to me I find). I asked him what the washout period was; he first said 5 weeks (aaahh!) then said about two weeks without medications (is this true???). I told him that there was no way I could function at work for two weeks without medications; how about augmenting me right now with wellbutrin (as I have read on this board several people are successfully taking both). He said no, you can't do that (which I don't believe).
Then as an afterthought I thought what about taking Manerix during that time - any feedback? I am slowly tapering off the drug starting tomorrow, 10 mg a day less each week. I can't stand being on this med but my worst fear is the withdrawal/washout period as before, when I went from Wellbutrin 300 mg and Celexa 40 mg to Parnate, I gained 20 pounds in 2 weeks and was extremely suicidal and manic during that time, almost had to be hospitalized again. The only thing the Parnate has done for me is to lose the suicidal impulses.
Also, what distressed me the most about this visit, I haven't seen him for a while, was that he was not receptive to my concerns, was not with me as usual with changing meds, did not even acknowledge my knowledge of AD's, it was almost like he was sick and tired of hearing me complain. He also wanted to 'consult' with my psychiatrist about what to do. I told him that my shrink has absolutely no concept of medications and it's a waste of time and I would prefer that he manage them. I left the office in tears I was so upset; I just felt like a total loser. Then he went on with this rant that I don't need medications and that I have personality issues and traumas from the past that I need to deal with (who hasn't had trauma?). I KNOW I have to deal with the things that have happened in my life with my new psychiatrist, namely right now the death of my mom at a young age (40), and even two weeks ago I had an 'a-ha!' moment where I wrote down everything in my life that bothered me / hurt me and what happened at that time; after 18 I would go into a major depressive episode. So that in itself was very powerful for me to be able to recognize a distinct pattern in how I have dealt with 'traumas' in the past; was I susceptible to depression since 18, or have I just not dealt with things well?
Please, any suggestions on the meds issue or others would be greatly appreciated. This is pretty urgent as I'm afraid I'm going downhill again.
:-( Tori
poster:Tori
thread:48599
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20001102/msgs/48599.html