Posted by Adam on March 16, 2001, at 16:23:08
In reply to Re: Report of success: Selegiline: Adam, posted by Lorraine on March 16, 2001, at 11:35:46
> Please tell me more about this. My sleep hygene is excellent, although without the Neurontin it might be a problem. On the other hand, maybe GABA alone could handle it. I stay on the Neurontin (900 mg a day divided into 3 doses) because it gives me a level of "mood support" I did not get from the Selegiline alone. What is your exercise component? Do you exercise each time you take a dose--although you are on the patch so perhaps your "ride" is smoother.
>I am not currently on the patch. In fact, it's been quite some time (getting close to a year now).
Sleep hygene: When the clock strikes twelve, I turn into a pumpkin. Period. Selegiline seems to have taken away my ability to discern night from day in any circadian sense. I just don't feel the effects of the close of the diurnal cycle like a used to, and pretty much have to force myself to go to bed. Once I get there, if sufficiently tired, I go to sleep. If I don't go to bed, I don't go to sleep, seemingly indefinitely. I have gone, on a couple of occasions, 48+ hours without sleeping, pretty much because I didn't feel like it, or, strangely, felt like going to sleep in the middle of the day when it wasn't feasible to do so. So, in the absense of a reliable innner clock, I have to consciously adhere to a self-imposed sleep schedule, and, interestingly, once I get horizontal, I do eventually go to sleep.
Exercise: Strenuous cardiovascular activity during the day, but not too late in the day, or I'm wired and won't sit down or shut up (in all seriousness - my poor girlfriend will fall asleep during conversations because she can't keep her eyes open any longer and I'm still gabbing away for ten minutes before I catch on...). My main problem is, I like to run. Nothing gets me tired like a run, but I'm hurting my legs, and have to call it quits, or find something else. I may have to < grimace >, join a _gym_. I hate gyms. But, a treadmill or an erg would be lower-impact. I like ergs. And, well, there's also sex (including the self-administered kind). Good for sleep. I highly recommend it. Caution: Can be habit forming.
>
> Do you know anything about risperidol? Neurontin is not taking away my physical anxiety (tightness in chest, difficulty taking in a deep breath). I was thinking perhaps a beta blocker.
>
Risperidol seems to have some rather brain-region specific effects on dopamine signaling (though it also affects serotonin signaling), and at low doses, should not antagonize the beneficial effects of selegiline. This is just conjecture, though. I think it's been tried as an antidote to selegiline-associated adverse effects, and has also been used to augment SSRIs to increase efficacy of antidepressant and/or antiobsessional response. This might be good for anxiety, or stimulant-induced obsessions or psychoses. Risp. does seem to have some bad side effects for some, but, at low doses, the risk of extrapyramidal symptoms is about nil.
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> Does that mean that you are not "speeded up" on the patch?I was plenty "speeded up" shortly after beginning the patch, but in a kind of hypomanic way. Once I seemed to settle into the whole bona fide antidepressant response thing (a new experience for me, quite frankly, barring ECT, which was more transient), I found it less of an anxiety and insomnia inducer than oral selegiline has turned out to be. My explanation, again, is that the delivery is more even and the half life greatly increased (hence much lower rate of L-methamphetamine production). Must repeat my caution, though: This is just conjecture.
poster:Adam
thread:56408
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20010310/msgs/56680.html