Posted by shelliR on July 11, 2001, at 17:42:41
In reply to Re: taking new directions in depression treatment, posted by Lorraine on July 11, 2001, at 10:35:22
Hi Lorraine.
I read the lastest posts to and from Elizabeth and thought I should put in my two cents quickly re MAOIs and side effects, since you are deciding between MAOIs and tricyclics.
I had no weight gain and no sexual side effects on Nardil. I never felt drugged. My only side effects had to do with sleep and sleepiness. While I was on 45mg or higher, I fell asleep fine, but woke up every three hours, no matter what time I went to bed. And it wasn't the kind of wake up, to to BR, go back to sleep. I was very up and it took valium and time to fall back. Eventually I stayed on a dose of 30mg except in bad patches and then I didn't have that problem. The other problem was afternoon tiredness; I got exhausted every afternoon and had to take a nap for about 30 minutes. This was fine, except when I was working full time, it was hard to stay awake all day. Unfortunately, although I did try it with stimulants, I had never tried it with concerta, which I think would have helped alot.Actually, I still try to take a short nap in the afternoon. Even off nardil I become really tired and if I take at least a power nap, I am not at all tired and am productive in the evening. (I have to do a lot of printing in the evening, and also tend to do the treadmill in the early evening). So maybe that is just me, although I have heard of other people experiencing the same thing on nardil. And it didn't matter at all what time of day I took it. I ended up taking my pills all together, since spreading them out didn't help anything.
Although I have an extroverted personality (talk alot around people), I am in the Myer-Briggs sense an extreme extreme introvert and I think I need to totally withdrawal from the world (sleep, or meditate) to reenergize. So that may be the nap thing also.
I should read back though your posts, but my understanding is that nardil is better for depression and anxiety, and parnate is more energizing. It took a long time for Nardil to kick in --five weeks, but when it did, it was a wonderful drug for me. Also, in about 15 years on it, I didn't have any reaction to any food on the "don't eat list." YMMV. I've heard that parnate works faster, but maybe if you decide to do Nardil, you can keep increasing and it may kick in faster. I stayed at 45 mg the whole time waiting until it kicked in.
Good luck in your decision.
Shelli
poster:shelliR
thread:68633
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20010708/msgs/69766.html