Posted by automatedlady on April 22, 2003, at 10:33:10
I was on lofepramine (TCA not available in US) and it was the ONLY AD ever to work for me. I started to get my life back after six years of horrible depression. But after six months on it I realised my heart rate was consistently over 100 bpm, even in bed at night. My doc suggested beta blockers to lower the heart rate but he also warned they might make me "flat" (which was my problem **in the first place!!**) I was too scared to try them and ended up just coming off the AD instead.
I moved doctors and the new one offered me dothiepin but warned it was really sedating. Again, that is the ***last*** thing I need as my problem is total lack of energy. I tried like a quarter dose of the dothiepin one night and was unable to get out of bed till mid afternoon the next day. As I am currently trying to hold down a full time job (god knows how long that'll last the way I am at the moment) I **can not** afford to be sedated any more than I naturally am. I am also scared of putting on weight with a TCA, as I am already overweight.
Can anyone help? Has anyone had problems with tachycardia (fast heartbeat) and solved it with beta blockers? Or can anyone suggest a less sedating TCA? I have already tried four different SSRIs (prozac, effexor, cipramil, seroxat)and all made me worse (not only could I not get out of bed but I didn't even care - I lost all my friends/interests/hope and it took me 18 months to get any semblance of a life back once I stopped taking them).
I wonder whether MAOIs are a better choice for me, but as I have an eating disorder and a chaotic life I think it unlikely I would be able to handle the diet. please help - I am desperate now. for 6 months I started to get my life back together and now I can see it drifting away again. In the past my periods of depression were kind of containable because I was at uni and could get away with a lot of missing lectures etc. Now i am doing a really demanding and stressful job and am not coping at all. if I lose this job I will have no money, no support and nowhere to go.
Sorry - that was a bit long...
AL
poster:automatedlady
thread:221439
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20030417/msgs/221439.html