Posted by maryhelen on July 30, 2003, at 20:34:51
In reply to Any Lamictal and/or Parnate failure stories?, posted by yesac on July 30, 2003, at 10:13:35
I have been on Parnate for over 2 years. I did get a good response for about a year and a half. It may have been the difficulties I was going through at the time, but the Parnate did not seem to be working as well. Pdoc augmented with lithium. There was a fairly good antidepressant effect but I found the side effects too much at the time. I was returning to work after sick leave for 2 years. Hands trembling terribly, twitching, hair loss and above all I felt dimwitted. Not great shape to be in to return to my job.
He then added Lamitcal. When I got up to 150 mg. I felt wonderful, best I felt in 25 years. I would even go further and say the best I can remember feeling. This lasted for only 3 weeks. We upped the dose and I have just reached 300 mg. Have not had the response that I did at 150 mg. I am going to hang in with it for a while longer. Like so many others, I cannot even remember all of the meds and combos I have tried and I have never experienced what I did on Lamitcal.
My pdoc is on vacation and he is probably going to have a fit, but I am taking myself off Parnate. I was at 90 mg. and am now down to 40 mg. One of the reasons that I did this is because I have just gone through menopause. The symptoms of menopause can be devastating enough, but having the depression as well, has probably exacerbated it. I have been on meds for so long, I want to see what it would be like now without them, considering the changes my body has gone through. I could end up regretting it but if so, I will have to start again.
However, I will stay on the Lamitcal and hope upon hope, that I will get even some of the response I had experienced. It seems like it was such a tease to feel so fantastic only to have the famous 'poop out'
Sorry for going on. I also have unipolar depression, now called treatment resistant depression due to the lack of response to every med in the book.
I do feel that Parnate is an excellent drug. What dose are you on? Depending, maybe you could hang in and up the dose. What about Lamitcal, what dose? When I looked on the internet for info from GlaxoSmithKline Inc., they recommend 200 mg. for depression. I wish I knew that before I went up to the 300 mg. However, they seem to refer more to bi-polar.
It is so frustrating when we hear others having great results on meds, yet, when we try them they do not work. We are all so different.
Good luck. All we can do is keep trying.
maryhelen
poster:maryhelen
thread:246748
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20030728/msgs/246875.html