Posted by Ame Sans Vie on October 18, 2003, at 10:40:05
In reply to Re: Nardil Itchiness! » Ame Sans Vie, posted by ace on October 18, 2003, at 0:25:11
> > Clomipramine... that's another of the very, very few drugs I haven't tried. How was your experience with it?
>
> Within 4 days it caused a severe depression which required cessation (silly me, I was in the middle of a uni semester and changed...I needed to get stable so I could study, otherwise I might have gave it longer and saw if the depression passed)Wow, that's scary... of course that's probably fairly rare.
> Sexual side effects?
> I noticed that I could orgasm VERY easily when I was on it.
lol, now *that's* surprising.
> I suppose it doesn't really matter. Just curoius about clomipramine, since I came so close to trying it many times.
>
> I would urge a trial of it...I'm just so skeptical after trying *everything* else, you know? I'm afraid to waste a few months of my time trying something that has a 1 in a million chance of working on me...
> Not my first choice of an antidepressant/painkiller but since nothing else helps, I'm certainly not going to complain, lol.
>
> Ame, have you tried any atypicals? What about Parnate? It just concerns me that your having breakthrough depression when your on 5 drugs. Once I read a post by a fellow who was suffering from psychosis in addition to many anxiety disorders and severe depression. He was on a great many drugs and only recieving partial response. Once he changed to Risperidone monotherapy ALL his symptoms cleared up.Parnate I haven't tried, but there isn't a single doctor within 100 miles who will prescribe it, so I guess that's out. Thanks for the advice and all, but unfortunately I can say (almost literally) that I've tried it all. Almost every drug -- alone, in combination with others... the majority don't do a thing at all to me that's worth continuing taking them (i.e. mood stabilizers, antipsychotics, tricyclics, Effexor, Remeron, Serzone). Those that do help, though the help they provide is quite limited, such as Paxil, turn me into an asexual zombie, lol. Oh well... I definitely plan on trying each of the new drugs when they come out, so maybe I'll get lucky with Cymbalta or one of the many new anxiety drugs down the pipeline.
> Of course this isn't always possible. It must be frustrating for you to be still having this breakthrough depression. But you say most of your other probs are under control.Yeah, everything's under control except the fibromyalgia, and actually I believe it's the fibro that causes me to be so depressed. Most people would be depressed if they were 20 years old and barely able to get out of bed in the morning or ascend a flight of stairs... so maybe when I get my fibro treated on Monday I can discontinue the Wellbutrin XL and Prozac -- the dextroamphetamine and clonazepam are here to stay though. :-) When I feel myself going into a deep depression, I take 30mg of dextroamphetamine (sometimes with a teaspoon of DTO [a.k.a. deodorized tincture of opium or laudanum] which is WONDERFUL) and I'm feeling great within 15 minutes. My gods though... I wish I didn't need to take so much clonazepam. Cursed with a naturally high tolerance... but at least my current pdoc understands and asks me at every appointment how much of each medication I want -- I can tell him 30mg/day of clonazepam and he'll go for it without a second thought, lol. Crazy. I don't abuse the good relationship I have with him by doing that kind of stuff though. Besides, 12mg/day that I take now is plenty, lol.
> > You're definitely quite "lucky" (if you want to call it that :-) that Nardil works so brilliantly for you.
>
> You are exactly right. When I am on Nardil I am Sooo confident I believe any drug will work as great as Nardil....until I stop the Nardil! Nardil helps so many aspects of my life. It really is a wonder drug.Well, I'm very, very happy for you... I'm still debating whether or not to retry Nardil, on the offchance that I was taking the "subpotent" recalled Nardil. But that would of course mean discontinuing my dextroamphetamine, which, as I mentioned above, is my lifesaver when I get depressed.
> I just can't understand in the least how it can be that I took Nardil at 120mg for six months and had no effect -- I would've even been happy for a side effect! lol But I can't get over the fact that I took that high dose for so long with absolutely no change in my mental status.
>
> Hmmm...how soon before you got up to that high dose? THAT might be the problem. I know when I get up that high depression creeps in. But at 90mg my smile is wide. When you started it, did you stay put at 60mg for 4 weeks. I ALWAYS advise this...tapering up too quick can cause all sorts of probs IMO...even lack of therapeutic response.Actually, I was on it a little over a year altogether because I wanted SO badly for it to work. I started at 30mg and stayed there two months, then went to 45 for two weeks, then 60 for two more weeks, 75 for six weeks, 90 for six weeks, 105 for a month, and then the 120mg.
> Also, what drugs were you concomitantly on when trying Nardil? Could they have interacted adversly with the Nardil?
Just clonazepam, and at one point a small dose of Provigil and Neurontin. I highly doubt they were the culprits, though anything's possible...
> Truly sucks. I still wonder if I was getting the Nardil from the bad batch that was recalled last November... that could explain it.
> You are right. It very well could have been that.> After all, my last prescription was filled in the beginning of November, and the recall occurred in mid-November. I wonder if there's any way at all to find out if the Nardil my local pharmacy was carrying at the time was the "sub-potent" stuff that was recalled. If so, I must say that really ticks me off. I was just SO sure the Nardil would work when I tried it... oh well. :-\
>
> I think it warrents another trial, Ame. Frankly, I find it VERY strange that it wouldn't work. In fact, and I've read a LOT of anecdotes on Nardil, I don't believe I have ever seen it NOT work. Those subpotent ones were around for a while. I'd say give it another go. When it works, boy, it'll be worth it!!Same here -- I rarely hear of it not working. And the weirdest part of it all was the fact that even at such a high dose, I had very minimal side effects (very slight problems having an orgasm and a little orthostatic hypotension). Thanks for the advice -- I'm pretty sure I'll end up taking it. My pdoc would probably be open to using a stimulant with Nardil at a low dose, and if not... oh well. I just want very badly to try it again and for it to work because everyone it works for just raves about how wonderful it is.
Oh -- there's one other very strange thing about my Nardil experience which reinforces the subpotent idea even further: I quit 120mg cold turkey and had no withdrawal of any kind.
> > >And a lump appeared on a certain body part I will not mention!!!
> >
> > lol, that's a new one! I hope it's gone away by now, lol.
>
> Sure has!lol, glad to hear.
> Good luck with the new drug, Ame. And give Nardil another shot! It is a miracle of psychopharmacology!!Thanks! I'm sure I will -- a million thanks for all the help. :-)
Peace out,
Michael
poster:Ame Sans Vie
thread:269510
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20031015/msgs/270554.html