Posted by KaraS on January 30, 2005, at 23:31:06
In reply to Re: atenolol is cardioselective » KaraS, posted by emme on January 30, 2005, at 21:32:22
>
> > > > Are you having any success with memantine or is it too soon to tell yet?
> > >
> > > Yes, it's doing something. It's helped the depression and I'm less apathetic. But I feel vaguely depersonalized all the time, like I'm a stranger in my body. I feel detached from my emotions. And I'm tired. I'm waiting to see if this will subside. It does beat the heavy depression. If you're thinking about trying it, don't let what I've written here scare you off because YMMV. Word is that my pdoc is seeing some positive results in her patients.
> > >
> > > em
> >
> >
> > Em,
> > Anything is better than the deepest depression. I'd forgotten how low I could go when not on medication. The depersonalization is a strange side effect. I think I had that somewhat with the tricyclics years ago and it did go away.
>
> That's good. I'll be patient a little longer and see if it fades out.
>
> > Have your pdoc's other patients had that side effect?
>
> Dunno. I haven't had a chance to ask her yet.
>
> > Memantine is definitely on my list of things to try. I was thinking more of using it as an augmentor but you're using it alone, right?
>
> Nope. I take Lamictal, a dash of atenolol, and xanax as needed.
>
> > Have you tried MAOIs at all or are those on your list somewhere?
>
> I tried selegiline (5-10 mg). It gave me some excellent days. But I think it also fueled ups and downs because I had a lot of viscious crashes while on it. I ruled out Nardil and Parnate because I'm unwilling to take on the diet. It's not a big deal for many people, but there would be a lot of issues with my vegetarian lifestyle and it means a lot to have at least that aspect of my life left intact.
>
> Did you have good success with tricylics?
Hi,
I took doxepin many, many years ago before the SSRIs came out. I had a horrible depression with anxiety, panic attacks and agoraphobia. I had a partial antidepressant response (I probably could have gone much higher on the medication but the side effects were too great) but it did get me back on my feet again and fucntioning. My anxiety can get really bad when I'm not on medication though it seems to be easily controlled with either a TCA or an SSRI.For many years I stayed on 25 mg. of doxepin for sleep purposes and to keep the anxiety at bay. It made me terribly groggy in the mornings though so I switched to maprotiline. I used to take 25-50 mgs. of that and it worked really well with minimal morning grogginess. Unfortunately, I tried taking it the other day and now it's giving me tachycardia. It's just so wierd when you react so differently to something you had no trouble with so many years. As I said in another post, I feel like I've lost one of my best friends. I'm guessing that I can no longer take doxepin either but I'll know for sure soon enough.
(Anyway, sorry to rant.)If I do try the atenolol, then I may be able to try nortriptyline or even desipramine.
So that's my very long answer to a short question. Are you considering trying any of the TCAs or have you already done so?
k
poster:KaraS
thread:448161
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20050128/msgs/450408.html