Posted by jclint on January 31, 2005, at 13:31:35
Hi everyone :)
Ed, sorry I have not replied to your emails, I have been trying to get things in perspective recently and have trying to avoid obsessively researching options as I have been for the past few months. I've had a 'reality break' as it were.
I started Nardil just after xmas... and quit last week. I was up to 45mg a day but a number of factors made me reluctant to continue. I'll describe my experience to add to the collection...
The side effects... the most immediately bothersome was dry mouth, it was pretty severe and got worse when i increased the dosage. My libido was fine but I had trouble orgasming. My blood pressure was a little erratic... most of the time it was considerably low. I had dizziness when standing and after excercising. I didn't have any food trouble and was pretty liberal in my diet, although careful. I had mozzeralla pizza once and bottled beer a few times (up to 4 in an evening) with no problems. I imagine I could have many more with no trouble although the nardil seemed to lower my 'drunk threshold' so I wasn't really tempted to. I avoided tap beer and aged cheese, pretty much followed the sunnybrook diet summary that was posted here recently. It seems a lot more useful than the awful literature that came with my prescription (which was photocopied from what looked like a 70s textbook...)
In terms of effects... it seemed to have a better effect on my depression than anxiety. But it seemed to get me out of the house more as a result. I have little doubt the anti-anxiety effects would have increased with a higher dosage, but this small taste was enough for me to know it wasn't right for me right now. I felt like the positive outlook I gained was more down to a new way of approaching situations rather than the drug's effects. Since coming off I'm not as sure. But equally, I'm not convinced the effect was more than a placebo effect...
But whatever, I felt that I didn't want to carry on. Part of me was worried that it might actually be too good if you get me - that I would have to be dependent on something which had risks that weren't compatible with my lifestyle. I felt ultimately I was too young (im 18) to taking something so hardcore. Plus I felt that the sexual effects and weight gain would increase if I went up dosage and that's something that wouldn't help my depression at a time when these things are important.
So now, I'm not quite sure where I'm headed, somewhere more psychology based rather than psychiatry based... I realised there are issues from my past I need to tackle before I can get better. I've also been using valium as needed and it hasn't been a help in all honesty, my cognitive processes are still there and that's the problem I now believe. Ah well time will tell. I might give the beta blockers a chance to see if i can sort out my constant sweating. Who knows what I'll end up doing??? I'm going to try some new ways of approaching it.
J :)
PS - Thanks to everyone, Ed and others, in helping me in the past months, you've been great in helping me make informed decisions and the rest. Really thankyou :) I'm going to carry on posting but at a more casual rate I think!
PPS - My experience with Nardil was not a negative one despite my coming off it, and would not discourage anyone who was thinking about it. From my short experience its a lot more benign than its controversy suggests.
poster:jclint
thread:450615
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20050128/msgs/450615.html