Posted by Optimist on February 22, 2005, at 17:10:04
In reply to Optimist, how are you doing on Parnate?, posted by ed_uk on February 20, 2005, at 12:10:18
Hi Ed, thanks for inquiring.
I had a pretty good first week on Parnate. I started with 20mg day 1, 40mg days 2-4, then 60mg days 5-7. I felt more sociable, friendly, bold/confident, and energetic almost immediately. Not sure if it was the placebo effect working or the initial stimulant nature of the drug. I also felt a need/compulsion to increase my dose which was odd for me. I've felt that a little perhaps when I was on Wellbutrin, Prozac, and Adderall but not nearly as close. Is it addiction qualities or does it happen to be exactly what my body needs? Time will tell...
I was actually doing quite well until yesterday. I started noticing some sexual side effects yesterday for the first time... mainly problems with erection quality and difficulty keeping it that way. My mood seems to have dipped starting yesterday as well which I'm sorta puzzled about. I've also noticed a marked agitation which is bothering me. I'm theorizing it may be due to the 5HT2a effects at the higher doses. Still no insomnia, or hypotension what so ever which is comforting. The diet is a joke.
I realized today that my first week on an antidepressant I usually have a particularily robust response then it seems to taper off. I'm not sure if it's a placebo effect, some kind of bipolar variation, or the initial stimulation caused by a new drug, particularily the one's I've taken in the past which are all activating. Prozac, Wellbutrin, and Lamictial were like that, whereas Effexor was not, so I'm not sure where my theory is going at the moment.
I'm kind of wondering if it was a smart move on my part to increase the dosage so quickly. It's hard to say at this point. I'm getting kinda impatient regarding wanting to get better, and wanting to get on with my life. I am most definitely going to stick with Parnate for awhile though. If I don't get the desired responce I'm looking for I'll most likely augment it with Lithium, and/or something to increase dopamine, like a DA agonist or 5-HT2a blocker. A 5-HT2a blocker may be the best route since I have an impression that it tends to have less of a poopout rate than the more direct dopaminergic drugs i.e. amphetamines, agonists, etc... Possiblities include Trazodone, or low dose AP's, or the best option may be just increasing the Parnate until it acts as a 5-HT2a antagonist which happens once you get over 100-120mg or so I believe. Serzone, and Amilsulpride are out of the question since they aren't approved in Canada. So far, the prodopamine effects aren't as robust as the dopamine agonist herb, Vitex I was on before.
Anyways, I'm getting ahead of myself. I've only been on the drug one week and I'm already thinking of augmentation. :) I'll see what my pdoc says in a week for my follow up. I think she would have prefered me to increase my dose more slowly. I don't want to be labelled non-compliant, but she's seems to be pretty understanding of those things.
I'll keep you updated again in a weeks time. Thanks for the encouragement. :)
Brian
poster:Optimist
thread:460810
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20050222/msgs/461904.html