Posted by TomG on May 2, 2005, at 14:23:06
I haven't been an avid poster recently, but I've been mentioning Selegiline to my doctor for the last two or three meetings. Each time he confusingly looks at me and asks how to spell it and he then types it into his PDA. I have to tell him its a Parkinson's drug that increases dopamine. He looks up from his PDA and says, "Oh yes its an MAO-B inhibitor." like he is clueless about it. Whats up with this? From what I see on this board it is being widely used to treat depression with good results here on PB and even better in some of the studies I've read. I'm very interested in seeing what an increase in dopamine will do to my broken brain. I'm going on 10 years trying to find a drug that works for me. A low dose of Geodon worked excellently for me for two months and then pooped.
I have tried Wellbutrin, but I believe that I don't do well with increases in norepinephrine. I'm embarassed to say that I only recently made it two days on a trial of 30mgs of Cymbalta. It tensed my entire body, felt like I was in a wind tunnel, and I couldn't eat a bite. Two days was all I could take. My short trial with Wellbutrin over 5 years ago was similar to this. I also don't think Wellbutrin holds a candle to Selegiline when increases in dopamine are considered, so I'm more interested in trying Selegiline, but will not eliminate Wellbutrin as a future option. I also like the fact that Selegiline is exclusive to its activity on dopamine.
One word that would describe my primary symptom is that I have no *zeal*. I don't communicate with people very well and I have no confidence and seem to lack emotion (happiness or sadness). I feel slowed down a feel like my speech is slow.
I'm very concearned about what to do about a doctor that doesn't know about a drug such as Selegiline. I have to drive an hour to see this guy, but I am 5 minutes away from a pdoc that was trained at Mass General/Mclean/Harvard known to be the best here in the U.S. at least. I have seen him before three years ago, but I didn't like his personality. He was very liberal with drugs though and I believe even mentioned Selegiline. Nardil was one of the first drugs he prescribed me. I wonder if I should go back. My current doctor is an old pioneer and the prospective doctor is a hotshot right out of medical school. My doctor today said that the psychiatric community needed more evidence and data of it being effective in mood disorders. Blah blah. What to do? Sometimes I think my base knowledge of medicines is greater than his. Opinions welcome
P.S. I am currently taking 100mgs of Seroquel and will increase in two weeks based on response. He also told me to take 200mgs of Provigil, because I recently did an experiment with an old prescription. I took 1000mgs Provigil within one hour, because 200mgs had previously really done nothing for me. I know 1000mgs is excessive, and I wouldn't recommend it, but man did that dose work. For about 6-7 hours the effects were virtually the same as a dose of MDMA. I also didn't sleep for over 36 hours with no signs of sleepiness whatsoever. It had no impact on mood really, but the focus was unbelievable; more than any stimulant I've ever taken. I will start titrating at 200mgs this time and see if going up to a comfortable dose improves my sedentary lifestyle.Sorry to be long,
Tom
poster:TomG
thread:492737
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20050428/msgs/492737.html