Posted by tygereyes on September 29, 2005, at 12:19:52
After having exhausted entire classes of medications (SSRIs/SSNRIs, anti-convulsants, tricyclics, atypical antipsychotics), I am moving into the world of MAOIs. Specifically, Parnate. My primary dx is borderline personality disorder, and I'm intrigued by the prospect of "reduced rejection sensitivity" as well as (obviously) reduced mood lability.
However, as someone who has spent years being warned about MAOIs (and as someone completely unfamiliar with their effects), I do have some questions.
1. What side effects have you experienced on Parnate? What are its effects on weight & appetite? (I'm in recovery from anorexia nervosa so this is a big concern for me.) Did you notice any effects on urinary output? (I have Interstitial Cystitis and most psych meds have an adverse effect on my bladder, many of them even causing enuresis.) Any cognitive impairment?
2. What dosage did you find to be the most effective and what symptoms were you specifically trying to medicate?
3. Drug-drug interactions: Is fish oil okay to take? How about anti-histamines like Benadryl and Vistaril? Any vitamins or minerals I should avoid?
4. What's with the rumor about Parnate being metabolized to amphetamine? How "abusable" is it? How high does the dose have to be before a noticable psychoactive effect is observed? (I'm a recovering drug addict and I have abused every drug under the sun, so the fact that abuse has been reported makes me VERY nervous.)
5. In Glaxo-Smith Klein's full prescribing information, it says that Parnate enhances the effects of serotonin, norephinephrine, and epinephrine. What about dopamine?!
(My remaining questions are about the MAOI diet; I was able to find the answers to many questions in the archives, but some of these remain unanswered.)
5. How MUCH caffeine is okay (both in one sitting AND throughout the day)? I generally drink about 6 cups of coffee a day (down from 12 to 14 cups a day!). Clearly, this presents a potential problem.
6. Peanut butter. I eat this about six times a day (specifically, peanut butter & co's white chocolate peanut butter). Again, if spread out over the day, is this amount okay, as long as I don't eat 6 tbsp in one sitting?
7. I also eat yogurt frequently. How far away from the expiration date is considered acceptable when it comes to yogurt?
8. I will only eat lite breads. Most lite breads have soy lechiten (spelling?), soy fiber, and soybeans as listed ingredients. Does this automatically blacklist them? Can you recommend any lite breads that are okay to eat?
9. I'm a vegetarian, and limiting yogurt/cheese and completely outlawing soy products (not to mention granola bars, which are a staple of my diet!) is a big problem, clearly. Can you recommend any good sources of vegetarian protein (besides eggs, which I will begin eating more often)?
10. Though I'm not recovered enough from anorexia (yet) to eat in restaurants, Indian food used to be my favorite food. Seeing as I have NO idea what is in most of the sauces of my favorite dishes (vegetarian vindaloo, spicy vegetable curry), can you tell me if Indian is okay to eat on a vegetarian diet?
Thanks SO much.
poster:tygereyes
thread:560977
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20050927/msgs/560977.html