Posted by Tomatheus on December 25, 2006, at 17:59:36
In reply to Re: Nardil + nortriptyline is working. » Tomatheus, posted by SLS on December 25, 2006, at 7:03:07
Scott,
See below for my responses...
> Thanks for taking the time and spending the energy to compose such a comprehensive post.
You're welcome. I'm thankful to actually have the energy and the opportunity to use it to try to help others.
> If I do return to Parnate, I will try to find the Goldstone product.
I doubt that you'll be able to find a version of Parnate manufactured by a company called *Goldstone* anywhere on the planet, but you're welcome to look if you'd like. Who knows, maybe such a company exists. :)
Unfortunately for us, *Goldshield* products (including the U.K.-based company's version of Parnate) are not commercially available anywhere in the Western Hemisphere. However, word has it that it may be possible to order the Goldshield Parnate from the U.K., Australia, and other countries where it marketed as a prescription medication. If I do get a sustained response out of my Parnate-SAM-e combo, I might have to resort to such a measure after my current supply (which just somehow materialized out of thin air -- ok, j/k ;)) runs out.
Another option that you might want to consider if you're interested is getting your prescription filled at a compounding pharmacy that might be able to prepare a special enteric version of either the GlaxoSmithKline Parnate or the new generic tranylcypromine that's manufactured by Kali Laboratories (a subsidiary of Par Pharmaceutical company). As I mentioned in my previous post, I tried taking a specially prepared enteric version of the GSK Parnate and did not notice any differences between its effects and those of the Goldshield Parnate. So, an enteric version of one of the tranylcyrpomine products that's currently available in the U.S. might be an alternative worth looking into if you decide that you'd like to try an enteric form of Parnate.
> Do you have any insights regarding Marplan?
Problably nothing extremely insightful, but I did try taking Marplan using the same enteric approach that I used at times with both the Australian and the U.S. versions of Nardil. My response basically followed the same "antidepressant tease" pattern that characterized my response to the Goldshield Parnate as monotherapy. I tried taking 10 mg/day, 20 mg/day, and 30 mg/day of Marplan and felt a few days of the "tease" followed by a complete loss of my AD response each time. I could have tried higher doses, but I suspected that I would just get more of the same no matter what dose I tried, so I figured that it would probably just be a better idea to move on to other meds instead of wasting my time getting "teased" by Marplan.
Other than some slight weight gain and a bit of mild insomnia, I did not notice any side effects when I was taking Marplan.
It's hard to say whether or not my response to a non-enteric version of Marplan would have been any different from my response to the specially prepared enteric version that I tried. It's possible that I might have found a non-enteric version to be less effective and/or less tolerable than the enteric version that I took, but there's also a chance that I wouldn't have noticed a differnce between the two versions. I don't know for sure whether or not isocarboxazid (Marplan's active ingredient) undergoes significant chemical degradation in the stomach before it ultimately reaches the small intestine and gets absorbed into the bloodstream, but I decided to play it safe and just go with the enteric version to avoid any potential problems that might have occurred if I had tried taking the drug without an enteric coating.
I hope this helps some.
Tomatheus
poster:Tomatheus
thread:714163
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20061224/msgs/716362.html