Posted by wmd40 on February 5, 2007, at 21:31:44
In reply to Re: 20 years of imipramine, posted by polarbear206 on February 5, 2007, at 9:53:19
> I was started on Imipramine around the same time as you, right before prozac came on the market. Imipramine has a good track record for those who experience more severe melancholic depressions.
That's me, and when I stick with the high doses, I can be almost chirpy for hours at a time.
> Since it has been on the market all these years, I have not come across anyone having what you describe as change in skin color.
Neither have I. Sorry if I gave the impression that I was purplish blue myself. It's just that that was the one and only side effect that showed up when I googled for "long term use of imipramine". I'm actually something closer to
a greyish pink. :-)> I work in the mental health field and have worked with elderly patients who have been on it for years. While the side effects can be quite bothersome, esp. at your high dosage, I am questioning your brain fog symptoms? Is this a constant problem, or just intermittent? Do you have mood swings or changes in energy levels?
The "brain fog" is fairly constant, but perhaps its not the perfect expression. What I mean, I guess, is that I have great difficulty concentrating, and my mind drifts in the middle of a conversation so that there are long pauses while I struggle to bring my tongue back to order.
> I had severe PPD, and was placed on Imipramine with an immediate response in 2 days. I ended up with an underlying bipolar disorder. Many people get a good response with using 2 antideprssants from different drug classes. Combining an SSRI or a SNRI with a TCA. I had a good success with Effexor/Imipramine and Lamictal. Due to my soft bipolar symptoms, I went off Imipramine and increased to a higher dose of Effexor. Imipramine has been an "old faithful" for many people who have tried other AD's.
I also tried imipramine with Effexor for a while, and it wasn't bad, but really not any better than the imipramine alone, so I dropped the Effexor.
For the last couple of years, I've been taking clonazepam as well -- 3 mg per day. I think it helps somewhat, since anxiety seems to be a fellow traveller with depression in my case.
No mood swings, though. I'm a hard-core unipolar.
Thanks for your comments.
> Polarbear
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wmd40
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URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20070201/msgs/730193.html