Posted by Tomatheus on June 26, 2008, at 0:19:34
In reply to Why Have I gained weight on NARDIL, posted by maoi_wowee on June 25, 2008, at 22:24:05
maoi_wowee,
See below for my responses to some of your questions...
> Can someone please help me understand the mechanism of weight gain on Nardil? Is it strictly due to carb cravings that lead to more eating which leads to weight gain, or does it do something like slow the metabolism???
The weight gain may actually be due to the reduction in MAO-A activity. One study that I am aware of (Camarena et al., 2004) found a low-activity variant of the MAO-A gene to be positively correlated with high body mass. According to the study, the low-activity variant was preferentially expressed in obese participants with body-mass indices of 35 kg/m2 or higher.
> Is there any solution here such as reducing dosage (I'm on 90mg/day of Nardil) or am I just going to have to quit???
Reducing your dose may help prevent you from some gaining additional weight on Nardil. Doses of 60 and 75 mg/day are considered to be therapeutic, but you may notice less of an antidepressant effect at one of those doses than at 90 mg/day. I should probably add that when I was taking Pfizer's Nardil, I had to back down from 75 mg/day to 60 mg/day because the back pain I was experiencing at 75 mg/day was intolerable. The antidepressant benefits at 60 mg/day were weaker than they were at 75 mg/day, but still noticeable (and more pronounced than the benefits of any other ADs that I've taken).
Tomatheus
==
REFERENCE
Camarena, B., Santiago, H., Aguilar, A., Ruvinskis, E., Gonzalez-Barranco, J., & Nicolini, H. (2004). Family-based association study between the monoamine oxidase A gene and obesity: Implications for psychopharmacogenetic studies. Neuropsychobiology, 49, 126-129. Abstract: http://content.karger.com/ProdukteDB/produkte.asp?Aktion=ShowAbstract&ArtikelNr=76720&Ausgabe=229950&ProduktNr=224082
poster:Tomatheus
thread:836460
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20080617/msgs/836482.html