Posted by Tomatheus on September 8, 2008, at 23:47:32
In reply to Nardillians - lend me your ears, posted by Quintal on September 8, 2008, at 17:12:11
Quintal,
It's been a while since I've taken Nardil, so I'm going to try to recall my experiences as well as I can from memory. Please keep in mind that because it's been so long (and because of the cognitive impairment that I experience now that I have schizoaffective disorder), specific details may be difficult to recall.
If I recall correctly, it took me about six weeks to feel Nardil's antidepressant (and pro-social) effects. When I first took Nardil, I took the Australian Nardil, and I took it as it was prepared by its manufacturer (I later tried putting the contents of the pills into emptied-out enteric capsules, but more on that later). Taking the Australian Nardil as prepared by Link Pharmaceuticals, I first noticed a response after about two weeks at 75 mg/day. The antidepressant response was strong (the best that I had ever experienced on an antidepressant without going into hypomania) and wiped out a wide range of symptoms, including hypersomnia, psychomotor retardation, anhedonia, and low energy. The response only lasted for about two weeks, and I actually temporarily regained the response by lowering my dose to 60 mg/day. But unfortunately, as long as I continued to take my Australian Nardil as it was manufactured, my response only lasted for about two weeks. During the time that I responsed to Nardil (as prepared by its manufacturer), I experienced side effects including insomnia, urinary retention, increased sweating, anorgasmia, and weight gain. I took the sleep aid doxylamine succinate (25 mg/night) to counteract the insomnia. Other side effects that I experienced at start-up (but not after the medication kicked in) included lightheadedness and excessive daytime sleepiness.
Having read statements here on Psycho-Babble and on the Anxiety Community's Nardil discussion board suggesting that the "new" Nardil manufactured by Pfizer was less effective and less tolerable than its "old" counterpart for some patients because it lacked an enteric coating, I became curious as to whether or not the effectiveness of the Nardil that I was taking might be enhanced if I could just give it an enteric coating. So, that's exactly what I tried doing: I sought out to replicate Psycho-Babble member Michael Bell's approach to taking Nardil in enteric capsules. Michael Bell described his approach here:
http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20050527/msgs/505052.html
http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/alter/20050510/msgs/506644.htmlAfter making the gradual transition from five film-coated tablets of the Australian Nardil (75 mg) per day to five partially homemade enteric capsules filled with the Australian Nardil (also 75 mg) per day, I experienced full remission from my depressive symptoms for about a month. I described the way that I felt during my period of remission in a previous Psycho-Babble post (http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20060617/msgs/658844.html): "The response that I had was nothing like the euphoric hypomanic 'highs' that I had during my 'up' periods on Paxil. On the contrary, I felt *just right* in every way. Experiences that were supposed to make me feel good made me feel good, experiences that were supposed to make me feel sad made me feel sad. Likewise, tasks that were supposed to be simple were simple, and tasks that were supposed to be difficult were difficult. I experienced little to no insomnia, and for the first time ever, I did not struggle to get out of bed after a full night of sleep. I would just wake up as most people do."
In addition to achieving full remission on 75 mg/day of the Australian Nardil when I was taking it in the enteric capsules, I also noticed a reduction in side effects: the insomnia and excessive sweating became less pronounced, and the urinary retention and anorgasmia disappeared entirely.
Unfortunately, the full remission that I experienced with the enteric encapsulated version of the Australian Nardil lasted only a month. After I received a bottle of the Australian Nardil without any silica gel inside of it, the urinary retention and excessive sweating came back with a vengeance, and so did my depression. At that point, I had my pdoc prescribe me Pfizer's Nardil, which I also took in the enteric capsules. I could not tolerate Pfizer's version of the medication at 75 mg/day because of back pain, so I ended up taking 60 mg/day and experiencing something less than full remission (but still a healthy antidepressant response) for about another two months. You'd probably be interested in knowing that I didn't experience any anorgasmia during these two months. I eventually stopped taking Nardil after I received a batch from my pharmacy that sent me into a mad rage and felt dramatically different from any version of Nardil that I had taken up to that point.
So, I know that my story was complicated and involved a lot of twists and turns, but that was my experience with Nardil. To date, I still consider Nardil to be the most effective antidepressant that I've taken to date and the only one that brought me into full remission. Oh, how I miss those days and how I miss *just* having depression and being an MAOI responder.
But anyway, I hope that your experience with Nardil (assuming that you'll start taking it soon) turns out to be as positive as mine was without all of the complications. You deserve the wonderful results that Nardil can provide.
Tomatheus
poster:Tomatheus
thread:851061
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20080903/msgs/851111.html