Posted by myco on March 8, 2009, at 15:08:38
In reply to More questions on starting Nardil, posted by TriedEveryDrug on March 8, 2009, at 14:11:41
I'll give you my experiences here...other people may share a much more positive outlook on startup though.
Give your system a good whole day of "the diet" before starting...this mabye overkill but safe is safe.
Ok I will be straight up here about startup, again you may get more "naively positive" opinions on what to expect. First off: have you been on many meds before? and just recently to this? this may have an effect on your maoi startup to some degree. Alot of people have a "euphoric" experience within the first 2 weeks...mabye lasting 4-5 days (mine was)...totally drugged out look, huge wide eyed pupils, very good mood. This is just a side effect (isnt the med working). It will go away and be replaced by neg sides. Alot of dizzyness, cognitive issues can be bad (memory, loss of word articulation, attention span), bad insomnia (you will most likely need a sleep med), daytime fatigue will be bad for awhile. There are many sides when starting up maois (dr's suggest against maois because of this for many patients)...alot of people "drop out" before they hit a "stable" dose. Sides will go away after a few weeks at each dose then return again when you raise it, cyclical. Before the med stabilizes, you will have lots of ups and downs. GABA will play a good role in relaxation of muscles and anxiety but when it first starts it's like overkill before you body re-equilibrates...may require some lazying about until this happens. You may experience a much more fluent, easy startup but if this is your first med or maoi (particularly if you consider youself med sensitive) you would be safe to consider using some "sick days" (at least consider - have them ready). Focus on an intensely brain draining job may be iffy while starting up. When you find that correct dosage (the one that gives you more better days than bad) and have waiting a few weeks, pretty much all sides will clear (usually insomnia stays though). I dont even feel the med "in me" physically speaking anymore...it's subtle when it's working - you have to pay attention to your behaviours to see it work (nice changes in them for me).
The positive effect right away (within 1 week) wil be, like I mentioned, a usually very enjoyable short lived period of euphoria (avoid contact with the boss during this one ok - dopey drugged out look is possible), may notice (I did) relaxation "blips", so to speak, little teases of the GABA coming through and little hints of increasing focus and concentration will pop up now and then within the fog of dizzyness and cognitive impairment. Depends on your issues though...may take many weeks and lots of dose adjusting (with the appropriate wait time for stabilizating) to see effects. It's individual.
We're here to answer anything you like during your nardil experience
myco
> Sorry to keep posting about Nardil. I appreciate the responses I got in my other thread. It seems like quite a few people have experience with this drug and maybe you could help me out...
>
>
> 1. How long do I have to wait after I ate my last bite of tyramine-containing food before I can start the nardil? (I see tyramine has a half-life of 30-60 minutes, with a peak absorption time of maybe an hour. So 6 hours would be safe?)
>
>
> 2. What should I expect initially? I read reports of "brain fog" for the first few weeks. This troubles me because my engineering job requires me to be able to concentrate on tough problems. Is it always the case that people get brain fog, or just some?
>
> 3. Will I notice any positive effect right away? (With other meds, like effexor, wellbutrin and SSRIs, I seem to notice an effect right away, despite everything saying it takes some number of weeks for the drug to start working).
>
> Thanks.
>
>
poster:myco
thread:884439
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20090304/msgs/884452.html