Posted by Fruitcup on September 11, 2009, at 21:55:19
I have been taking Nardil for 25 years, with a few trials of different meds (Prozac, Parnate) within the first five years. Always put back on Nardil, I tolerate the side effects, but many have disappeared over the years. Originally, I was very constipated, but when I started drinking lots of water and eating more fiber, it went away. At the beginning, my psychopharmacologist prescribed lactulose, a liquid that is used in hospitals a lot. It was always pretty harmless and one tablespoon used to do the trick.
The most difficult thing to deal with was my hypotension. My doc always said that it was very "labile" (subject to ups and down), and after trying salt tablets and a few years on Florinef, I was finally put on Yohimbine HCL, 5.4 mg twice daily. If you look it up, you'll see it's primarily for erectile dysfunction...and I'm a female with no worries about that -- but it hadn't been studied in women of reproductive age and was a gamble. Frankly, I was more concerned with losing my horrible depression which has affected most of my adult life.
(Don't go looking for Yohimbine HCL and DEFINITELY DO NOT go online to find it. There's an herb with the same name that men sometimes use to deal with ED, and it can be dangerous (unregulated by the FDA--though I think they make mistakes, too). It's now "extremely back-ordered," which makes me think that it's going to come off the market, and in a month I'll be out of it, so if anyone knows of anything besides Florinef that helps with low blood pressure from Nardil (I take 90 mg/daily), please post immediately. I can't function with my BP going down to 75/50. I'm almost unconscious without Yohimbine HCL.
Other side effects: Extremely dry mouth (I try to chew gum or carry Tic-Tacs, and drink lots of liquids), some muscle twitching of the face -- but I wonder how much of that I feel but no one sees -- and definitely insomnia. I've been on so many different drugs to sleep that it's still a puzzle.
BTW, does anyone else dream on Nardil? I had heard that it suppresses REM sleep, but I dream like crazy and remember my dreams.
I feel like an expert on Nardil, so if Dr. Bob doesn't object, feel free to ask me whatever you want. My depression IS refractory because even Nardil doesn't do the trick more than about 63%, and if any of you also know that in 2003 Pfizer changed the coating and somehow that changed the chemistry of the drug, making it less effective, I'd like to hear about it. Pfizer knows that lots of people report this. I ADVOCATE LETTING PFIZER KNOW OF SIDE EFFECTS YOU HAVE THAT ARE NOT LISTED, OR COMPLAING ABOUT ITS LOSING EFFICACY SINCE 2003 -- Oh, and weight gain. I gained about 30% of my original body weight, and it's a BEAST to try to take off. I crave carbs like crazy and feel exhausted most of the time. For the daytime somnolence, I take Provigil as needed.
I'm going broke, even with insurance. Out of work for 5 months with no unemployment benefits because I've been an independent contractor. I guess you folks go through that too. Nardil costs me $55 a month, and that's only one drug that I take. Yikes!
poster:Fruitcup
thread:916580
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20090902/msgs/916580.html