Posted by jedi on January 11, 2010, at 12:41:31
In reply to Re: questions for experienced Nardil users, posted by g_g_g_unit on January 11, 2010, at 2:39:19
Hi again ggg,
With it's side effects and potential for hypertensive episodes, Nardil is only for the seriously depressed. I have been on 45+ different combinations of antidepressants. It is the only thing that has worked for me, longterm. Are you treatment resistant with atypical depression? If so, a long term trial with Nardil may be the answer. Meds suck but so does lying on the floor in a fetal position or sleeping all day to avoid the pain of the depression.At the lower dosage of 60mg I have been able to go without sleep aids. I qualify this, in that I use 2mg of clonazepam regularly. It still helps with the social anxiety and Nardil side effects but gives very little in the way of sleep support after long term usage. I consider 50mg of Benadryl a really minor sleep aid. Since I have chronic allergies, it kills two birds with one stone. I have also weaned off the clonazepam at some points, just because of the side effect of memory loss. However, I always seem to start back on it when my anxiety level increases.
Nardil greatly reduces or eliminates REM sleep. I do not know the long term ramifications of this. But, we dream for a reason, kind of scary.
Yes, If you can get a 70% improvement that lets you function; I believe the medication is worth the side effect hassle. Especially if none of the other classes work. Nardil has been around for 50+ years and I have not experienced anything that works better for my treatment resistant, atypical, double depression with social anxiety. The double depression means I always have a level of dysthymia even when the major depression is under control. I have never been at 100% since my first major depression, 12 years ago. But with Nardil I have been able to function. I run a business and seem to keep my head above water. Though sometimes just barely.
My depression is biological; it runs through my entire extended family. My mother has been hospitalized multiple times and I have had three first cousins who have suicided. So, even though the Nardil only controls maybe 80% of my depression, it is worth it to me.
I have quit Nardil multiple times for trials of other medications. It seems to me most of the new meds they come out with now are just variations of the old meds, meant to reobtain patent protection for an existing drug. A classic example is Lexapro which is just the active isomer of Celexa. Same active ingredient, but it is a new medication with additional patent protection. Now, if the inactive isomer had some negative side effects that were eliminated in the "new" medication, that might be justified. But it is not going to work better on depression. It has the same active ingredients.
Have you tried Parnate? My last trial of tranylcypromine seemd to be working until I had a rare autohypertensive episode.
Good Luck and Be Well,
Jedi
Augmentation can help with the residual depress
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> thanks for your response. indeed i mistook the initial hypomania for an AD response, which i insisted on pursuing, despite the fact that higher doses provoked more anxiety in me. i think if i tried it again i would take it a lot slower this time, or at least hold out at a reasonable dose (60mg or so) before moving ahead. these days, i find euphoria kind of unpleasant (i guess because i don't have much to feel euphoric about?), so i don't think i'd make the same mistake.
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> have you ever tried discontinuing your sleep meds, or is it simply not possible to sleep on the drug?
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> i guess my biggest concerns are its effects on cognition and sleep architecture, especially given my age. nardil's a hassle to casually trial, i found, given the SE's and withdrawal. i've made a tentative promise to myself that i'm going to stick with the next thing that works, even if it's only a 60/70% improvement over my current situation, so i'm trying to weigh things up more logically.
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poster:jedi
thread:933198
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20100103/msgs/933238.html