Posted by stargazer2 on May 26, 2010, at 13:24:35
In reply to Nardil - Serious health issues after long term use, posted by phil1909 on May 26, 2010, at 8:28:39
Hi, I have been on low dose Nardil on and off since 1986, with the exception of at least 10 years when all those AD's were developed starting with Prozac. I went back to Nardil in the last 2 years after failure on every other non-MAO AD.
I stopped Nardil about a month ago to try stimulants as I thought my depression may be caused by (or greatly impacted by) symptoms of ADD.
Before I stopped Nardil, I was under severe work stress resulting in my quitting my job, this was in late March. Before I quit I had some symptoms of a lung condition, not sure what it was as the MD never diagnosed anything but I had an upper airway infection of some sort causing me to cough and have difficulty breathing. THe MD reluctantly put me on Z-pac and I had some resolution of symptoms. The cough subsided for a while but then got worse and I never sought medical attention again, as I attributed the symptoms to work stress.
I had some thoughts a few days ago and realized my cough had gone away and now I'm thinking that I stopped Nardil during that time period and wonder if Nardil was somehow causing the respiratory symptoms.
I just resumed Nardil about 2 days ago and if the cough comes back I will know there could be a connection between Nardil and the cough and shortness of breath.
I also had chest pain a few months ago and I also attibuted that to work stress. An EKG was done and was normal, I believe.
Anything is possible but that is why over the years, although I have taken many meds, I always err on the side of lowest dosage and trying to avoid mutiple combinations, as so little is known about drug interactions and of course, there are no long term studies for most meds, especially one like Nardil, which is a drug of last resoprt.
I think if we live long enough we might have cardiac or respiratory disease, and with the unknown factor of taking long term drugs,anything is possible, and perhaps, probable.
Given the choice to take a med that would allow me to overcome depression at the risk of developing another medical issue, the choice would be very difficult. But so many patients will choose immediate results if a med can offer you that. We are definately a society that will take unknown risks and as for long term testing, with the numbers of drugs that have been developed between 1980 and 2010, good luck for managing any long term studies.
Sorry you had such serious consequences with your heart and although it seems as though Nardil is the cause, can we ever be sure that the 2 were related? what is the incidence of Heart block in someone who is not on any medications. Isn't heart block oftern caused from an undiagnosed M.I., not sure.
I will pay attention to any cardiac/respiratory symptoms I se while on Nardil. As I have always said, treatement of depression is really just an expereiment and we are the guinea pigs, sad but true.
Star
poster:stargazer2
thread:948955
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20100524/msgs/948982.html