Posted by Shyone on June 4, 2010, at 19:14:19
In reply to MAOI replacement options, posted by jedi on April 30, 2010, at 12:55:24
Hi Jedi,
I was recently admitted to the hospital for a very slow heartbeat where I had to get a pacemaker, and was forced to go off Nardil cold turkey after 30 years. The doctors felt this medication could have been the cause of my heart conduction defect, and if not, could be aggravating it. After being left on only 2 mg. of Lorazepam (1mg. twice daily), by day two of my four days spent in Coronary ICU, I was climbing the walls. I no longer was getting my 15 mg. also BID of Nardil and my body and brain were crying out for it. I begged my doctor to give me Xanax instead, and they allowed me to have 1/4 mg. of Xanax every 6 hours. I managed on one every 8 hours because of my fear of the addictive properties of Xanax.
I just started my 4th week on less than 1 mg. daily on Xanax and it seems to be controlling my anxiety and depression very well so far. I don't know what tomorrow might bring. I believe that this is because of the GABA that the Xanax maintains in our brain, which is the hormone that helps control our anxiety. With me, I feel that it was my uncontrollable anxiety that led to severe depression. I don't believe in taking a cocktail of drugs as one doctor I saw previously wanted to put me on because of all the side effects -- that can often feel worse than the condition they're supposed to treat.
But one of the things that did happen once I was off the Nardil was that my blood pressure shot up and has remained elevated. That's probably because I'm obviously no longer the age I was when I started taking Nardil, and over the years, we can develop hypertension (which runs strongly in my family). So my head still spins some, as my follow-up physician is trying to get it under control with some anti-hypertension medication. Have you had your BP checked lately? That could be your reason for feeling dizzy once you get off the Nardil. I'm sure you know that one of the side effects of Nardil is to lower the blood pressure. That's why the condition I was developing over the years didn't show up until I got off the Nardil. Also, my severe shyness (Social Anxiety) is no longer being maintained as well as with the MAO Inhibiting effect we get from Nardil. After all, this drug also maintains our Serotonin, Norepinephrine, and Dopamine levels even keel.
I hope this information will be helpful to you and others who read this post and who are terrified that they can't live without Nardil, as I was for 30 years.
poster:Shyone
thread:945733
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20100604/msgs/949947.html