Posted by Willful on May 1, 2011, at 9:47:18
In reply to Re: Emsam has lots of therapeutic value imo » Willful, posted by floatingbridge on April 28, 2011, at 13:05:09
Hi, fb,
I've used emsam for quite a while, and it 's the only thing that helped me significantly. I use some adjunctives like provigil (which I was on before the emsam) and occasional ritalin because I don't sleep well (I also had insomnia before emsam) I'm starting to sleep better, so I don't think it's impossible to sleep with emsam, despite its activating properties.
I also had a trial of parnate, which was a mixed success at best and cymbalta, which helped a small bit, but also caused some bad side effects for me (I'm very sensitive to serotogenics). I don't recommend cymbalta,particularly, based on my case and what I've read-- but I think it's always worth trying if you haven't--
But I really believe emsam is a ~ very very ~ good med. Maois in general are pretty effective compared to other available meds, and emsam is absolutely a lighter and stronger drug for me than parnate. I had pretty severe depression for most of my life and was unable to use ssris and other drugs like wellbutrin, remeron, and several others, which I tried briefly.
I've been lucky with the rash; however, I do get red marks after I use the patch in areas for a while (I switch placement around a bit) -- however, if you put cortisone (otc) on right before, and after, and move it around a lot, I think it's not necessarily a problem- also some months are worse than others. I assume the manuf. doesn't put the adhesive on quite right. You may not need anything---however-- I don't use anything except on rare occasions. I had some other ideas for reducing the itchiness, but it never became that much of a problem although some days it is itchy.
I would absolutely encourage you to try it. Also to be honest, if you can get rilutek, which is very expensive and may not be covered on your insurance, I would truly recommend that. It may not be around very long, though-- so maybe it won't be a long term med. I truly will be very upset if they take it off the market (or my insurance co won't pay for it any more). Contrary to many reports here, I've found it very effective for anxiety and depression along WITH the emsam. (I don't know anything about using it on its own.)
I hope you can convince your pdoc to give you emsam. I can't see any argument at all against it.
I did have a case of a chronic fatigue-like syndrome at one point a long while back-- and I know how hard that can be. I only hope you can find something to help you with that and the fibromyalgia. I'm so sorry that you've gone through so much on top of the depression.
poster:Willful
thread:983758
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20110418/msgs/984272.html