Posted by dragonblack on July 24, 2011, at 22:26:59
In reply to Re: Giving up on Parnate: what's next before ECT?, posted by linkadge on July 24, 2011, at 19:16:14
> Having taken both TCAs and Remeron, I personally believe that the TCAs are superior as antidepressants. I think one might get a good balance with a TCA + SSRI or venlafaxine.
>
> The reason the MAOIs cause the daytime fatigue is because they cause such significant disturbances in sleeping patterns.
>
> LinkadgeHi Linkadge, thanks for your reply. Oddly, I never experienced any insomnia on Parnate, and never found it to be stimulating at all. I know I'm the exception, here, but if anything my sleep was much more regular and closer to what a person is supposed to get (averaging 6.5 hrs, whereas I used to sleep from 0-10 in an utterly sporadic manner). I think my fatigue was from residual depression and the half life of Parnate, which left me feeling like I crashed after each dose, and I tried every dosing schedule under the sun. My caffeine intake has just steadily risen until it's back at college finals levels but I'm still tired all the time. This is probably the biggest issue for me. A stimulant might be the answer, but the "answer" was no.
I'm worried about side effects with TCAs. Is there any particular one you would suggest? In the past the only AD I really responded to was Wellbutrin XL (and for a while, SAM-e). The SSRIs were poor to awful for me, and Effexor was mildly helpful for anxiety but did nothing for depression. Everything serotonergic gave me sexual dysfunction.
I'm also wondering about combining Wellbutrin with Remeron, as a means of combating the sides of each, and given that Wellbutrin worked for me for a time but stopped working well (but probably still kept me out of the gutter).
Thanks for your input.
DB
poster:dragonblack
thread:991723
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20110714/msgs/991771.html