Posted by jch on September 19, 2011, at 19:05:53
In reply to Re: Is anyone currently taking Marplan?, posted by JayBTV2 on February 27, 2010, at 7:39:40
> > I'm not on Marplan now, but I took it in the early 90's and it was very beneficial to me for a few years. It worked as well or better than my current med, Nardil.
> >
> > The second time I tried it, it did not work. Back inthe 90's, the manufacturor (Roche) stopped making it since it was not a money maker for them, sending those of us on it, into a tailspin for many years, trying to find another med that would give me my life back. That never happened.
> >
> > Only in the last few years did another company put it back on the market and I think they messed with the formula (of course) and it didn't help me at all. IT could have been my chemistry had changed too, but it's hard to know.
> >
> > But it's certainly worth trying. I had no real side effects that I can remember, but we forget the bad stuff, if the end result is successful.
> >
> > Stargazer
>
>
> Thanks for the info. I've heard of formulation changes on Nardil wasn't aware Marplan changed as well (although I did know it went off the market for a bit).
>
> Hard to find a lot of anecdotal experiences about it now so that's probably not a good thing.
>
> I've been on Parnate since December 18th (about 2 months now) but only the last month or so over 40mgs. Currently (since last week) trying 60 to 80 to see if we can get it jumpstarted. It not really doing much for me and I tend to crash in the late afternoon and want to take my seroquel to go to bed early (7/8ish).
>
> I took Nardil a few years back but was probably manic by the time I was put on it. I had a doctor who'd give me anything and I was taking it w/ a TCA, ritain (taking more than I should), smoking pot, and a few other things considered recreational (vicodin I believe). Anyway can't blame everything on Nardil but I went psychotic manic which sadly does happen to me if I'm not careful. That was the last time I held a decent job :(
>
> I think I'd be ok trying Nardil again now w/ the Lithium and Lamictal and being clean and stable but I also remember gaining a lot of weight. And I definitely read weight gain and sexual disfunction are SEs of Nardil and (probably) Marplan.
>
> The main reason I asked about Marplan was to hope that maybe it 1) didn't have those SEs for some and 2) was effective. My doc mentioned it to me as an option at our last vistit although he doesn't currently have any patients taking the "new" Marplan. I'm determined to give Parnate a long fair trial but I really need it to work for me - hopefully that'll happen soon.
>
> Thanks for the post though guys and if anyone else has any semi-recent Marplan experiences please chime in. It's most likely my next course if Parnate doesn't kick in now that I'm in the "higher" ranges.....
>
>I took Marplan in the early 80's and it was fabulous. However I came by it in a very strange fashion. It was reccomended by a friend of my mothers' that I see a specific doctor in Washington, D.C. (I lived in NYC) and so I did. He handed me a print out of several multiple choice questions, which I filled out on the spot. He scanned it and said I was a good candidate for his treatment and handed me a bottle of pills, told me the dosing and said call him in a week.
I never saw him again, and spoke with him regularly only for the first 3 weeks. After that I would call when I needed more medication and he would send me some(for a price). I referred to him as "the quack".
As for the drug, it was a miracle. I loved it; I loved life, and all was good as long as I was busy. The only side effects I had was jumping legs while falling asleep, which was alleviated by a large dose of a B vitamin and I slept much less than normal.
I worked freelance and if I was without a job for a period of time, I would be bouncing off the wall. I was considering lowering the dosage when "the quack" killed himself. Stopped taking the drug.
Since then I have seen a number of therapists, always requesting Marplan. All the doctors said no and I ended up taking 9 drugs in various combinations to no avail. Finally, in the late 90s I found a doctor, who after looking over my list of drugs taken and their effects, suggested I try an Maoi again. I nearly cried. We found that Marplan had dissapeared and I went on Nardil. It worked for my mental state but left me with no energy. We added Ritalin and for several years I did fine.
A few years ago I found that my meds were no longer working that well for me. I had found that Marplan was back on the market and was so excited. Disapointment followed when I discovered that Marplan was not as effective as Nardil and 3/4 time as expensive. I then tried Parnate and was unable to walk more than 5 steps without collapsing to the floor.
Am now back on Nardil, and looking to add something to alleviate the lack of interest in doing anything.
poster:jch
thread:937777
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20110914/msgs/997216.html