Posted by maoiuser on April 15, 2012, at 13:05:43
this is simply my opinion and not medical advise..i have visited this board quite often over the years mostly to observe other people on MAOIs.... i have been on MAOIs for multiple years now and here is my story and conclusions........... i wish to know how my conclusion compares to other long time users of MAOIs.....i suffered from social anxiety for as far as i can remember..... i would go as far as to say that social anxiety can cause serious and even life threatening consequences....i started getting bullied from an early age.. no matter which situation i was in.... although the cause was unknown to me back then... it finally became obvious that i was crippled by social anxiety and gave an impression of being weak... i abused alcohol and tried multiple ADs but did not get lasting relief...instead i got severely addicted to alcohol and I am lucky that i escaped unharmed from it's crutches... i gave up alcohol and stayed helpless until i was finally put on MAOIs... i have never had a major food interaction and able to eat almost anything... the initial euphoria made me relapse but the relapse did not last too long... the sudden relief from social anxiety can be very dangerous... although not manic... i made multiple decisions due to not being experienced with MAOIs and the disinhibition.... decisions that i am not proud of and caused significant and in some cases irreversible damage to all aspects of my life... socially i did great in meeting new people but at least in the beginning.. i did poorly over all on the social level because i started to act in ways which were incorrectly perceived as selfish and harsh...,most people did not like the new me although if i felt good internally... on the other hand i also believe that the excess of dopamine can trigger multiple addictive behaviors that may not even exist before starting MAOIs... it took a while to even realize all of the above...
tried nardil and parnate... found parnate to be like a street drug where there was a high upon taking it and an eventual crash next morning... nardil on the other hand did not have this problem... on nardil i gained weight and suffered multiple side effects.... overall nardil is far more effective and makes me feel a lot better but the dangerous levels of disinhibition and disposition to addictive behavior is almost identical for both...
i think MAOIs are extremely effective but at the same time they can be very dangerous... apart from the sudden and unexpected changes in personality, it seems like once you are on MAOIs coming off of them does not seem like an option as I already made multiple failed attempts it could be that I really need the medication it took a lot of practice observation and selfdisciplining before i was able to handle the medication psychologically i still struggle though from time to time... it is possible to maintain a healthy weight on nardil the food cravings can be extremely bothersome and i have not been able to find a solution to that i wouldnt say they are less bothersome than anxiety.. although nardil led me to alcohol i also believe that it helped me stay away from it and give it up for good... i would say that physical side effects of nardil should not be the main focus of prescribers and at least in my case they are grossly exaggerated... on the other hand the psychological side effects and ways of coping up with them are mostly ignored...
i think nardil can be an extremely effective medicine but requires extreme caution close monitoring and accepting that it may not be possible to get the perfect body shape if on nardil or peaceful sleep.. unless you want to throw in other medications that can leave me groggy and disoriented.
poster:maoiuser
thread:1015647
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20120411/msgs/1015647.html