Posted by gigantor on October 18, 2012, at 11:06:19
In reply to Emsam poop out, a new maoi?, posted by Erewhonian on December 26, 2011, at 13:39:35
I started Emsam 6mg in July 2012 and felt better literally overnight. Within about ten days, I noticed that in addition to mood improvement (reduced anxiety and depression), all my fibromyalgia symptoms were also DRAMATICALLY reduced. Those include impenetrable fatigue, paraesthesia, brain fog, vision problems, myaglia, joint pain, and tender points. Although I dealt with middle insomnia, I really didn't care because I was up early in the morning and more motivated and productive than I've been since developing fibro. Early on, I had the impression that the dose was too high so I went down to 4.5mg (split a 9mg patch in half). It wasn't as effective so I dealt with feeling a little "buzzy".
But I was laughing again, my libido improved, I was losing weight, and feeling like I had my life AND my body back. I felt like my nightmare was over.
Then out of nowhere, about two weeks ago, I woke up late, and with my old typical morning fibro symptoms. I haven't been able to get myself back to the Emsam benefit since. All my fibro symptoms are coming back. The telltale sign is the vision issue. It's the one thing that can't be attributed to hormones, weather, mood, diet, stress, etc. I'm depressed, anxious, irritable, unmotivated, exhausted, asexual, in pain, and feeling really lousy.
I'm on the 6mg patch and do not want to go up to a higher dose. It seems that going down to 4.5 for awhile (cutting a 9mg patch in half) makes more sense. Then going back up to 6mg which had been an effective dose.
Since I feel the benefit I received is based on the dopaminergic qualities of the drug, is it possible I simply built up a tolerance? This has happened to me with Xanax and I just take a break from it and then my old, tiny dose is effective again. I figure this is the case and reducing for awhile could regenerate some receptors and then I can go back to 6mg. Otherwise I'll just keep increasing until any amount is useless.
I'm now pretty much intolerant of other antidepressants which happens to many people with fibro. (Before fibro, I could tolerate any I tried and they were effective. Now, it's side-effect city with no emotional relief. The same for mood stabilizers and TCAs.)
poster:gigantor
thread:1005595
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20121018/msgs/1029053.html