Posted by ChicagoKat on January 21, 2013, at 10:27:34
aka, What I did for Christmas by Kat
After failing Nardil the second time - it actually made me anxious, which makes no sense - my pdoc and I decided that, since I'd been through the wash already, that we may as well give Parnate a try. I started it on a Friday and my husband told me I got wonkier and wonkier through the weekend. By Monday night I was completely delerious and paranoid. I also had severe diarrhea. Hubby wanted to take me to the hospital but I refused to go (I was literally out of my mind), so he called 911 and then I had no choice but to go. I spent 1 1/2 days in a coma in the ICU; my kidneys entirely shut down, and frankly the odds were against my surviving. They diagnosed Rhabdomyolysis. It's a disease that's more notorious with the statins - drugs for high cholesterol like lipitor, eg - but it can possibly and very, very, VERY rarely happen with any drug. It causes your skeletal muscle to become weak b/c it is broken down into tiny bits that go and mess with your mental status as well as clog up your kidneys and shut them down. Therapy for me was massive hydration to try to flush my kidneys out, and if that did not work well enough, to do dialysis, which I was told, was almost started on me.
I was lucky. I survived and my kidney function bounced back to relative normal (though sadly, Ibuprofen is now out of my life forever...sniff). Once I was moved down to a regular room I was put on *all* the exact same meds I had been on prior to this episode, except for the Parnate. And I was fine; I continued to improve with ongoing hydration. So that pretty much proved to me that the Parnate is what caused the Rhabdo.
Now I want in ABSOLUTELY NO WAY to scare anyone who is now, or will be taking Parnate, away from the drug. My Pharmacy references don't even list Rhabdo as a potential side effect (and they are pretty darn thorough). I searched online and found one tiny reference to Parnate causing Rhabdo, but most sites did not list it as a possibility at all. So my guess is it's about a 1 in 10,000 to 1 in 100,000 chance of occurring. In other words, *unbelievably* rare.
I just wanted to throw this out there though, on the off chance that anyone has ever heard of a similar story.
At any rate, I am fully recovered, and am happy to say no more washouts for me!!! :D
It just goes to show that each of our bodies really is quite different and can react to the same drug in very different ways. It is my *absolute* sincere hope that none of us EVER reacts so badly to a medication again in the future. A belated Happy Holidays to everyone! :)
KatIve got a really bad disease
Its got me begging on my hands and knees
So take me to emergency
Cause somethin seems to be missing
Somebody take the pain away
Its like an ulcer bleeding in my brain
poster:ChicagoKat
thread:1035962
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20130112/msgs/1035962.html