Posted by Robert_Burton_1621 on February 5, 2015, at 4:53:28
In reply to Re: Starting Parnate after 15 yrs treatment-resistance » Robert_Burton_1621, posted by baseball55 on February 4, 2015, at 19:57:18
> 10mg is a low dose. 30 mg is the usual starting dose.
Thanks for this advice. I am working up to 40mg over two weeks. From what I infer from my doctor's prescriptions, the tapered increase is recommended so as to decrease the risk of sudden hypotension, dizziness, etc. That makes sense to me.
> I took parnate when almost catatonic from depression and was up and about - not all better, but functioning for the first time in months - within 48 hours. It never really got completely rid of my depression, but I never again fell into that vegetative state while on parnate.
That is an astonishing account, thank you. My symptoms have also been, consistently, neuro-vegetative and, to use your words, "almost catatonic". This is just my second day on 10mg, but even though the parnate has induced a pretty smashing fatigue, I can nonetheless get up - or rather, I nonetheless *want* to get up - and be relatively active. Last night my sleep appeared to me to be distinctly "shallow"; I'm not sure why, but I got the sense (i.e., it was apparent to me while I was sleeping) that I didn't really *fall* to sleep. Yet I was able to get up and function okay today.
> Side effects. For me, the only really noticeable and problematic side effects were postural hypotension and insomnia. My p-doc prescribed ativan (lorazapem) for sleep, which really worked, so that helped the insomnia.
>Thanks for this bit of information, too! I certainly found it difficult to get to sleep. I have some mirtazapine from a previous trial, and had thought of taking a small dose (7.5mg) to help me nod off (with the assistance of its massively potent H1 receptor antagonism). I know it can't induce serotonin toxicity, but I thought it most prudent just to ride the insomnia through rather than experiement independently.
> Don't worry overmuch about the food interactions. People get neurotic about this, but it's not such a big deal
>Yes, from the latest studies that I've read (in particular: Gillman (2011) J Clin Psycho Pharm 31.1) the food interactions have been exaggerated. It is best to err on the side of caution, I think, though; I have been advised to test my tolerance by introducing tentatively only small amounts of excluded foods.
> Good luck!
Thanks so much. I wish you the best, too.
poster:Robert_Burton_1621
thread:1075968
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20150129/msgs/1076007.html