Posted by PeterMartin on January 22, 2020, at 22:21:07
In reply to Re: New US made Marplan now available... » PeterMartin, posted by SLS on January 22, 2020, at 20:01:05
> How would you compare your experiences with Marplan and Nardil?
>
> How would you compare your experiences with Marplan and Parnate?
>
> Dosages?
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> I may have to make a decision next week as to which MAOI to take. I've given both Parnate and Nardil several extended trials each. Both drugs produce a mild improvement, but certainly not enough to make life easy and rewarding.
>Hey Scott - always nice to see your name on the forum!
It's too early to tell how Marplan is going to work for me. I stopped Nardil (75mg for ~6months) on 10days ago and began Marplan the day after. So far last week was pretty good w/ a big reduction in the Nardil side effects (I could pee / achieve orgasm again), but I've definitely experienced some w/d this week.
I got really depressed/anxious two days ago and made a rash decision to take 2.5mg of Zyprexa + 300mg of Lithium (neither of which I have taken in many yrs / the Zyprexa only during my last hospitalization for mania in 2015). Of course that combo knocked me out and I slept most of yesterday. Pretty sure I'm still dealing w/ the "hangover" of those today.
That said there have been a few moments where I've found myself optimistic that even though I feel terrible nows something is different. Hopefully it'll be like my 2010 Marplan experience where after ~2wks I felt a big change. I'm still sleeping late and that's uncommon for me when I'm "on" Marplan where I tended to get up at 6/6:30 read to go (not 8am).
I think the key to remember is that this is "brand new" Marplan. Validus (who owns the rights) relocated their manufacturing to the US after a company that had been making it for them started delivering unusuable product (crumbling pills). You may have seen me post a lot about how I feel different generic brands of medications affect me differently. And surly you know how manufacturing changes w/ Nardil in '03/'04 made a huge difference in how well it worked for some people.
So in some ways I'm hoping to be amazed at how well it works. I had a life changing experience thanks to Marplan in 2010. It made me feel together and while not "feeling good" per say I was just my best-self in some ways.
Is this new US Marplan any different than the 2010 version I took? Will I respond again? etc? Too early to tell. I didn't feel as though the Dutch Medlink version Validus imported in 2019 which I tried for 6 months was extremely effective for me. It just be that my illness is different now - not sure. I've always been wanting to get the -final- -new- version of Marplan. Now I'm on it....but it's only day 9 (first 4 days were left over Medlink-Danish until I got the new US kind). It's been super clean as far as sides, but I'm not at that 2wk+ period where I should be feeling something moodwise.
If you try it I'd suggest trying to think of it as a new drug as I am. The fact that Validus had to stop using the manufacturer due to "quality concerns" could mean that there were issues before they even reached that point. My best responsse to Marplan was 2010-2014. This is their corporate page which has the note about manufacturing being in the US now: https://validuspharma.com/blog/category/news/
Nardil for me was very inconsistent. There's one study on pubmed suggesting it's not great for bipolar depression. Maybe that's why - not sure. It was fantastic for social anxiety, but I never felt particularly motivated to do anything. I also had a lot of the typical side effects worst for me being urinary retention (minutes to start peeing), sexual side effects, and weight gain. I remained pretty much weight neutral thanks to Metformin, but the fear of gaining and the belly bloat even w/o wt gain was bothersome.
I've done two trials w/ Parnate and both times had spontaneous hypertensive issues after taking any dose over 30mg. In 2010 I had gotten up to 60mg before I realized my BP was spiking so high after dosages. That's when I switched to Marplan which was amazing until 2015.
I tried Parnate again in 2016 when Marplan became unavailable and again had the same bp spike issue. This time I had a bp cuff. After a month my doc raised me to 40mg as I was terribly depressed. My bp at that point was super low and I was dizzy upon standing or doing any physical activity. My first day on 40mg my bp reached 230/125 an hour after taking my final pill. That was the end of my 2nd Parnate trial.
I feel like I've been rambling so I hope the above makes sense. I'm still a little out of it from making yesterday a sleep day. I'm feeling a bit better tonight and I'm trying to remain optimistic about Marplan.
I'm not sure if what I've written helps you at all in terms of your decision next week. I'll update w/ my progress over the next few days and hopefully I'll have a good response to mention. In general MAOi changes don't really "hit me" until 14 to 17days.
I would say that if you try the new Marplan try to remember that it could be better than it was for you last time. Who knows.
-P
poster:PeterMartin
thread:1107944
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