Posted by SLS on March 8, 2005, at 8:33:43
In reply to Re: Sometimes there's no choice » SLS, posted by Sarah T. on March 7, 2005, at 23:58:25
> By the way, did Parnate alone cause problems for you, or was it only when it was combined with the other medications?
For me, Parnate alone has not precipatated a manic reaction. It seems that it will if a TCA enters the picture.
> Have you ever taken dexedrine as monotherapy?
Yes. I received some mild benefit from it for about 3 days.
> > > and my circadian rhythms improved.
> but one of my doctors told me that most patients who experience daytime sleep attacks on one MAOI will experience them on the others as well.I don't think that is accurate. It seems to be pretty specific to Parnate.
> > Parnate is NOT converted to amphetamine in the body, much to the disappointment of some folks.
> What are its metabolites?
I don't know. I don't think that Parnate has been studies well enough to have elucidated this. It seems to be a mystery. You know, Parnate has a 1/2 life of about 1-2 hours. Perhaps much of it is excreted unchanged.
> > The first few times I took Parnate, I did not dream at all. I imagine this was the result of REM suppression. Unfortunately, I no longer experience this. I wish I did. In my mind, it is just one more reason to believe that my depression is pharmacologically intractable. My brain is far from being a naive virgin.
> Just recently I read that REM sleep and dreaming occur in different parts of the brain. I will try to find the reference.
That's interesting.
> > With the NIMH, I paid with 9 months of inpatient care leading to mild to moderate instutionalization, the endurance of a protracted exacerbation of my depression, many liters of blood and urine, PET scans, and several lumbar punctures.
> It sounds like a nightmare. That would have made me so depressed, I would have walked out. Did you actually stay at NIMH for nine months? My insurance company wouldn't pay for nine days, or nine hours for that matter.
It was "free". Again, they seemed to get more out of it than I did.
> > In the subgroup of investigators to whom I was assigned, my remission was not their priority. They were not committed to developing a multimodal treatment to get me well.
> What was their priority?
Obtaining P.E.T. scan images of me while taking various drugs.
> That's disappointing and disturbing to hear that NIMH, of all places, was behind the state of the art. Was/is there any place that is state of the art?
I think Harvard / Massachusetts General is high up on the list.
> Is there a seasonal variation to your depression?
No.
> I was interested to know whether you've ever tried Dexedrine as monotherapy, or has it been prescribed only as an augmentor to another AD?
I have used it both ways. Once, I was taking a combination of Parnate + desipramine + amphetamine + T4 thyroid.
How demoralizing.
- Scott
poster:SLS
thread:463648
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/wdrawl/20050228/msgs/468183.html