Shown: posts 1 to 10 of 10. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by girlnterrupted78 on August 29, 2007, at 15:22:53
My only side-effect on Nardil was syncope, caused by postural (orthostatic?)hypotension.
This side-effect lasted for about a month.. and I'm happy to announce that as of now, it is completely GONE!! Wooohooo.. I'm so glad.
The only remains of it are a little bit of a stiff neck when engaging in sudden strenuous or high-level activity without warming up into it, and tension in the extremities when doing the same--feels as lack of oxygen in arms/legs when engaging in a fast walk without starting slow, or not warming up slowly during exercise (which never was a problem before..Before I'd warm up rather fast without a problem.) I'm sure this will be gone in no time as well, tho.
So I'm very happy. The only thing I'm still waiting for is for Nardil to actually WORK!! I mean, it is helping somewhat. I remember my first week or two on Nardil, I wrote in my diary "feeling a mild degree of improvement emotionally.."
I wrote this twice in the same first or second week. Then I never wrote it again. After that, there were only side-effects. Could I have simply stayed at that point of initial (mild) improvement? I guess so.
I will wait for another month or two and then I might try to augment. If someone has experience with augmentation of Nardil (and success in doing so) I'd appreciate any info. Or if anyone waited more than 3 months and Nardil eventually worked, I'd also like to hear from you.
Thanks a lot!
Posted by F00TBALL on August 29, 2007, at 22:42:04
In reply to Nardil side-effects vanished.. when will kick in?, posted by girlnterrupted78 on August 29, 2007, at 15:22:53
What's your daily dose?
I had to take 75 MG to get a benefit, and 90 MG to get full benefit.
Posted by Girlnterrupted78 on August 29, 2007, at 23:07:55
In reply to Re: Nardil side-effects vanished.. when will kick, posted by F00TBALL on August 29, 2007, at 22:42:04
>What's your daily dose?
>I had to take 75 MG to get a benefit, and 90 MG to get full benefit.
My daily dose is 60mgs. I already tried 75mgs and 90mgs, with awful results.90mgs sent me to the ER with the absolute worst pounding headache I've had in my life (the headache would happen 20 mins after every SINGLE dose while on 90mgs.) So 90mgs is completely out of the question.
75mgs gave me chest, back and stomach flushing, which as far as someone else found out, indicates overdose.
Also, according to my weight, 60mgs is my preferred dosage.
How long did it take for each new dose to take full effect? Did you have any side effects as you incremented doses? Have you augmented with anything?
Thanks a lot for sharing.
Posted by FredPotter on August 30, 2007, at 23:56:00
In reply to Re: Nardil side-effects vanished.. when will kick » F00TBALL, posted by Girlnterrupted78 on August 29, 2007, at 23:07:55
Interesting GI. The pain in the legs when walking I've been putting down to statin damage, but perhaps it isn't. But I have gained weight and it's all on my stomach (not my abdomen). I wonder if it's wind as I expel large amounts of greenhouse gas when I get home. I can't do it away from home. Dunno why. And zero sex. What can I do?
Posted by stargazer2 on August 31, 2007, at 12:37:52
In reply to Nardil side-effects vanished.. when will kick in?, posted by girlnterrupted78 on August 29, 2007, at 15:22:53
Hi GI and Larry,
I'm still on Nardil since May. Went down to 30 mg after my hypertensive reaction early in August but back up to 45 mg for past few days as my mood took a dive. Also recently put on Synthroid for borderline hypothyroidism (TSH 3.43). I requested to see an endocrinologist to determine if there are other factors related to my poor depression response.
Past two weeks started on Nortriptyline, 25 to start, now at 75 mg at bedtime. Today had blood levels drawn for nortriptyline. It is supposed to be within a specific target range.
So lots of changes but my mood has not been stable for a long time. Hopefully we will come up with a combo that can keep this depression under control.
I still want to take something for ADD symtoms but that has to wait until I'm stable on a combination, which has not been for over a year now. I'm not sure there is any ADD med that is compatible with Nardil.
I'm getting really frustrated with the lack of stabalization of my mood. I have feel better then the depression returns.
I continue to have side effects with Nardil of dizziness, GI issues, gas, constipation. At 30 mg the SE's were essentially gone which was great but not enough to control the mood lability.
Stargazer
Posted by stargazer2 on August 31, 2007, at 12:37:58
In reply to Nardil side-effects vanished.. when will kick in?, posted by girlnterrupted78 on August 29, 2007, at 15:22:53
Hi GI and Larry,
I'm still on Nardil since May. Went down to 30 mg after my hypertensive reaction early in August but back up to 45 mg for past few days as my mood took a dive. Also recently put on Synthroid for borderline hypothyroidism (TSH 3.43). I requested to see an endocrinologist to determine if there are other factors related to my poor depression response.
Past two weeks started on Nortriptyline, 25 to start, now at 75 mg at bedtime. Today had blood levels drawn for nortriptyline. It is supposed to be within a specific target range.
So lots of changes but my mood has not been stable for a long time. Hopefully we will come up with a combo that can keep this depression under control.
I still want to take something for ADD symtoms but that has to wait until I'm stable on a combination, which has not been for over a year now. I'm not sure there is any ADD med that is compatible with Nardil.
I'm getting really frustrated with the lack of stabalization of my mood. I have feel better then the depression returns.
I continue to have side effects with Nardil of dizziness, GI issues, gas, constipation. At 30 mg the SE's were essentially gone which was great but not enough to control the mood lability.
Stargazer
Posted by Girlnterrupted78 on September 1, 2007, at 8:09:33
In reply to Re: Nardil side-effects vanished, Augmentation med, posted by stargazer2 on August 31, 2007, at 12:37:58
> Hi GI and Larry,
Hi Stargazer, good to hear from you!
> I'm still on Nardil since May. Went down to 30 mg after my hypertensive reaction early in August but back up to 45 mg for past few days as my mood took a dive.
I have terrible memory, so I'm sorry if you've said this before, but have you tried going above 45mg?
I'm on 60mgs and I already tried every possible dose. You probably remember my trials with 90mg and 75mg. I settled on 60mgs, and while it's not (yet) achieving the miraculous emotional recovery I achieved on Celexa, I still can see a few positive things e.g. sleeping patterns improved 10fold, and slight improvement in depression so far, plus side-effects are basically gone.
From what I've read from other posters, the higher the dose, the better the results. Of course, that's as long as you can tolerate the dose. I tried going to the highest possible and everything indicated I was greatly overdosing, so I had to find the highest dose I could tolerate. Have you tried this?
>Also recently put on Synthroid for borderline hypothyroidism (TSH 3.43). I requested to see an endocrinologist to determine if there are other factors related to my poor depression response.
Hmmm.. sounds like a good idea. I might follow your steps on that one, since I've never had that test done. I had one "thyroid" test done at my regular doc office, but that was it. It tested "normal."
So is the synthroid doing anything for your depression yet? How long would it take for it to work? Does it also take a while to "kick in"? Good luck on that one. Hope it helps you with depression.
> So lots of changes but my mood has not been stable for a long time. Hopefully we will come up with a combo that can keep this depression under control.
Sorry to hear that. Have you tried any other augmenter? I believe I might have read of someone making a combo with Nardil + Lamictal. Ever heard of that?
I can't afford Lamictal, so that's not a choice for me now, and I doubt my doctor would do the combo, since he seems so resolute that "Nardil is the last med to try before ECT." But who knows if it might work.. have you ever considered that combo, or a similar one?
> I still want to take something for ADD symtoms but that has to wait until I'm stable on a combination, which has not been for over a year now. I'm not sure there is any ADD med that is compatible with Nardil.
What about Straterra? Or are you specifically looking for a stimulant? Have you tried Provigil? I tried Straterra and while it did nothing for me, it made me feel sick. But again, we're all different. Some people claim Provigil is great, so who knows?
> I continue to have side effects with Nardil of dizziness, GI issues, gas, constipation. At 30 mg the SE's were essentially gone which was great but not enough to control the mood lability.Oh gee. That sucks. The dizziness especially sucks. So it came back on 45mgs while it was gone on 30mg? I guess you'll have to re-adjust to a higher dose.
As for me, I'm extremely surprised that it suddenly disappeared on me. It was soooo bad when it first started. I'd get up in the middle of the night to the bathroom and I'd fall down and knock everything over. Then I'd try again, and again I'd fall!! Now I can get up without a problem.
Maybe you need to stay on a higher dose for longer so that your body will adjust to it and eventually lose the side-effects.
Oh well, I guess it pays to wait. I've waited almost 3 months and some good things have happened, so I'll wait longer to see if this ever works.
Great to hear from you, hang in there and keep us posted please!
GI78
Posted by stargazer2 on September 1, 2007, at 10:12:50
In reply to Re: Nardil side-effects vanished, Augmentation med » stargazer2, posted by Girlnterrupted78 on September 1, 2007, at 8:09:33
Girl,
Did you see that I'm also on Nortriptyline as an adjunctive medication? I'm not sure what med is doing what, since right my current meds are:
Nardil 45 mg
Synthroid 50 mcg
Nortriptyline 75 mgI too had good results with Celexa, but in combination with Wellbutrin and Adderall and the combo stopped working over a year ago. My plan if Nardil didn't work was to retry Celexa.
The SE's of nardil above 45 mg were quite severe although today my BP was very low (80/40) upon standing up. This happens to me several times a day. The constipation is probably one of the worst SE's for me. I have never experienced this before and it is quite debilitating.
It's hard to tell what med is doing what. Synthroid needs a few weeks with another blood test to tell what the level is at. The endo nurse (APRN) said the level should be closer to 1 or 2. I also had a blood level of Nortriptyline done yesterday since that is also dependant on a specific level in my blood. Not happy with having to blood tests to verify correct blood level.
All I know is that I still am not out of the woods yet. It is a real tough journey to find the right meds to work. And there's no guarantee the combination is actually the right one until I am put under the type of pressure that causes me to unravel, mainly work issues.
My Synthroid level was 3.4 before treatment and that falls within the normal level (0.4-4.5) but with my depression symptoms it was thought I would feel better at a lower level.
Cytomel is a different thyroid med that is often combined with AD's to augment their effectiveness but in previous attempts this did nothing for me. So being on Synthroid is the first time in years that my actual level is somewhat high but still within the normal range.
You and I seem to have had similar paths in depression although my treatment has been ongoing for about 20 years. I guess having it so long has caused more treatment resistance and frustration in treating it successfully.
Hopefully being on Synthroid and Nortriptyline will help with getting Nardil to work better.
SG
Posted by cumulative on September 1, 2007, at 19:49:56
In reply to Re: Nardil side-effects vanished,/GI, posted by stargazer2 on September 1, 2007, at 10:12:50
I think you should think about augmenting with nicotine.
ADD support + depression support + vasoconstriction to counter vasodilation
Some doctors will prescribe stimulants with MAOIs. Most are too scared. I think it's a good combo, done extremely carefully.
Posted by cee on September 2, 2007, at 10:33:39
In reply to Re: Nardil side-effects vanished.. when will kick, posted by F00TBALL on August 29, 2007, at 22:42:04
> What's your daily dose?
> I had to take 75 MG to get a benefit, and 90 MG to get full benefit.hello football
iam on 75mg a day with good results .
did you switch over to a lower maintenance dose yet.
cheers
cee
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