Shown: posts 1 to 4 of 4. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by Alpam on September 19, 2011, at 4:31:37
I have been on Parnate for around 7 weeks now and am not really feeling anything (including side effects). I was on 20mg for 3 weeks, now 30mg for 4. I saw my doc a week ago who said that if a 50% increase didn't do anything then there is not much point going higher.
I am very tolerant when it comes to medication, I don't seem to get side effects (Chlorpromazine was like a sugar pill to me, Oxycodone doesn't get me high and came off 200mg Pristiq virtually cold turkey with no problems) so I want to try a higher dose just in case it will work. MY Pdoc had made mention that he has had a client on 80mg.
Is it worthwhile fighting him for a higher dose or should I give up like I always do and try something else. I had my heart set on Parnate, I was hoping it would be my miricle drug.
Also before I started on Parnate I was on Dexamphetamine, my doc said that I had to stop it when we started Parnate but I could go back on it, now he is dead against it, saying the risks of stroke are too high. This sucks because the Dex was one of the only drugs that really helped me. I feel like I have tried everything and nothing works, like I am unmedicable.
Posted by SLS on September 19, 2011, at 6:09:38
In reply to How long to give Parnate?, posted by Alpam on September 19, 2011, at 4:31:37
Effective dosage range for Parnate: 40mg-80mg
For most people, 40mg is the minimum dosage required to produce a stable antidepressant response. 80mg is about as high as one would want to go. Some doctors who have followed the historic use of Parnate will see that dosages in excess of 100mg will pull some people out of a treatment resistant depression. This "supratherapeutic" dosing strategy has been studied quite a bit by Jay Amsterdam, MD. Parnate has a very short half-life (1 - 4 hours). People who are rapid acetylators might need higher dosages to offset their higher rate of clearance of the drug. I have been on 140mg of Parnate, and found the drug to be very tolerable. I didn't respond well enough to this high-dose strategy to justify continuing it.
I would advise giving each dosage increase a minimum of 3 weeks to work before making a treatment adjustment.
I am currently taking:nortriptyline 150mg
Lamictal 200mg
Abilify 10mg
lithium 300mg* Viibryd will be added to this regime in one week.
My illness runs along the bipolar spectrum, but does not fit easily into BP I or BP II.
- Scott
Posted by jono_in_adelaide on September 19, 2011, at 17:22:29
In reply to Re: How long to give Parnate? » Alpam, posted by SLS on September 19, 2011, at 6:09:38
I'd definatly try a higher dose for 4 weeks before giving up, say 60-80mg per day.
You can also use nortriptyline to augment tanylcypromine, at a dose of say 75mg per day
Posted by emmanuel98 on September 19, 2011, at 20:57:24
In reply to Re: How long to give Parnate? » Alpam, posted by SLS on September 19, 2011, at 6:09:38
My doc won't go over 40mg. He says this is the most he has ever prescribed and is not comfortable prescribing more. But I found that when I went from 30 (my current dose) to 40, it had no effect on me, so I'm happy staying with 30. I still have periods of severe sadness and depression, but I no longer sleep for days on end and am getting better at letting these periods wash over me and proactively doing things to make me feel better. I work with a DBT therapist and that has helped me a lot.
This is the end of the thread.
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