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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 7 of 7. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by lillabella on May 23, 2013, at 18:14:40
Hello,
I am one of the treatment resistant gang which is why I still post on this board. I take it, the people who have found relief from meds no longer need to use this excellent site as they are busy living their lives. How I envy them!I suffer from ADD and bi-polar depression with serious chronic depressive disorder. I have tried every med out there usually with diastrous results or with feeble ones that don't help at all.
The only class of meds that work for me are the MAOI's: most notably: Parnate. But, Parnate stopped working after a very bad doctor made me trial some heavy mood stabilizers that caused major panic attack and what I'm sure is some changes to my neurochemistry because the parnate, when resumed stopped working, full stop!
First Question: Once a med stops working is there anyway on God's earth to augment, kick start, or somehow force it into working once again, or is it game over???
Second Question: ADD meds don't really work for me. I get the 'zombie' effect which I have read from a rare few who get the same. That is I have no energy, motivation or desire to do anything that doesn't involve sitting or lying down. I can however, speed read very heavy non-fiction and my bedroom is littered with hardcovers that I practically inhaled. Nonetheless, Vyvanse, which I currently take at 60mg has something to it, because when I stop the med I fall ocompletely into the black hole of depression. That means bed ridden and not really wanting to carry on. I'm afraid that I may be addicted to it for this reason. Has anyone else experienced this negative effect from a stimulant? (I've tried them all with the same effect.)
Third Question: I have taken nardil in the past with good results except for 1)huge unnatural weight gain/with major edema and swollen stomach making me appear very pregnant and 2) nardil caused extreme bouts of drowsiness and sometimes outright blackouts..................so I thought that by combining a low amount of vyvanse, (for weight control and wakefullness) with a low amount of nardil (for mood uplift and motivation,) I might have a shot at a decent recovery. Has anyone tried a stimulant with an MAOI with success?
Lastly I know my doctor will not prescribe this combo for me but is there any doctor who would and how would I find them???
Desperate as always.........lillabella
Posted by Englishman006! on May 31, 2013, at 11:53:09
In reply to Can you combine a stimulant with an MAOI??, posted by lillabella on May 23, 2013, at 18:14:40
> Hello,
> I am one of the treatment resistant gang which is why I still post on this board. I take it, the people who have found relief from meds no longer need to use this excellent site as they are busy living their lives. How I envy them!
>
> I suffer from ADD and bi-polar depression with serious chronic depressive disorder. I have tried every med out there usually with diastrous results or with feeble ones that don't help at all.
>
> The only class of meds that work for me are the MAOI's: most notably: Parnate. But, Parnate stopped working after a very bad doctor made me trial some heavy mood stabilizers that caused major panic attack and what I'm sure is some changes to my neurochemistry because the parnate, when resumed stopped working, full stop!
>
> First Question: Once a med stops working is there anyway on God's earth to augment, kick start, or somehow force it into working once again, or is it game over???
>
> Second Question: ADD meds don't really work for me. I get the 'zombie' effect which I have read from a rare few who get the same. That is I have no energy, motivation or desire to do anything that doesn't involve sitting or lying down. I can however, speed read very heavy non-fiction and my bedroom is littered with hardcovers that I practically inhaled. Nonetheless, Vyvanse, which I currently take at 60mg has something to it, because when I stop the med I fall ocompletely into the black hole of depression. That means bed ridden and not really wanting to carry on. I'm afraid that I may be addicted to it for this reason. Has anyone else experienced this negative effect from a stimulant? (I've tried them all with the same effect.)
>
> Third Question: I have taken nardil in the past with good results except for 1)huge unnatural weight gain/with major edema and swollen stomach making me appear very pregnant and 2) nardil caused extreme bouts of drowsiness and sometimes outright blackouts..................so I thought that by combining a low amount of vyvanse, (for weight control and wakefullness) with a low amount of nardil (for mood uplift and motivation,) I might have a shot at a decent recovery. Has anyone tried a stimulant with an MAOI with success?
>
> Lastly I know my doctor will not prescribe this combo for me but is there any doctor who would and how would I find them???
>
> Desperate as always.........lillabella
>
>Most Docs avoid the combination but I have read that it can be safe. The author of "Tuning the Brain" Dr Jay A Goldstein has successfully combined the two often.
Posted by stargazer2 on June 7, 2013, at 11:39:16
In reply to Re: Can you combine a stimulant with an MAOI?? » lillabella, posted by Englishman006! on May 31, 2013, at 11:53:09
I've been on an amphetamine salt and a MAO with extreme caution. The higherst dose I tried was 10 but had a hypertensive reaction. 7.5 or 5 was OK.
Also was on Adderal (generic) with MAO and only took 10 mg, so major reason to not administer the 2 together is that you do not know the trigger dose for a BP crisis.Stargazer
Posted by lillabella on June 8, 2013, at 8:39:44
In reply to Re: Can you combine a stimulant with an MAOI??, posted by stargazer2 on June 7, 2013, at 11:39:16
Thanks Star, I don't think I'll combine the two afterall. Being so treatment resistant my only option left is to go back to nardil which works like a charm but makes me fat and bloated. Think I'll go with a super low dose in the range of 30mg as it's very powerful stuff, at least for me, and pray that side effects don't rear their ugly head. Fingers crossed..........lila
Posted by Beckett on June 8, 2013, at 12:32:24
In reply to Re: Can you combine a stimulant with an MAOI??, posted by lillabella on June 8, 2013, at 8:39:44
Lilla, may I ask you about parnate? When it worked for you, did it have a positive effect on your ADD?
Any chance it might work again for you?
Best of luck to you.
Posted by lillabella on June 9, 2013, at 6:46:56
In reply to Re: Can you combine a stimulant with an MAOI??, posted by Beckett on June 8, 2013, at 12:32:24
Parnate was a wonder drug for me. No wait time. Worked from the get go. Very energizing and uplifting. As for ADD not sure it is the best but does help with focus for sure. But can't really say. Anyway side effects are few except for occasional mid-day sleepiness. However I never had problems sleeping at night or get up in the morning. I would certainly be on it if it didn't stop working. So sad. I believe it's worth a try but everyone is different as we all too well know. Also parnate, I found, to be weight neutral which is a huge factor in my opinion. Do stims work for you?? If you have ADD they are said to be the gold standard. Let me know how things work out and wishing you all the very best..........lila
Posted by Mental_Peroxide on June 9, 2013, at 14:33:59
In reply to Re: Can you combine a stimulant with an MAOI??, posted by lillabella on June 9, 2013, at 6:46:56
> Parnate was a wonder drug for me. No wait time. Worked from the get go. Very energizing and uplifting. As for ADD not sure it is the best but does help with focus for sure. But can't really say. Anyway side effects are few except for occasional mid-day sleepiness. However I never had problems sleeping at night or get up in the morning. I would certainly be on it if it didn't stop working. So sad. I believe it's worth a try but everyone is different as we all too well know. Also parnate, I found, to be weight neutral which is a huge factor in my opinion. Do stims work for you?? If you have ADD they are said to be the gold standard. Let me know how things work out and wishing you all the very best..........lila
Greetings. This is my first post here so forgive (and correct) me if I do anything that is not PC.
I, too am extremely treatment resistant with Parnate being the only med that works for me. Unfortunately, it is NOT weight neutral in my case and I have the water retention and bulging stomach that Lila spoke of. I tried to get off Parnate to try Wellbutrin and couldn't make it through the two-week dry out period that is required. I thought the Parnate had stopped working for me, but after I weaned off it (for only 5 days) and started again, it was evident that it was still working well. Perhaps a short MAOI drug holiday is what you need?
As for adding a Stim, I also have ADHD and was on Parnate with Adderall, which worked great and got rid of those afternoon pitfalls until I started abusing the Adderall on weekends to stay up all night. I now have someone else in charge of my meds and I receive just what I need so if I abuse anything I am OOL on the days I took the extra medication from. This seems to work well for me as I am prone to abuse my meds if they are opiates or stimulants. When I suggested trying this combo again, my doctor said he would look into this combination, which means I have an iceburgs chance in hell of getting it. Good luck to the rest of you with this matter. -MP
This is the end of the thread.
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