Posted by shelliR on October 10, 2001, at 16:21:02
In reply to Re: hanging in there » shelliR, posted by Elizabeth on October 10, 2001, at 13:17:48
> > I guess I keep asking because in posts you say quite often that you'd rather find a substitute with less side effects. Itching is pretty bad, nothing to control that?
> Like I said, they can all be controlled. I use ChlorTrimeton for itching (the non-drowsy antihistamines don't seem to work very well).
> > And constipation, I think, has to be managed with so many medications.
> Not really; I think fiber supplementation is the most effective way to deal with it.I think you misunderstood my statement. I meant that constipation is a problem with many medications ("has to be managed with so many medications.") Not that constipation itself requires many meds to deal with it.
>
> > > It might interest you to know that generic MS Contin (slow-release morphine) is available.
> > I didn't know that. My pharmacy is supposed to automatically substitute generics, and it always has before. Is the generic a new thing?
>
> It's not the same drug; it's morphine, not oxycodone. They don't substitute different drugs or different formulations -- for example, if you had a prescription for Celexa, the pharmacist wouldn't give you generic fluoxetine, but if there were generic citalopram they would give you that (unless your doctor wrote "do not substitute" or "dispense as written" on the prescription).Elizabeth you must think I have a bird brain. I misread your statement. I thought that you were saying they are the same drug; of course I know that pharmacists can't substitute difference meds. ;-). Though at some point I might bring up the issue of morphine; right now I think he wants to see what happens if the nardil is increased.
>
> > I was on 30mg, then I started 45mg. I am fine, except for the sleep problems which are serious and constipation (already compounded by oxycontin)
> MAOIs do cause quite a bit of sleep disruption. I thought Ambien was pretty effective.I'm pretty sure I tried that in the past. I need to get my old records from my pdoc of 10 years--just keep forgetting to call before 4--her office closes early. I need to go through exactly what I tried in those ten years. Her nurse practioner gave me a list of meds, doses, why I stopped, but I can't put my hands on it. And I'd like to have all the notes; I'm willing to pay for the copying.
>
> > Also I could not adjust to changes in light on 45 mgs after several months, so I'll have to see how that goes. It was pretty dangerous--I was "whiting out"--couldn't see anything until I got into a building (from a bus to outside, or from my car to outside.)
> That's odd. I wonder what could be causing that.I haven't a clue. But I do know that if it happens on 60mg, we'll have to figure out why. I had been on 45 mg for about a year when it started happening. Then I went down on nardil to 30mg with 45mg premenstrually, and it never happened again.
>> Buprenorphine doesn't have much noticeable effect anymore except dry mouth (it used to make me very dizzy and wired), but it still makes me feel "normal" as it did when I first took it.
I guess I get confused as to why you want to replace it. I thought I had read that several times in your posts that the despramine and buprehorphine was working, but that you'd rather find a replacement for the bupe?
>
> > I hope the 60mg of nardil makes a difference. I want there to be something backing up the oxy--not relying on that for the whole job, especially in light of the fact that I keep developing tolerances.
> You might want to ask your doctor to justify the continued dose increases. If I were in your situation, I'd be concerned about what might happen if the doctor prescribing the oxycodone became unavailable (like if something happened to him or if he were called out of town) -- getting another doctor to prescribe it would be hard. Another issue is that if you ever get hurt and needed analgesics, you'll have a major tolerance and you'll need much more than an opioid-naive person would. Just some things to think about -- once you start taking high doses of opioids on a daily basis, stopping can be pretty hard.
>I have been dealing with all those concerns. The increased doses are pretty much to keep me alive until something else takes some of the workload. That's why I am I am going up on the nardil, basically doubling it from a week ago. Also, he's in practise with another doctor and he's on the staff of a private psychiatric hospital, so I'm not worried about getting another pdoc to prescribe it, certainly at least until I detoxed. He has also given me on his prescription pad a list of all my meds, so if I had to be hospitalized in an emergency, I have the doses of all meds with his license number.)
> > Tried tricyclics years ago and couldn't tolerate several; don't remember which ones.
>
> Do you remember if desipramine was among them? I ask because it's been almost entirely free of side effects for me, even when my serum level was extremely high (around 500-600 ng/mL). (And I didn't tolerate other tricyclics, either.)Is desipramine the generic or brand name? I don't recall much about the tricylics. It was many years ago. Did the other tricyclics make you disoriented? That was the effect on me--total disorientaton.
>
> > Done both lithium and most anticonvulsives, as well as BuSpar with no success.
>
> Have you tried them with Nardil?
yes. All my augmentations were with nardil. It's really the only AD I've ever been on, except for other trials.> > If I can control water weight I might try lamictal again because it was the only one I was successful one.
> It has a good reputation. Did you think about trying a diuretic for the edema?I did try furosemide (80mg), but I'm not sure that I actually followed through and took it for more than several days. And in several days it had little effect. It must not be that strong because even premenstrually, it works, but minimally. I still have minor pain and swelling in my breasts.
>> > > Which AD pooped out?
> > Nardil. But he was talking about the success of adding stimulents to any pooped out AD in general.
>
> Hmm. Well, I don't know what to suggest for Nardil poop-out -- obviously I wasn't very successful with it.Well, thanks anyway, I think I've pretty much tried everything, except concerta, which is a likely possibility. Oh, and
I did have pindolol on my list, but from everything I've read, it acts more to help ADs kick in faster than it does for
poopout.
>
Shelli
poster:shelliR
thread:67742
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20011007/msgs/80898.html