Posted by King Vultan on September 13, 2004, at 18:41:04
In reply to Social Anxiety or BiPolar?, posted by becksA on September 13, 2004, at 15:56:48
I have social phobia and have had good luck with both of the MAOIs, but it looks like Parnate is probably going to wind up working better in my particular case. However, I think my problem is a little atypical, as it also has some panic attack elements (particularly, runaway sweating). SSRIs had some effect but didn't really address the fundamental problem, and I didn't make real progress until I went over to drugs that work strongly on norepinephrine, such as some of the tricyclics.
As for the MAOIs, Nardil is more anxiolytic than Parnate, as it is very serotonergic and also works on GABA. Parnate is more dopaminergic, and in my particular case, seems to give me extra assertiveness and self confidence, or at least more than Nardil did. However, my general anxiety levels are relatively low for someone who also suffers from depression, but that's not to say that they aren't even lower on either of these two drugs. I don't have any experience with mood stabilizers and so lack that perspective, and I have only taken benzos for sleep.
Todd
poster:King Vultan
thread:390383
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040909/msgs/390431.html