Posted by Phoenix1 on January 3, 2008, at 20:07:50
Hello Everyone,
I thought I'd give you an update on my Nardil progress. I'm on day 9, and up to a dose of 45 mg. No side effects other than a little physical anxiety, insomnia, and various gastrointestinal issues. And I'm starting to gain weight already - craving carbs...
But the big news is that I'm feeling great! I can see why so many people rave about this med. I'm cautiously optimistic, because I know it's very early in the game, but I think I'm having a positive response to this med. I am still feeling depressed, tired and irritable in the evening, but during the day, my spirit, energy, and motivation are showing signs of coming back. My family notices a change too. So I have high hopes. The plan is to add 15mg/day each week until I get to 90mg (1mg/kg) if I can tolerate it. I don't know what the maintenance phase will be or how long it will last. Any suggestions?
The plan is also to taper me off clonazepam (1.5mg/day) and seroquel (25-75mg at night) once I reach my maintenance dose, and just let me take Zopiclone as needed for sleep.
Anyways, it took me many many months of begging and pleading to find a pdoc who was open-minded enough to let me try it. It was SO worth the fight I think. He recommended against it, preferring a high-dose plasma-monitored course of a tricyclic. But he left the final decision up to me. He's young (in his 40's) and hasn't had experience w/ MAOI's since his residency, but agreed that I was a good candidate. He consulted with some older, MAOI experienced colleagues who agreed, and then wrote me a script.
I'm so surprised. I've NEVER responded to any AD like this, or this quickly. It feels SO different from my very many experience with SSRI's, Tricyclics, and a plethora of other AD's. (I think I counted 9 or 10 last time)
I read that early improvement on an AD is a good prognostic sign, and a sign that this may be the right med for me. I know there are lots of things that could still happen to spoil the fun such as bad side effects requiring discontinuation, poop-out, or only a partial response.
Anyways, I just felt like posting an update. In some ways, I feel guilty for feeling better, because I know how many of you are struggling to find something that works. But hopefully, this can serve as an example that there is something out there for TX resistant depression, it just takes a long while to find the right drug/combo sometimes.
Wow this was long! Am I maybe a bit hypomanic? Don't think so. I'll post another update in a week or so unless I hear objections from anyone.
Phoenix1 - Cautiously optimistic.
poster:Phoenix1
thread:804083
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20071225/msgs/804083.html