Posted by g_g_g_unit on August 26, 2012, at 5:46:12
In reply to Re: how long does MAOI withdrawal last?, posted by Resistant on August 25, 2012, at 17:11:53
> So you had no luck with Parnate either ? Well I'm at day 4 since I stopped Parnate completely. I did it pretty quick (almost cold turkey) and had leg sweats on the second night and a massive increase in dreams. I wasted 3 months on this stuff so I just want to be done with it ASAP. I feel it's all out of my system now and will start Pristiq tomorrow. The 2 week washout period is extreme and I have no intention waiting that long.
>
> Why have you chosen Memantine ? Did you think of trying Nardil ?
>It was helpful for depression and motivation, but caused anxiety, insomnia and agitation. I just kept raising my Klonopin dose to counteract the insomnia, but the toll it was taking on my system was too great. I just felt burned out from the lack of decent sleep.
I've chosen Memantine because I recall it having a positive, quick-acting effect on anxiety when I tried it 3 years ago. Since it's benign, and is showing some success is treatment-resistant cases, I see no harm in trying it. My OCD and anxiety are so crippling that I am borderline-agoraphobic, I can't hold down a job, move out of home, do much at all. Other than the obvious setbacks of depression and ADD (which prevent me from furthering my education or socializing), it's the OCD that's kept me trapped in my parents' house, unable to work, live an independent existence. But a lot of anti-anxiety regiments affect my cognition and 'joie de vivre' too greatly to go out and live a life.
Last night, I had a fight with my parents. I'd been trying to educate them on OCD, but my mom said she is sick of trying to understand me and rerouted every claim regarding my suffering back to her (how much SHE'S suffered watching me) or told me I'm wallowing, or compared me to others with more SERIOUS afflictions like cancer, etc. My dad just sat back idly and parroted her claims as usual. Maybe the Parnate withdrawal is amplifying everything, but it's just made me feel horrendous. I've sat in my room for the past 12 hours doing nothing but lying in bed and staring at the wall, wishing I was dead or free from them. I don't qualify for disability, my friends have said that they couldn't really let me stay longer than a day or two, and I'm too scared of the public hospital system.
If I can get my OCD even marginally under control, maybe I can get a part-time job and leave. Memantine seems like a non-invasive solution. I know it's a long shot and research is iffy, but the Yale psych who posts on the OCD yahoo support group(and who was involved in at least one of the case studies on pubmed) uses it regularly now with few/no side-effects.
If I spend another year in my parents' house, I know I'll be dead. That isn't some threat or cry for help. It's a reality, they (in addition to the OCD and everything else) have sapped my life of any worth or meaning, despite the ambition I once had.
If I go on Nardil, it will be months waiting for an effect, more effort trying to combat insomnia, etc. I tried it before for 3 months and stopped because it helped depression but did nothing for anxiety, and I couldn't sleep, nor am I able to tolerate most sleep aids (short-acting benzos, Seroquel [akathisia] etc.). I also don't think it will help my ADD at all (which I guess shouldn't be a priority right now) . I guess if Memantine fails or whatever, then I would try Nardil again in a hospital setting perhaps.
poster:g_g_g_unit
thread:1024171
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20120818/msgs/1024233.html