Posted by cp on April 24, 2007, at 15:36:04
In reply to Re: HELP WITH WITHDRAWAL FROM LONG TERM NARDIL, posted by Dr Undies on April 21, 2007, at 9:19:26
> > > HELP WITH WITHDRAWAL FROM LONG TERM NARDIL
> > > Posted by Dr Undies on March 1, 2007, at 1:45:01
> > >
> > > Hi... Does anybody have any experience withdrawing from long term Nardil use? I have been on 45 mg per day for just over 15 years. I've had several unsuccessful attempts to get off Nardil in this time. The withdrawal effects begin a few days following a dose reduction and can become quite severe.
> > > ...
> > > Andy
> > >
> > > Hi Andy,
> > > We are all different I guess. I just came off of 90mg of Nardil in a couple of weeks. Very few side effects other than REM rebound; all the dreamming is kind of neat after years without. I had some anxiety which I controlled with clonazepam. This is my fourth time off Nardil in the past 10 years. Each of the previous three times have resulted in a return of my atypical depression with social and generalized anxiety.
> > >
> > > I'm coming off Nardil to start another trial with Parnate. I tried it in 2001 and failed. But the massive weight gain from Nardil is affecting my health, and I have to try something else. I am prepared to increase my dose of Parnate until it does work. Augmentation with lithium or stimulants are other options.
> > > Good Luck,
> > > Jedi
> > >
> > Hi Andy,
> > After a rather severe depression about 20+ years ago I have been on Nardil at dosages from 75mg/day to the present 45mg/day. Initially, found side effects such as weight gain, diet, and sleep disturbance to be an annoyance. However, after 20+ years these side effects have all but sibsided. Two weeks ago, I began "gradually" tapering off from 60mg to 45mg/day. Initially, I thought that my system might be replenishing itself with those chemicals that the Nardil had provided. However, after exactly two weeks I have noticed a slight change in mood. For me, two weeks seems to be the time frame required for Nardil to "wash out" of my system. About a year ago I went "cold turkey" off of a combination of Nardil and Tegretol which eventually was disasterous. I am tapering off the Nardil in an attempt to try one of the newer anti-depressants with fewer side effects. For me anyway, discontinuing or attempting to discontinue Nardil has never been easy, and as Jedi commented, there is a return of depression and generalized anxiety. As well, there never seems to be a "right" time to attempt to come off the medication. *Andy, could you tell me what you've found to be some of the withdrawal effects from Nardil? Thank you
> > Good Luck............CP
>
> Hi CP
> Sorry to have taken so long to respond. I'm in a much better position to answer your question. A lot of things have happened regrading my Nardil withdrawal since posting this thread back in early March. I'm happy to report that I'm currently down from the 45 mg/day to a mere 15 mg/day & tomorrow will be dropping to 7.5 mg/day (0.5 tablet)
>
> I'll list the Withdrawal effects in order of unpleasantness: Depression; Headache; Nausea; Irritability & Dizziness. Perhaps the worst symptom though,was the inability to think or to engage in conversations. This was separate issue to the depression. All those symptoms have finally subsided, but it's taken over 2 months to get to this point.
>
> On a different tack though, I might add that the reason for wanting to stop taking Nardil this time was because of some distressing side-effects that had gradually gotten worse since 2003. Sleepiness during the day & sleep onset problems. Twitchy leg spasm mainly at night. Gastric pain on retiring that exacerbated the sleep onset problem. Increased sweating especially during any exertion.
>
> The original Park Davis version of Nardil was excellent. Most of the side-effects that I listed only became a problem when Pfizer took over the manufacture & changed the formulation in 2003. Since then, I noticed that the potency had decreased and I was reluctant to increase the dose as it still made some of the listed side-effects worse. I also became increasingly irritable and was having difficulty concentrating.
>
>
> Hope this helps you or anyone else out there who is currently using Nardil.
>
> Cheers
> Andy
>
Hi Andy,Happy to hear your progress with the reduction of Nardil! I am down to 30mg p/day for about one week now. Began tapering down from 75mg p/day several weeks ago, and as I said before it takes about two weeks for me to feel the full effect of dropping each pill (15mg). So we shall see!
Continued success! CP
poster:cp
thread:737266
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/wdrawl/20070419/msgs/753059.html