Posted by jd on February 11, 2000, at 16:04:55
In reply to Stephan: Your story could be mine!, posted by Peter on February 11, 2000, at 15:14:20
Stephen,
Nardil does sound like a good bet, even if
you've tried Parnate already. But it
strikes me that, with a few exceptions such
as lithium and ritalin, most everything
you've tried is either
a serotonergic or noradrenergic (or combined
5HT/NE) med. If you were hesitant to try
Nardil right away, have you tried low-dose
selegiline, or newer mood stabilizers like
Neurontin or Lamictal?
best,
jd
> Stephan:
>
> It seems that I have gone through a very similar experience to yours. I have tried all the SSRIs (except for Luvox), remeron, effexor, Lithium, stimulants, clomiprimine, nortrypt, and Parnate. As you described, I also had success with some drugs (Prozac- pooped out after 2 years, remeron and zoloft very briefly). These glimmers of a non-depressed reality are what have kept me going. I went to see a bigwig researcher who recommended Nardil and said I might try Neurontin and Lamictal. Tried both of these and was not impressed. So now I'm up against the great last resort of Nardil, the idea of which does not appeal, but I'm desperate! BTW I've also had years of therapy. I wish you the best of luck and keep us posted on your Nardil experience. Peter
>
> ps. If you want to read a thought provoking book that is a good analysis of our lack of knowledge about the cause of mental illness as well as a critique of the pharmaceutical industry, take a look at "Blaming the Brain" (I forgot the author, but it is available on Amazon)
>
>
> > My levels of nortriptyline were within the therapeutic range. Apparently I'm a rapid metabolizer. OK, here's a (more or less) complete rundown of the things I've tried over the past five years: every post-tricyclic available in the U.S (almost all at or exceeding the max doses for at least six weeks ... plus ad nauseum combos of them with Wellbutrin), lithium 600mg + serzone (did absolutely nothing), a brief trial of low dose Ritalin + Serzone (this deepened my depression), thyroid hormone, desipramine, nortriptyline, clomipramine and Parnate. The reason I keep trying is that a few of these things produced profound improvement (for a while at least). Luvox (probably my best response, stopped it after four months due to extreme drowsiness-a later attempt did nothing.) desipramine 300mg (response not as robust, but kept me functional for at about 8-10 months, nortriptyline (good four month response, then sudden poop-out.) The parnate (went up to 60mg) did give me a transient partial response, this and the fact that my depression is "atypical" lead me (and my doctor) to the conclusion that Nardil might be one of my last best chances. Besides the depression I have no other health problems. My experiences lead me to one conclusion: while we have some clues, our knowledge of the brain is crude and shamefully lacking.
poster:jd
thread:20916
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20000209/msgs/21173.html