Posted by cephalopod on July 17, 2001, at 19:13:51
It's time I tried a new drug, and those few doctors that are "preferred" for my company mental health plan are either not currently taking patients, are too far away, or I've seen them and they're terrible.
I was wondering if anyone on here could recommend someone in the south bay (I work in Cupertino). I would very much appreciate it because I don't know where to go to find a doctor who knows their drugs.
I have (and always have had) monopolar depression. I've tried at least a dozen things, including prozac, effexor, desiprimine, serzone, celexa, wellbutrin, zoloft, st. john's wort, SAMe, megadoses of phenylalanine + B vitamins, EFA supplements... Maybe that's not quite a dozen; maybe I forgot some. None of these things have worked for me.
Anyhow, I was thinking the next thing to try might be either selegiline or mirtazapine. People here seem to have really good things to say about selegiline, though I am still quite nervous about food interactions. I have also read conflicting things about whether a low dose or a higher (MAO-A?) dose will help depression.
Will a low dose give you benefit witout the possible food interactions? And are the interactions _less_ than with other MAOIs, or are they pretty much the same once you get up to the non-selective dosage?
Perhaps someone here could tell me how paranoid you have to be when eating on an MAOI. I am vegan, so no cheese or meat problems, but I eat lots of tofu, lots of thai and other food which, for all I know, may or may not contain fermented things which would have tyramine. I also drink import beer from the tap. I used to know someone who was taking an MAOI and she said that food interactions were really not anything you had to worry about, especially with my being vegan, but I just thought I'd ask some of you all about the subject...
thank you!
-dan
poster:cephalopod
thread:70541
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20010714/msgs/70541.html