Posted by jsarirose on September 11, 2002, at 1:10:58
In reply to Augmenting Parnate, posted by Rob829 on September 10, 2002, at 15:07:12
> Hi, I have diagnosed with dysthymia that has lasted at least two years. I currently take 50 mg of Parnate. Sometimes I feel great, but a lot of the time I am still depressed. My doctor suggested going up to 60 mg, but this medicine lowers my blood pressure so much, I don't know if I could handle that. I am wondering if anyone has success stories about augmenting Parnate with lithium, thyroid hormone, or anything else, or any ideas on what else I should do. The Parnate is sedating for me, and I don't really want to switch medicines, since this is partially effective, and that is better than nothing. Thanks for any responses.
A tip for increasing your Parnate dose is to spread it out more if possible. When I starting increasing past 60mg I would get dizzy. I started splitting the dose into three, three hours apart, and it was just fine. I took 30mg when I woke up, 40mg three hours later, and 30mg three hours after that. I didn't take it too close to bed as it made it difficult to sleep.
As for augmenting, lithium is definintely a popular one. You may want to start with that. Then I tried Lamictal. I'm currently using Parnate and Lamictal (although I'm having insurance problems, but that's another story). Some other possibilities are anti-psychotics like Risperdal or Zyprexa. I couldn't handle them, but others seem to have success. From my research those seem to be the most common, but there are many other options as well.
Good luck,
Jessica
poster:jsarirose
thread:119481
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020906/msgs/119523.html