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Nardil or ECT?

Posted by Marginal on October 8, 2002, at 17:59:26

There seem to be enough people on this board that someone may have faced a similar situation to mine: I’m at a relatively desperate point of choosing between Nardil or ECT for major depression. Anyone made a similar choice?

I’ve never been good at handling this disability. When I’m OK, I work like a rabbit, making up for all the lost time in the past and all that will inevitably be lost in the future when things go south again. Problem is, I’ve currently been parked in the ‘south’ position for more than 6 months – the longest for me in many years. I could probably benefit from a hospital stay at this point, and it has been suggested. But I’ve always thought that hospitalization should wait until absolute suicidal tendencies kick in. Although there’s plenty of ideation (nothing different than what I’ve had for years), I’m not at risk of offing myself. So hospitalization, by this flawed reasoning, is out. That leaves the Nardil or ECT choice...the last straw. I’m hard pressed these days to function or focus, so decisions are tough.

Over the years, I have tried many meds. A few drugs worked very slightly at massive doses. But Nardil was the most successful: it worked beautifully about 7 years ago, at 90mg plus. But because of its NASTY side effects, I went off it. I’ve been terrified of the side effects of drugs ever since (huge weight gain, even with massively restricted diet; and sex problems, that depressants are usually already grappling with anyway). I’ve tried other drugs, many causing the same side effects, but none producing anything resembling Nardil’s great anti-depressant effects. (I read here about people staying on it for decades, and I envy their guts. Maybe I could have done that, and had more of a life to show for it, obesity be damned.)

Now, things have gotten so bad, it’s a toss up between Nardil and something I’ve avoided confronting for a long time, ECT. My current Doctor basically said it’s my choice. I get the feeling if I choose ECT, I’m on my own as this Doctor is not affiliated with a hospital that provides outpatient ECT. (Another post, someday if days ever get brighter, I’ll talk about Doctor problems: inability to get one on the phone unless you’re threatening self-destruction, a feeling that the Doc is giving up on us ‘treatment-resistant’ patients, waiting 2 weeks to get in to see one, when getting through an hour or two can be tough enough...etc. ).

Another round of different drug trials is out of the question...I don’t have the patience anymore for trial and error.

Any similar stories will help at this point. If it’s Nardil, I’d have to wait a week before trying anyway, since I just last week went off yet another unsuccessful round of huge Effexor doses.



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Psycho-Babble Medication | Framed

poster:Marginal thread:122800
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20021006/msgs/122800.html