Posted by KaraS on July 10, 2004, at 16:55:21
In reply to Re: tachycardia vs. bradycardia » KaraS, posted by SLS on July 10, 2004, at 12:55:17
> Hi Kara.
>
> > I am considering taking Parnate down the road (if what I'm trying now doesn't work out). I also got tachycardia from desipramine and nortryptiline.
>
> What exactly were your reasons for discontinuing the tricyclics? Perhaps you didn't need to. I don't think what you consider to be "tachycardia" should be of much concern, especially if accepting it as a side-effect yields a huge pay-off.Those were the two reasons - the 100 bpm heart rate and the insomnia. I can't remember what dosage of nortriptyline I was on but I don't think I was anywhere near a therapeutic dosage yet either when I got that much tachycardia.
(More on that below)>
> A number of years ago, I began taking a combination of Parnate 60mg + desipramine 150mg.
>
> 1. My resting HR went from 54 to 110-120 at first. This didn't affect any aspect of my life. I continued to perform my day to day activities as usual, including athletic training (weight-lifting). Over the course of several months, my resting HR gradually came down and settled to about 80-90.You didn't feel uncomfortable with your heart beating that quickly? I was always aware of it because it felt so strange. Plus I was scared that maybe we have only so many heart beats in the old ticker and that I was too quickly using them up. I'm particularly sensitive to heart issues because my father died of a heart attack at age 45 (and that wasn't his first attack).
>
> 2. I experienced total insomnia for nearly two weeks before intervening aggressively with a combination of Halcion 1.0mg + Ativan 4.0mg. I slept great afterwards, sleeping between 11:00pm - 6:30am and experiencing brief awakenings at 2:00am and 5:00am.At the time I started the nortriptyline I had recently become addicted to Ativan and managed to get off of it so I was very reticent to take a benzo for sleep. I tried adding a little doxepin and got a very strange reaction - my heart felt like it was going to beat right out of my body all of a sudden about an hour after taking it. That scared the hell out of me. Trazadone made me so nauseous. (Back then there was no Ambien around either nor did I know anything about tryptophan or Valerian.) I think that were it to happen now, I'd know of other options to add for sleep.
>
> I don't know how severe your condition is, but I guess the seriousness of a particular side-effect is a matter of perspective.
>
I find it encouraging that your bpm did eventually drop. Did anyone ever suggest a beta blocker for you? I had asked my pdoc at the time but she nixed that idea. I guess that can produce depression as well so probably wasn't a good idea anyway.It might be worth it for me to revisit that drug. I didn't get to a high enough dosage to know if it would help depression much for me but I sure did love that energy! I could always combine it with something else for depression. Also, I'm beginning to think that if I do find something(s) that will help with the energy, that they will have a strong noradrenergic effect and therefore I will always have the tachycardia issue.
Take care,
Kara
> Best wishes.
>
>
> - Scott
>
poster:KaraS
thread:13117
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040710/msgs/364799.html