Posted by King Vultan on January 18, 2005, at 8:09:06
In reply to Nardil Side Effects and Weight Gain, posted by Euvega on January 17, 2005, at 22:58:38
> I have been taking Nardil for eight years. I take 60 to 75 mg a day. I have gained over 70 pounds since I started, I use to be skinny, now I weigh 250 pounds. It also gives me insomnia, I have to take Ambien 5mg, and Zyprexa 5mg to get to sleep at night. Has anyone else had these experiences?
I was on Nardil from about March to August last year at dosages up to 105 mg/day; although, I think 75 to 90 mg/day was probably the ideal range for me. I did gain weight, but some of that was because I was overly skinny to begin with, having just come off desipramine, which acts as a powerful appetite suppressant for me.
There seem to be two main factors affecting weight gain on these drugs. One is metabolism, and one is appetite. My impression was that Nardil did not greatly increase my appetite, but I believe it did slow down my metabolism, and it seemed fairly easy to gain weight on it. I was running over 20 miles a week and holding my own, but the weight issue is an important one for me, and this is one of the reasons I decided to go on to Parnate.
Parnate seems to have increased my appetite at 60 mg/day; however, I do not believe it has slowed down my metabolism, and it may have actually increased it slightly for all I know. Another thing is that I am just naturally more active on Parnate, and it has helped give me the drive to lift weights more often, which increases muscle and will cause a person to burn more calories even at rest. I don't know how much weight I would have put on Nardil had I remained on it for years, but my guess is that it would have been more than most of the drugs I've tried.
Keep in mind that the Zyprexa is not doing you any good in the weight department, either. It has a very strong histamine H1 blockade, which tends to increase appetite and slow down metabolism. Seroquel may be a better choice among the atypical APs for sleep because it has a much shorter half life than does Zyprexa, but I do not have any personal experience with these two drugs. I had bad insomnia on Nardil, and it is even worse on Parnate. My current sleep combo is 5 mg Ambien + 25 mg Benadryl one night, alternating with 0.25 mg Halcion/triazolam by itself the next. I am also taking 0.375 mg Risperdal at bedtime, soon to go up to 0.5 mg, but I have found this to have few benefits so far sleepwise, other than that I am definitely dreaming more.
Todd
poster:King Vultan
thread:443548
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20050113/msgs/443644.html