Posted by Chairman_MAO on February 7, 2007, at 14:56:04
In reply to Re: PARNATE..long term treatment?, posted by willyee on February 7, 2007, at 14:19:41
Yeah, glad to see you're around, too. For me, Parnate wasn't nearly effective enough for my anxiety. For quite a while it felt really good, though, but as you have noticed the tolerance to the psychostimulant effect inevitably fades. I went all the way up to 200mg/day, and while that was a lot better than 60 (120 mg/day was about the minimum effective long-term dose for me), it still was nothing like the first month or two on it at 60mg/day. My libido was so strong it was impractical. It was, however, the first antidepressant to give me a taste of what actual relief from depression was like, and I'm glad I tried it first because Nardil has more side effects to deal with.
The only long-term side effect I've gotten from Nardil is weight gain: I went from 180lbs--where I was most of my life--to 245lbs, and then lost I think 5-10 of it. I honestly don't care that much, though, as being slim isn't too much fun if you can't stand to leave your room. I do miss wearing leather pants, but enjoy being able to walk around without looking at the ground the whole time more.
If at all possible, I'd recommend that if you need to drop Parnate for any reason, you try Nardil with d-amphetamine (good luck finding a doctor who does this, though). I got really lucky and found this Columbian guy (I find a lot of the time foreign psychiatrists seem to be a lot more "with it") with 35 years of experience who works for the local state medical school (so they have charity care/take medicaid) and who only takes on "treatment-resistant" cases. He actually told me that he feels he has a moral obligation to treat people like me, because nobody else gives them what they need. I am scared of what will happen when he retires, and hope that he remains in good health for at least another 20 years. :)
I had to start at 5mg/day d-amphetamine and go up by like 5-10mg every month or two, which was frustrating, but I could respect the fact that he didn't want to lose his license, given that everyone says this combination is supposed to kill me. He actually got a letter from the state medical board asking him to justify what he was doing, which he says happens all the time because he often ends up using doses of things well beyond what is recommended. I was his first MAOI+stimulant patient in all 35 years, though, which is really saying something. I think there must be under 1000 people in the US on this combination, which is very unfortunate.
poster:Chairman_MAO
thread:730478
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20070207/msgs/730844.html