Posted by Brody on September 3, 2007, at 9:05:25
In reply to Re: early morning brain chemistry elanor roosevelt » Brody, posted by Girlnterrupted78 on September 3, 2007, at 1:56:11
> Hi Janet,
>
> What MAOI are you taking? That's amazing that it fully cured your morning pain.Hi, I use the EMSAM patch. I was up to the 12mg patch and overall mood improvement was great, except for the inconvenience of falling on my head from time to time due to orthostatic hypotension.... my husband found that to be annoying! Am back down to 9mg patch, and staying upright!
P-doc added 100mg Provigil to increase focus/concentration/motivation, but the way I gauge my level of depression is by those dreadful mornings, and you are right, it has been amazing.
> I'm also on an MAOI (Nardil), and it has accomplished something miraculous as well. It's allowed me to wake up automatically at 6-7am every morning. I don't think I've ever been able to do that before entirely on my own (w/o alarm) and with such ease. >That's tremendous!
> But I will be working slowly on changing my habits. I'll go with baby steps till I can do it without effort or depression. >
Baby steps are steps, too! Sounds like maybe you need time to gain some confidence in the strength of the remission you have experienced so far. I am grateful for every day that I feel better, and I try to stay positive that it will last.
> As for the topic of MAOIs suppressing REM, it kind of scares me to think about it. The actual day I read that post, I began to wonder and get nervous. What if something really bad comes out the suppression of a natural, psychological process such as dreaming? What if dreaming is essential to our mental well-being and it ends up having atrocious effects.. I started thinking it could have some horrible results.. >
Yes... Those ideas occurred to me as well. But when you find yourself plotting a way to avoid EVER having to experience the painful "wake-up" depression again, you sort of let those other concerns go!
> So I still have dreams, even if I'm on Nardil. Does anyone know why this is? Last time I read in the thread posted on this same site, that people on MAOI's don't dream. What's the deal then? Why do I dream? >
Dreams that I could recall upon awakening have always been very infrequent. I am not aware of any dreams since starting the EMSAM going on 4 months now. I don't know why you dream, unless dreams are possible without REM, or the Nardil isn't enough to suppress all REM for you?I could go into detail about the results of a sleep study I had done after being "diagnosed" with Fibromyalgia, (I don't have any of those symptoms anymore.... haven't for about 5 years... changed my diet) but I won't take up the space and your time here.
All the best,
Janet
poster:Brody
thread:779874
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20070831/msgs/780515.html