Posted by Racer on November 4, 2007, at 11:34:45
In reply to Finding a shrink, posted by TexasSP59 on November 4, 2007, at 10:52:39
Welcome to Babble. I hope you like it here, and decide to stick around.
First of all, your HMO's psychopharmacologist is pretty much stating standard of care. There are a lot of good reasons for this, so I hope you won't hold it against him. MAOIs can be excellent choices for some people, but they carry certain risks that other, newer drugs do not. The same is true for the tricyclics, but those risks are less immediately hazardous.
If your current pdoc won't discuss Nardil, and you are set on that drug and no other, my advice is to call around to all the pdocs on your HMO's list, and ask if they would consider Nardil. That's the only sure way to find out if they're amenable to the option.
If your current pdoc is not adamantly opposed to Nardil, but wants to consider other options first, it might be worth trying to work it out with him. There are a couple of ways you can approach this. The first is to ask him why he is opposed, and what would influence his decision to try it? If you choose this route, I urge you to give him a fair hearing. One suggestion for this discussion is to keep a food record for the five week washout period you'll need between Prozac and Nardil, showing that you can follow the diet consistently and diligently. A poster here, Gardenergirl, did this as part of her treatment with Nardil. You may find that the diet is not something you can live with, and choose to go a different route instead.
You could also lay out all of your reasons for wanting to try Nardil, and ask him to discuss them with you. If you approach him respectfully, it doesn't seem like too much to ask that he would listen to you respectfully.
Another option, by far the least attractive, is to try the other drugs your doctor is more willing to prescribe, and then ask for Nardil if none of them work adequately. Believe me, I recognize that this is by far the least attractive, and it's not something I recommend.
The other option I can think of with your current doctor is to tell him flat out that you are looking only towards Nardil, lay out your reasons, and tell him that if he won't prescribe it, you'll find someone who will. If you go this way, be prepared to walk. I don't know many doctors who would respond positively to that one.
I realize that there are a lot of people who are highly enthusiastic about MAOIs in general, and Nardil in particular. Do you mind if I ask why that drug is the one you've chosen as most likely to help you?
poster:Racer
thread:793273
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20071104/msgs/793276.html