Posted by gardenergirl on January 18, 2009, at 13:16:43
Hi all,
Just an update...
I do have to go off Nardil in order to have elective surgery. It's not an absolute, but the anesthesiologist convinced me that the added risks are just not worth it. My pdoc instructed me to go down one tablet/day (15 mg) every two weeks, i.e. from 60 mg to 45 mg for two weeks, 45 to 30 for two, etc. This is in order to avoid the flu-like symptoms and other discontinuation effects that I could have if going off faster.I found it iteresting that he was able to give me this info in a return phone call, but never when I asked him in person, even though he says he has experience with multiple patients on MAOI's and that how to discontinue is info readily available from his memory and experience. I still think he had to look it up and isn't comfortable admitting that, but that's something he and I will have to discuss the next time I see him. As it is, I'm finding myself less confident and less trusting of his honesty. Either that or he just decided on his own whenever I asked him before that I didn't really need to know or something, and that's also problematic. I'm having a really hard time coming up with any other reasonable and/or charitable explanation for his not ever giving me this info until now despite asking at least five times over the last year.
Anyway, so far I've had some REM rebound, which is common for me whenever I lower my dose. I usually associate excessive sleeping with feeling depressed, but right now I can honestly say that I don't feel depressed. I really do think it's just the rebound, and that gets better as I get into the second week of the lower dose. I've had some nausea at times, and feel almost fluish the last few days, which corresponds with going to 30 mg recently, but it's not anything that is unbearable.
And the best part? Pounds seem to be melting off me. I've lost 20 pounds from my peak weight, and at least 10 of those have been just in the last month. I'm finding that whatever part of the brain Nardil seemed to have "shut off" related to knowing when to stop eating before getting to a binge state seems to be working again. That is I find that I recognize in my brain and my body that if I don't stop eating, I'm going to feel sick, whereas when on my usual Nardil dose, that recognition doesn't seem to kick in physiologically, just intellectually. That might be a strong incentive to not go back on Nardil after the surgery, assuming I continue to not feel depressed.
So anyway, so far so good. Hope it continues down this path.
gg
poster:gardenergirl
thread:874754
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20090104/msgs/874754.html