Posted by kirbyw on December 7, 2009, at 22:20:15
In reply to Scott, did I go through Parnate withdrawal?, posted by ColoradoSnowflake on December 7, 2009, at 10:03:32
Gayle
You didn't direct your question to me. As we discussed in another thread, I have 27 years of Parnate success, with some treatment interruptions when I didn't need anything. I have not been on anything else since 1982, except for a brief and failed Remeron trial in early August.
I was miserable. Once I got back on to Parnate i felt normal again.I would also ask about life circumstances, if anything else was going on in your life when you dropped to 60 mg. For me life circumstances do have an impact on the medication and vica versa.
If I have been through a really difficult time I may raise my Parnate by 10 mg, and when things are going well, I can be very quick to lower the dose a bit. Right now, I am just taking 20 mg and I am feeling basically "ok" Also I would perhaps be at 30 mg but I don't like the blood pressure effects that come with Parnate combined with my blood pressure/heart rate medication that i have to take since I had a bypass last year. But if I began to feel really bad, either "out of the blue" or because of a real life set back, I would go back up to 30 or even 40 mg, without speaking to any Doctor.
The advantage of long term Parnate experience is that I do adjust my own dose. There is no reason to see a Doctor. You might consider asking your Doctor to give you permission to vary your dose slightly according to how you feel
I have no experience with the falling problem. Its sounds like it is totally different than parnate induced postural hypotension, and if it is, then you need to convince your Doc that this is the case.
The other thing about Parnate is that there can be some bad days, once in a while. I have confidence that the Parnate will eventually start to work again, but sometimes I have past through periods like you described. I would usually raise my dose but it wouldn't always work right away.
But this to me is FUNDAMENTAL. We shouldn't expect to feel great all the time. What is important is that when we feel bad, that we also remember that it is possible to feel good, and that the good feeling will eventually return. But feel bad for a few days at a time should not be viewed as the end of the world, but part of a process of recovery that takes a long time. Even several years after starting Parnate I could get into the depths of depression. But somehow the thought that Parnate does work, was very reassuring at these times, and in fact it always did work.
Also, as indicated above, its important to use the energy and sense of well being provided by Parnate to try to solve real life problems, that are more difficult to solve in the depths of depression. Depression in most of our cases, is biochemical but it is not separate from what happens in our lives.
How many times in the past 25 years did I have to force myself to get out of bed to do something that I felt I just couldn't do. But when I actually went and did it, I always felt just a little bit better. And in some way I truly believe that that my biochemistry was very subletly affected by whatever it was that I did.
One of my docs used the phrase:
"function, then feel" which is very much a cognitive approach. But it really works. Similarly the relationship between "thought" and
"affect" is very important. Your thoughts can change your mood very profoundly. Sometimes negative thoughts are unavoidable, but we need to work to control negative thinking as best as we can.Well I have rambled a little bit, but I hope this has been helpful.
Rick (my name is Rick, even though I log in as Kirby-when I first joined the list I had a problem with the technology, and finally ended up with a new log-in and password)
poster:kirbyw
thread:928422
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20091206/msgs/928479.html