Posted by jedi on June 18, 2011, at 10:29:35
Hi Guys,
Nardil is far from a perfect medication. It is what they call a "dirty" drug with effects on many different neurotransmitters (serotonin, norepinephrine, dopamine, GABA - just to name the major ones). It has been around since the late 1950s and I have heard of people being on it for over 30 years. There are a lot of side effects, but most of these can be handled with time or additional medication.The thing about Nardil, is it is never a first tier treatment. Should be 2nd tier for certain types of depression (severe atypical depression with social anxiety), as far as I'm concerned. So here you have a medication that is only used after failure of probably at least four other medications(usually a lot more), and it causes remission. By the time a seriously depressed person gets on Nardil, they have been sick for a very long time. I was lucky, my first PDOC was good. I got a phenelzine trial after fluoxetine, amoxapine, sertraline, venlafaxine, and attempted augmentation with lithium. That's two SSRIs, a tetracyclic or tricyclic, and a SNRI, plus lithium. About the minimum before a MAOI is even given a chance. And after all of this the MAOI works a large percentage of the time.
Over the past 13 years, after Nardil first worked for me, I've discontinued it a half dozen times for various reasons. Usually for trials of newer medications. After a period of months my major depression has always returned. So now I'm a lifer, baring a major breakthrough in the psychopharmocology field. Not too many of us expect that!
Anyway, this medication that has been around for over 50 years just works for some of us. It surely is not perfect. But so far, at least for me, it keeps me alive and out of that "black hole".
I think the rate of poop out is a lot less than with the newer medications. How many people have been on Prozac for 20 years and are still doing well? Chances are, they are off of it and on to some other medication. Or their depression wasn't serious enough to require an antidepressant in the first place.
Just my humble opinion,
Jedi
Jedi
Treatment resistant, atypical, double depression with social anxiety.
Nardil + clonazepam
poster:jedi
thread:988654
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20110610/msgs/988654.html