Posted by Sailboat77 on September 3, 2011, at 13:34:40
I have Treatment-Resistant Depression and for 5 years have tried a large array of meds with literally "no effect" (Wellbutrin, Prozac, Cymbalta, Abilify, Tricyclics, ect...) I also had ECT treatments which made me feel worse. The only medication that improved my mood were stimulants, but I would emotionally crash afterwards.
About 7 months ago I tried Nardil and then switched to Parnate 60mg with some success. It helped my depression but only to a certain degree. A few months ago, my doctor and I agreed to carefully add stimulants with the Parnate. We settled on using 30mg of Vyvanse. To my surprise, it worked very well. My depression lessened and I was feeling much better with only a medium/small-sized dip in mood after the Vyvanse wore off. Although there were still some issues with motivation and sadness, I felt I was on the right track and just needed a bit of tinkering to sufficiently manage my depression.
Now though, I don't feel the same benefits anymore. Over the past month I've noticed my depression coming back and my Parnate/Vyvanse combo loosing its effectiveness. My doc tried upping the Vyvanse to 40mg, but that hasn't really worked. It was only this week that I finally admitted to myself that something was wrong.
I feel so disheartened.... I thought I had finally found the right combo to manage my depression. I'm not sure what to do now. Maybe the Parnate is loosing its effectiveness like others have described. Or maybe my body is just tolerant to stimulants. My psychologist mentioned Transcranial magnetic stimulation. She said clients of hers who were treatment-resistant like myself have had success with it. I might bring the subject up when I see my psychiatrist on Thursday.
Does anyone have experience with Transcranial magnetic stimulation? Should I try another approach to the MAOI + Stimulant combo? I feel lost.
poster:Sailboat77
thread:995728
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20110902/msgs/995728.html