Posted by ChicagoKat on October 18, 2012, at 13:48:39
In reply to Re: Anxiety HELP!!! » jono_in_adelaide, posted by ChicagoKat on October 17, 2012, at 20:06:51
Update: thanks to Dr Nick's (Jono's) excellent suggestions, I have decided to continue my Nortriptyline, and I am using gabapentin to fight the anxiety...so far it is working. But I did also up my dose of Nardil to 60mg/day, and I'm being extra cautious and observant of my gait and will immediately go back to 45mg/day if I notice a problem, and spend the rest of that day in bed where I won't be at risk for a fall. The ataxia problem leaves pretty quickly when I decrease the dose, and the change in my gait is a good warning sign before I experience any falls.
So, with this combo of meds, I am very optimistic that I will achieve remission. My thanks to enndub and to Jono!!
Kat> > Well, I guess your 2 options are stop the nortriptyline and hope that the Nardil is able to pull it off, persevere with the nortriptyline + nardil and hope the side effects abate, or take the nardil + nortriptyline with somthing for anxiety.....my suggestions would be either Atarax 50mg tid (soft approach) or Geodon 20mg bid (headiver approach)
> >
> > God, if I was a doc I'd be handing out pills like elvises physician wouldnt I..... hi Dr Nick!
>
> LOL Dr Nick!!! I've decided what I'm gonna do...I'm upping my Nardil to 60mg/day, a dose which from experience I know puts my depression and anxiety in remission. But it also causes ataxia after I've been on it for a while. So I'm gonna wait til I've achieved remission, then go back down to 45mg/day. Even the package insert for Nardil says that for dosing to use 60-90mg/day until remission is achieved, then after that they say to go to a maintenance dose of 15mg/day! My guess is that once you've got all the enzymes inhibited, only a small maintenance dose is required to keep them at that state. Besides, a drug company would not recommend such a thing if it hadn't been proved to work...they stand to lose more money if people lower their doses.
>
> Anyways, that's my plan. b/c I just can't stand anxiety, it is worse than depression. oh, I do have neurontin for the anxiety, but I go through it pretty quickly; for some reason I build up tolerance to it at a fast rate.
>
> Thanks for your suggestions Dr. Nick!!!
> My best,
> Kat
>
>
poster:ChicagoKat
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