Posted by Judy on May 2, 2000, at 15:12:22
This is my second attempt at this message. The first disappeared in the registration process.
First some background: I'm MAOI responder – specifically Nardil. It completely banishes my depression/anxiety/anhedonia. Unfortunately the side effects (severe edema, for one) make it impossible for me to take it anymore. I also responded relatively well to Marplan but the side effects were even more pronounced.
I was switched to oral Selegeline, which had no side effects whatsoever; but it was only slightly beneficial in the beginning. By the time I had titrated up to 60 mg per day, I was as depressed as ever. My doctor wouldn’t increase the dosage further or augment because he was uncomfortable with Selegeline’s lack of track record as an AD at high doses.
I washed out Selegeline for two weeks and started Parnate at 10 mg a day. By the second day, I was in hypomanic heaven! That lasted for two weeks and pooped out, and I began titrating up by 10 mg every couple of weeks, with relative few side effects, until I got to 60 mg/day, where I am now. Never, since that first two-week period, has Parnate touched my anhedonia again.
My point (finally!). I’ve taken MAOI’s at least a half dozen times in the past, and each time I quit, I experience almost exactly four-weeks of lingering benefits afterwards. It just seems too coincidental to me that I felt so great for the first two weeks on Parnate. Is it possible that I was reacting to the combination of Parnate and the small amount of Selegeline remaining in my system? I meekly posed this question to my doctor and he pooh-poohed it, saying my brain had been robbed of Selegeline and it pounced on Parnate as soon as it was introduced. (Excuse the layman’s language – he was a bit more technical than that.) That seems too much of a coincidence to me – two weeks of goodness, then nothing?
Now I’m obsessed by the fact that I might have a side-effect-free cure for my depression sitting right in my medicine cabinet. My question is: What would be the risks of my trying a small amount (5 – 10 mg) of Selegeline with Parnate? (Besides my doctor throwing me out on my keester for self-medicating and never seeing me again?). It even seems to me I might be able to get away with a much lower daily dose of Parnate if my theory is correct.
I realize I’m asking a 'taboo' question here but I’m a bit desperate. In the past 16 years, I’ve run the gamut of AD’s and nothing works for me but MAOI’s. I'd appreciate any comments except "What are you, crazy?!?"
Judy
poster:Judy
thread:31946
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20000429/msgs/31946.html