Posted by Girlnterrupted78 on February 3, 2010, at 16:59:32
In reply to Re: Will Lithium augment or weaken Parnate?, posted by inanimate peanut on February 3, 2010, at 15:49:31
(sorry, this might be a little long..)
Thank you so much for the suggestions, inanimate.
> Maybe it's not the other drugs that are weakening the Parnate. Maybe your body is getting a resistance to it over time.
I don't know. All I know is that while on Lamictal, I experienced a lot of lethargy and was pretty much bed-bound. It was impossible to get anything done. Even taking shower seemed like a monumental task, and the more I thought about it, the more depressed I got--I almost cried over it.. I just wanted to avoid doing house chores at all costs, and I wasn't going out at all.
That was a huge contrast with how I felt on Parnate + Adderall alone. Parnate & Adderall made me avoid the bed at all costs, to the point where I went 2 nights in a row without sleep, and in those 48 hours I would not even touch the bed...not even for a couple of minutes. Something about lying down didn't feel right. I was very active during the night time, mostly doing things around the house and online. Of course, by the third night I crashed for 12-20 hours. And I was dead afraid of going to bed after those 2 nights because I knew that when I woke, I'd be more depressed than ever. I called that the "Nightmare on Elm's street" effect. I wanted to avoid it but I had no choice. I'd wake up crying like if somebody had died, and that lasted for 2-3 hours. Sometimes I started crying before I even woke up.. and continued to cry once I was fully awake.. and for hours. One time I woke and felt as if I had been on a comma. Didn't recognize the room, or the stuff I had, and I was crying like crazy.. really weird stuff, but I'd take that over Lamictal any day.
Anyway, by the time I finally got off Lamictal, it took 3 days for the lethargy to start to go away.. however, it did not go away completely. Now I feel some kind of emotional lethargy. Or I guess the word would be depression? I'm less willing to try things, less willing to go out and take risks with people.
That tells me that Lamictal had something to do with the weakening of Parnate. Otherwise, why would it happen right upon discontinuing Lamictal? I get the feeling that medications have an impact on your chemistry, so it might have done something to me..
>Have you tried increasing the dose of Parnate-- does this help at all?
No, I haven't. My doctor hasn't suggested it. Parnate was working fantastic when I first made it to 60mgs. Now I'm on 80mg and it's not doing even 1/3 of what it was on 60mgs. Would you recommend going up? I'm afraid about that because of a side effect I have--I'm short of breath most of the time. I don't know how bad it would get, but if you think it might make a difference, I'd try. I'll ask my doctor next time I see him. What about Adderall? Should I raise that? I'm on 20mgs now.
>Have you tried Mirapex or calcium channel blockers (nimedipine). Have you tried all the atypical antipsychotics? Take it from someone who is literally down to their last 5 med combos, there are always some things that you haven't thought of.
No, haven't tried any of those. What kind of depression do you have? In my case I think it's atypical, although my doctor thinks I could be slightly bipolar. I have no idea what it might be. Thanks for suggesting all those combos. Just a question: Where or how do you come up with all those different combinations? I'm getting the feeling that my doctor doesn't have anything else in mind for me. The other day I asked him what else could we try, and he was sort of vague, I think he might have mentioned ECT, but he never mentioned any of the medications that you are talking about.
And I'm surprised because he's a treatment resistant researcher at Columbia Psychiatric Institute, so I'd figure he'd come up with tons of different combos.
Of the different combos that you've tried, would you mind telling me which ones have been the most effective in fighting your depression and whether the effects have lasted? I'm actually going to make a list of things that I could try and take it to him and see what he says. So if you could tell me what exactly have been you combos (and highlight the most effective ones.. ) it would help me a lot.
BTW, I was already on Nardil. I gave it a full year at the maximum dose. It did NOTHING at all for me except made me incredibly dumb (I began to forget words and had to stop a sentence in the middle of it because I arranged the sentence so that it would only work if I used a specific word... and I'd completely forget such word..)
In addition to that, it made me gain like 20 lbs. Once the year was over I gave up. I think it was a fair trial and a failed trial that left me dumber and with 20 extra pounds. But I feel like Parnate sort of did the opposite. It helped me recover my short-term memory and I lost quite a lot of weight.Sorry about the length of this post, and thanks again for the info. Pls don't forget to let me know about the combos you've tried and what's worked for you. I'll write the meds I've tried in my next post..
GI
poster:Girlnterrupted78
thread:935824
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20100122/msgs/935874.html