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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 7 of 7. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by Love24 on February 2, 2009, at 9:41:17
Has anyone else experienced extreme, ravenous hunger while taking Parnate or any other MAOI?
I took two measly 10 mg pills more than three weeks ago, and I'm still experiencing Parnate's effects. Very strong medication, very sensitive med-taker.
After taking the Parnate, I felt this emptiness in my stomach. A never-ending emptiness. I have been eating nonstop for the past three weeks. I haven't been able to 'do' anything but sit around my house and eat to quell my hunger. As far as weight gain goes, yeah, I've packed on a few pounds, but at the rate I've been scarfing down food, I'm surprised I'm not bigger. I feel like part of the reason for this is the noticeable serotonin-overlooking amphetamine-like effect of Parnate.
It's so frustrating.
After the first 10 mg pill, I felt loopy, loopy and numb and almost drunk. I also felt spacey, lightheaded, and honestly like my cognition declined about 10% (still feeling that to a lesser degree right now). Words couldn't come to me while talking. I would just freeze up. The med has increased my social anxiety. Keep in mind, I only took a couple pills. No, I'm not going crazy and attributing every little thing to popping a couple Parnates. This med had and is having a remarkable effect on me.For the past 3 weeks, I've gotten sudden terrible, throbbing headaches in the heat of the moment, thus feeling no release. My throat tightens up and I get out of breath. This has been extremely annoying. It's all slowly getting back to normal, but it's a process and it takes patience.
So, I've complained. I'd like to know if anyone here has had similar experiences with MAOIS or can relate to what I'm talking about.
Posted by Phillipa on February 2, 2009, at 10:31:10
In reply to Parnate., posted by Love24 on February 2, 2009, at 9:41:17
Hi Love welcome to babble hope you receive a lot of responses welcome again. Phillipa
Posted by mav27 on February 2, 2009, at 10:47:01
In reply to Parnate., posted by Love24 on February 2, 2009, at 9:41:17
I can't remember if that was exactly how i felt but i did gain weight on Parnate which is usually hard for me to do. I lost weight on Nardil though.
Posted by myco on February 2, 2009, at 11:09:01
In reply to Parnate., posted by Love24 on February 2, 2009, at 9:41:17
> Has anyone else experienced extreme, ravenous hunger while taking Parnate or any other MAOI?
>Hi,
I have experienced this as a side effect of nardil for sure. It happened when I first started and at each dose increase...that never ending ability to eat at all hours and particularly carbs and sweets. But it goes away after a few weeks on a steady dose and I find myself eating less although for weight loss you should incorporate cardio and eat better not less.keep smilin,
Posted by bleauberry on February 2, 2009, at 16:34:46
In reply to Parnate., posted by Love24 on February 2, 2009, at 9:41:17
I don't know about the hunger thing, but I thought you should know you aren't the only one who has "sampled" parnate. :-)
At my last appointment my doc said she was open to giving me an MAOI but since they are rarely used around here she wanted to brush up her knowledge on them. The next appointment is next week.
In the meantime, I had already ordered Parnate mailorder from UK but hesitant to try it. I figured I had some time and since I am very very sensitive to meds, maybe I could just sample a small dose of Parnate so that if it goes badly at least at the next appointment I can go for Nardil or Marplan instead.
So I took a 10mg pill, cut it in half, and did 5mg around lunch time. Within 2 hours I felt noticeably worse, similar to how adderall did to me. About 6 hours after the dose I rebounded and felt noticably better than I had before the dose.
That night sleep was lousy. Very light sleep, hard to go to sleep, early waking. When I woke, I definitely felt worse. I've felt real bad at work so many times and have learned to put on a decent survival fake job to avoid others seeing it, but this day I got comments from people saying I looked so sad and and what was wrong. I had already decided Parnate was garbage for me.
The next day was a pretty good day. I would say maybe about a 20% improvement overall. I was impressed. The next day, another decent day. More impressed. Mind you, this was from a single 5mg dose 3 days earlier. Then I had 2 glum days and it felt like it was definitely wearing off. Then surprise, 2 more good days. Pains were much less, mood a bit better, not so glum, a bit more energy, a bit more interest and motivation. Sleep was good except for that first night.
After that mood went downhill rapidly and I developed some nervousness and anxiety that I haven't felt in months. I concluded MAO enzymes were coming back to life and not good for me.
The whole time my appetite was down. Unlike you. I just didn't feel much like eating.
So here a week later, and one week to go for the appointment, I am seriously considering doing another 5mg.
I think Parnate is some very potent stuff.
I had a genetic lab test done which identified I had double mutations on the MAO genes. I wasn't sure what that meant, but a clinician from the lab suggested taking very small very frequent doses of st johns wort and 5htp, which indicated to me that meant the MAO enzymes were too active. Nobody prescribes MAOIs around here, so no surprise they didn't. But, looking at the genetic profile, it is an obvious no-brainer.
I'm not going anywhere with this story. Just rambling. Thought I would share and compare experiences of our brief sample tests of parnate.
Posted by bulldog2 on February 2, 2009, at 16:49:34
In reply to Re: Parnate. » Love24, posted by bleauberry on February 2, 2009, at 16:34:46
> I don't know about the hunger thing, but I thought you should know you aren't the only one who has "sampled" parnate. :-)
>
> At my last appointment my doc said she was open to giving me an MAOI but since they are rarely used around here she wanted to brush up her knowledge on them. The next appointment is next week.
>
> In the meantime, I had already ordered Parnate mailorder from UK but hesitant to try it. I figured I had some time and since I am very very sensitive to meds, maybe I could just sample a small dose of Parnate so that if it goes badly at least at the next appointment I can go for Nardil or Marplan instead.
>
> So I took a 10mg pill, cut it in half, and did 5mg around lunch time. Within 2 hours I felt noticeably worse, similar to how adderall did to me. About 6 hours after the dose I rebounded and felt noticably better than I had before the dose.
>
> That night sleep was lousy. Very light sleep, hard to go to sleep, early waking. When I woke, I definitely felt worse. I've felt real bad at work so many times and have learned to put on a decent survival fake job to avoid others seeing it, but this day I got comments from people saying I looked so sad and and what was wrong. I had already decided Parnate was garbage for me.
>
> The next day was a pretty good day. I would say maybe about a 20% improvement overall. I was impressed. The next day, another decent day. More impressed. Mind you, this was from a single 5mg dose 3 days earlier. Then I had 2 glum days and it felt like it was definitely wearing off. Then surprise, 2 more good days. Pains were much less, mood a bit better, not so glum, a bit more energy, a bit more interest and motivation. Sleep was good except for that first night.
>
> After that mood went downhill rapidly and I developed some nervousness and anxiety that I haven't felt in months. I concluded MAO enzymes were coming back to life and not good for me.
>
> The whole time my appetite was down. Unlike you. I just didn't feel much like eating.
>
> So here a week later, and one week to go for the appointment, I am seriously considering doing another 5mg.
>
> I think Parnate is some very potent stuff.
>
> I had a genetic lab test done which identified I had double mutations on the MAO genes. I wasn't sure what that meant, but a clinician from the lab suggested taking very small very frequent doses of st johns wort and 5htp, which indicated to me that meant the MAO enzymes were too active. Nobody prescribes MAOIs around here, so no surprise they didn't. But, looking at the genetic profile, it is an obvious no-brainer.
>
> I'm not going anywhere with this story. Just rambling. Thought I would share and compare experiences of our brief sample tests of parnate.
> After that mood went downhill rapidly and I developed some nervousness and anxiety that I haven't felt in months. I concluded MAO enzymes were coming back to life and not good for me.Yes I would also conclude that was the result of the maoi enzymes repopulating and not parnate.
You say you are med sensitive but what you in fact might be is a slow metabolizer of meds.This med seems to have promise for you.
Your challenge and your p-docs challenge is to devise a schedule and doing regemin that will agree with your metabolism. Perhaps a dose every three to four days? Increases in the med by 2.5 milligrams?
Posted by bleauberry on February 3, 2009, at 16:27:57
In reply to Re: Parnate., posted by bulldog2 on February 2, 2009, at 16:49:34
>
> > After that mood went downhill rapidly and I developed some nervousness and anxiety that I haven't felt in months. I concluded MAO enzymes were coming back to life and not good for me.
>
> Yes I would also conclude that was the result of the maoi enzymes repopulating and not parnate.
>
> You say you are med sensitive but what you in fact might be is a slow metabolizer of meds.This med seems to have promise for you.
>
> Your challenge and your p-docs challenge is to devise a schedule and doing regemin that will agree with your metabolism. Perhaps a dose every three to four days? Increases in the med by 2.5 milligrams?
>
Very wise observations bulldog2. Thanks for your insight. As you seemed to agree, the timeline at which trouble kicked in was about the expected time that MAO enzymes would have made significant recovery. There is a lab test to check phase I and phase II liver metabolism to see whether someone is a fast metaboliser, slow metaboliser, and which phase of the liver is slower or faster than the other, identifying imbalances that cause overflows of unmetabolised stuff back into the system. That test is expensive and not covered by insurance. Sigh.I like your dosing strategy. My first choice is Marplan. But if it ends up being Parnate, my dosing schedule will likely be something very close to what you suggested.
Thanks for the input!
This is the end of the thread.
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