Posted by Adam on September 16, 1999, at 22:50:29
In reply to High Dose Selegiline (Deprenyl) for Social Phobia?, posted by John on September 9, 1999, at 12:10:53
I am currently in a research study using a transdermal delivery
method for selegiline. I am becoming more convinced I am on the
drug and not a placebo.I think it has helped with my depression, but, like Elizabeth, it
has left me feeling pretty anxious and I can't sleep very well.
A couple days ago I did something I'm not supposed to do, but since
we're all friends here, I hope I can trust you not to blab :-). I
was essentially spending another night in a row wide-eyed and bolt-
upright in bed at like 2:00 AM, said "what the hell" and popped an
a tablet of lorazepam. In a very short period of time I was on cloud
nine. I felt, as they say, damn good. I never got that response to
lorazepam before, and I think it is a combination of the anti-
depressant effects of selegiline coupled with lorazepam attenuating
selegiline-induced jitters. I slept pretty well, woke up very happy
the next day, and started to feel anxious again about midday. So when
I got home from work I took another. Same deal. I really, REALLY
like this combo.Like I said, this is highly illegal as far as my participation in a
study goes, and I feel sort of bad. Since then I haven't taken
any more lorazepam and am still dealing with anxiety and insomnia. I
feel that these side-effects kind of detract from selegiline's overall
effect. But for the future, I'm quite enthusiastic: selegiline has,
for me, more of a mood-elevating effect than any other antidepressant
I've ever taken (which is the difference, probably, between a little
and none). I might be ecstatic on phenelzine or tranylcypromine, but
I'm not sure I want to be, at this point. I think the anxiety-producing
properties of selegiline may, is some respects, mask any benefit one
might get for social phobia. For me, this pretty much vanished with a
small dose of lorazepam. I'm pretty sure this will be the combination
therapy of my future after the study. I would recommend that anybody
taking selegiline for depression and dealing with the side effects try
this approach. You'll know in about an hour if it works for you or not.
Since lorazepam is great for social phobia, and people are treated
chronically with benzodiazepines all the time (I mean, so what if you're
addicted to it?), and it might actually help one sleep a little, hell, why
not?
> Hi,
>
> Anyone with experience with "high dose," 60 mg/day or greater, Selegiline (Deprenyl) for social phobia? My thinking is that it could be an alternative to Nardil and Parnate if taken as the higher doses where it loses its MAO-B selectivity (>10-15 mg/day). I've seen some threads on what I think is this site (the old RxQx) where practictioners mentioned using up to 60 mg/day of Selegiline in successfully treating depression. So the question: at this level, how does it compare to the "gold standard" Phenelzine? ANYONE WITH EXPERIENCE? By the way, I'd stick with Phenelzine if it didn't leave me with erectile dysfunction (at the slightest dose), anorgasmia (I guess that's secondary to erectile dysfunction - uh, one needs to happen before the other), and gaining 15 lbs. plus. Lastly, I understand that Liebowitz, et al., of the New York State Psychiatric Institute found the reversible MAO inhibitors (RIMA's), namely Moclobemide, to be no better than placebo in their more recent follow-up studies.
>
> Thanks.
poster:Adam
thread:11298
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/19990914/msgs/11675.html