Posted by tecknohed on December 7, 2007, at 15:29:54
In reply to Re: Anyone doing well on Marplan? » tecknohed, posted by Darius2535 on December 6, 2007, at 10:59:56
> Hi Teck,
>
> I have been following your messages recently, and I wanted to ask you how the Marplan is working for you now?
>
> How do you feel? What dose are you on, what times you take it, and what side effects are you experiencing now?
>
> Any Mania or major weight gain or increased appetite?
>
> Thanks,
>
> DariusHi Darius.
I'm fortunitely doing very well on Marplan at present. Been on it for nearly 7 weeks now & its settled nicely. I've been on 40mg since day 7. I also take Klonopin 3mg/day which knocks out alot of the social anxiety, probably most of it, but it wouldnt be the same without the Marplan. Klonopin + Marplan is somewhat similar to my Nardil experience which was similar to yours. However I find Marplan MUCH smoother. Without a benzo you might find it a bit over activating - possible anxiety & insomnia. The insomnia is short lived, not sure about the anxiety as the 1st time I tried Marplan my pdoc at the time would'nt give me a benzo so I quit early. This time around I already had Klonopin on board.
I've experienced virtually no dizziness or urine retention/hesitation, unlike Nardil. But anorgasmia has recently started up & I can't cum to save my life! But I trust this will go on its own with time whether I medicate it or not. Also NO daytime sedation at all, appart from a brief period in the first few weeks. No appetite changes for me nor weight gain (that I've noticed). I take 20mg breakfast, 10mg lunch & 10mg dinner.
Personally I'm glad I went to 40mg so quickly. Thats what most of the literature says to do, if its tolerated. Of course some need to work up more slowly but for me my body seems to be quite robust to MAOIs side effects, probably because I was on Nardil for 4 1/2 years. SSRIs on the other hand I just cannot handle - I feel totally doped up on them.
I also take 2 supplements - idebenone & vinpocetine. The idebenone seems to slightly enhance the Marplan & maybe smooth things out too. Vinpocetine has totally got rid of my Klonopin induce head fog, possibly from the Marplan too.
The one problem it hasn't helped that much is my hypersomnia, though it is a bit better. My energy though is fine, once I do wake up. Anyway, I think my hypersomnia is a seperate issue altogether.
I do plan to go to 50mg Marplan, probably around mid Jan, just to see if it can help any more but if after 4 weeks nothing changes I'll drop back to 40mg. Another idea I have for some 'get up & go' (I NEED less sleep) is to add a mild NRI type tricyclic, probably lofepramine (similar to desipramine). I've taken it before & it solved my hypersomnia AND depression but didn't touch my social anxiety. Luckily I'm with an excellent pdoc now (a Professor, head of Bristol Psychopharmacology Dept. UK) so he knows his stuff. He let me take bupropion with Nardil so he should let me take lofepramine with Marplan, I hope. Anyway, NRIs actually have a protective effect against MAOI-induced hypertensive crisis I do believe.
So yeah, give Marplan a go, though you MAY need a benzo (or something as good as) with it for your social anxiety as I'm not sure just how effective Marplan ON IT'S OWN really is for social anxiety. But its a DAMN GOOD antidepressant when it works. :)
teck
poster:tecknohed
thread:789356
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20071204/msgs/799362.html