Posted by UgottaHaveHope on March 25, 2008, at 3:16:07
I have been challenged by [GAD] generalized anxiety disorder and atypical depression for 11 years. I have been taking Nardil [45mg] for nearly one year, and it has been the only medicine out of 40+ to give me some sort of extensive relief.
Disclaimers: Nardil is not for everyone, but you will never know if it works for you unless you try it. Please take everything I say in context, because every medicine affects everyone differently.
1) WHAT ABOUT THOSE DANGEROUS FOOD INTERACTIONS WITH NARDIL? DIDN'T THEY CONCERN YOU? Yes, absolutely, in a negative way. Because those food interactions are so heavily mentioned whenever MAOIs are discussed, it scared me and delayed my Nardil trial for years and years.
2) HOW DID YOU OVERCOME THAT FEAR? The short answer is that none of the other 40+ drugs I tried, the latest and greatest, including many SSRIs, they never did anything for me. What did I have to lose? The long answer is that I did my own research, asked a lot of questions in here, and had long talks with my pdoc, who has prescribed MAOIs to thousands of patients over the years. My pdoc said he has indeed had patients experience dangerous interactions, but that they were primarily from medicinal conflicts [decongestants].
3) DO YOU EAT ANY OF THE FORBIDDEN FOODS? Yes, all the time. But in small helpings. For example, just the regular amount of cheddar cheese on a salad, and not a whole bar of cheese. But I cannot recommend that you do the same. In fact, I advise you to consult your own pdoc on this issue.
4) WHAT ABOUT OTHER SIDE EFFECTS? I am not going to lie. The first six weeks were challenging. In fact, that's disappointing too. Because it takes so much courage for people to finally try a MAOI, then they may experience some un-fun side effects, such as constipation, fatigue, blackouts, sleeplessness, less sex drive etc. All but the fatigue went away over time, and the fatigue may have something to do with my Vitamin B-12 deficiency which I am now being treated for. Most if not all side effects go away over time. And if you experience a little bit of a side effect, then you have to decide if it is worth how Nardil makes you feel overall. It is my opinion that no medicine is perfect and there is always going to be some type of trade-off.
5) HOW LONG DID IT TAKE FOR NARDIL TO KICK IN? I felt a little something after six weeks, and a lot of something at 10 weeks. I really hope if you decide to try Nardil that you give it at least 10-12 weeks for a full trial.
6) DON'T YOU JUST FEEL LIKE YOU ARE TAKING ONE OF THE MOST DANGEROUS DRUGS OUT THERE? No, I feel like I am taking one of the safest drugs out there. Folks, MAOIS have been around for 50+ years. First of all, no drug stays around that long if it is not helping people. Secondly, because it has been around so long, there has been countless research performed. Yes, there are things to avoid, but you know from all the research exactly what to avoid. The same cannot be said about the newer drugs, simply because they have not been around long enough to see the long-term effects.
More to come. Michael
poster:UgottaHaveHope
thread:819759
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20080316/msgs/819759.html