Posted by softheprairie on September 1, 2008, at 17:51:42
In reply to Pamelor(Nortrypyline) increasing my anxiety ???, posted by ToughTimes on September 1, 2008, at 11:02:12
> My doc prescribe 25mg /day and I did this for a week. I went to 50mg two days ago and I notice that my anxiety is going up, Especially today. Is this normal with the drug. Also, I'm having trouble waking up due to the sedation of this medicine. Should I go up slower, or is the anxiety telling me, this isn't the drug for me.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Derrick
I started a somewhat similar TCA, desipramine, earlier this year and had a pretty big increase in anxiety with it, but still found it helpful for depression. A new (to the U.S.) beta blicker, Bystolic (nebivolol), has been very helpful w/ the anxiety, despite being supposedly the most cardioselective (least impacting the brain). I was reluctant to try any beta blocker due to their possibility of making depression worse, but this one supposedly didn't have that as a known side effect.
Along w/ the anxiety I was getting tachycardia and heart palpitations from it, which is why my primary care dr added the beta blocker (my psych meds are from a psychiatrist). My insurance treats the Bystolic as non-preferred and made me pay for most of it, so I applied for the drug co.'s patient assistance program, and if I'm not approved for it I plan to go w/ an older, cheaper beta blocker. Alternately, perhaps the addition of a benzo might make the antidepressant more tolerable? But, that still leaves (and makes worse) the fatigue problem. If your fatigue doesn't go away, you might consider desipramine instead of nortriptyline. Desipramine's rate of sedation is much lower for most people than almost any other TCA's. Some people find it activating.
I was on nortriptyline a bit years ago, in combination, I think, with two other things, but I don't recall much about that time except for daily headaches, but I'm not sure which of the meds were causing them.
poster:softheprairie
thread:849690
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20080822/msgs/849785.html