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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 5 of 5. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by yesac on July 30, 2003, at 10:13:35
I feel like there is a lot of hype that these two drugs are really great for people who haven't responded to other things. I've seen it here on the board that people have great results, as well as my doctor has said it, etc.
Well, I'm on both right now. I have failed many other drugs - no effects at all. But now I've been on these two for a significant amount of time (parnate - 2 months; lamictal - 3 months) and I'm not feeling any different.
I'm just wondering if there are others out there who haven't responded to these "wonder drugs"?
Oh - I'm on them for unipolar depression.
Thanks!
Posted by fallsfall on July 30, 2003, at 17:05:46
In reply to Any Lamictal and/or Parnate failure stories?, posted by yesac on July 30, 2003, at 10:13:35
Hey Yesac,
I tried Parnate a year ago. I was on it for 2 or 3 months. When I wound up in the hospital they took me off it - clearly it wasn't working. Now I take Prozac which works better than the other 15 meds I tried. There is no one drug that is good for everybody. You just have to find yours.
Good Luck
Posted by maryhelen on July 30, 2003, at 20:34:51
In reply to Any Lamictal and/or Parnate failure stories?, posted by yesac on July 30, 2003, at 10:13:35
I have been on Parnate for over 2 years. I did get a good response for about a year and a half. It may have been the difficulties I was going through at the time, but the Parnate did not seem to be working as well. Pdoc augmented with lithium. There was a fairly good antidepressant effect but I found the side effects too much at the time. I was returning to work after sick leave for 2 years. Hands trembling terribly, twitching, hair loss and above all I felt dimwitted. Not great shape to be in to return to my job.
He then added Lamitcal. When I got up to 150 mg. I felt wonderful, best I felt in 25 years. I would even go further and say the best I can remember feeling. This lasted for only 3 weeks. We upped the dose and I have just reached 300 mg. Have not had the response that I did at 150 mg. I am going to hang in with it for a while longer. Like so many others, I cannot even remember all of the meds and combos I have tried and I have never experienced what I did on Lamitcal.
My pdoc is on vacation and he is probably going to have a fit, but I am taking myself off Parnate. I was at 90 mg. and am now down to 40 mg. One of the reasons that I did this is because I have just gone through menopause. The symptoms of menopause can be devastating enough, but having the depression as well, has probably exacerbated it. I have been on meds for so long, I want to see what it would be like now without them, considering the changes my body has gone through. I could end up regretting it but if so, I will have to start again.
However, I will stay on the Lamitcal and hope upon hope, that I will get even some of the response I had experienced. It seems like it was such a tease to feel so fantastic only to have the famous 'poop out'
Sorry for going on. I also have unipolar depression, now called treatment resistant depression due to the lack of response to every med in the book.
I do feel that Parnate is an excellent drug. What dose are you on? Depending, maybe you could hang in and up the dose. What about Lamitcal, what dose? When I looked on the internet for info from GlaxoSmithKline Inc., they recommend 200 mg. for depression. I wish I knew that before I went up to the 300 mg. However, they seem to refer more to bi-polar.
It is so frustrating when we hear others having great results on meds, yet, when we try them they do not work. We are all so different.
Good luck. All we can do is keep trying.
maryhelen
Posted by yesac on July 31, 2003, at 10:27:50
In reply to Re: Any Lamictal and/or Parnate failure stories?, posted by maryhelen on July 30, 2003, at 20:34:51
> Sorry for going on. I also have unipolar depression, now called treatment resistant depression due to the lack of response to every med in the book.
It's all right - your response is quite good and helpful! As for the treatment resistance! I am SO treatment resistant. I know there are others out there, but I feel like the only person in the world who has gotten basically no response from so many meds. Anyway, I find it interesting to read these things that say they define "treatment-resistant" as being failure of ONE SSRI or something like that. I'm thinking "well if that's TR, what the hell am I?"
> What dose are you on? Depending, maybe you could hang in and up the dose. What about Lamitcal, what dose? When I looked on the internet for info from GlaxoSmithKline Inc., they recommend 200 mg. for depression.
Well, I've been on 60mg for almost 3 weeks, before that 40 for about a month. I want to go up, and suggested it to my doctor the other day. He said that was fine, but then looked at something that said don't go above 60. So now I'm supposed to stay at 60. Maybe I'll just go up anyways. I don't really have any serious side effects so I don't see why it should be a problem. As for Lamictal - well, I actually did feel what I thought was a response for about 3 or 4 weeks, when I was on 150mg. I certainly didn't feel totally great, but better than I had in a while. But then I kind of crashed. Now, I went up to 200 a few days ago. So we'll see what happens with that.
> It is so frustrating when we hear others having great results on meds, yet, when we try them they do not work. We are all so different.
Yes, very frustrating. It is so discouraging to me to hear that many people who have responded to nothing feel so wonderful when they finally try MAOIs. Of course, I am glad for them, but I feel so disheartened about myself. I wonder if Nardil might work. In any case, I am going to keep up with Parnate and Lamictal for probably another month. I also started taking Neurontin a few days ago, but I'm not really expecting any kind of wonderful results with that, maybe just some subtle sense of mood lifting or more calm.
Thanks for your response!
Posted by maryhelen on July 31, 2003, at 22:25:19
In reply to Re: Any Lamictal and/or Parnate failure stories? » maryhelen, posted by yesac on July 31, 2003, at 10:27:50
I don't know what your doctor was looking at but 60 mg. of Parnate is not that high a dose. Like every med we all have different response. Some are okay with 30 mg. of Parnate. I was up to 90 mg. I used to be on a site dealing just with MAIO's and there were quite a few on 130 mg. You could also check with your pharmacist and see what he or she thinks.
If you're on the darn drug anyway, he should do some more research and let you at least give it your best shot. It is very possible at a higher dose you may get a good response.
I really can't figure out Lamitcal. Why do so many of us get such a good response and then down we go? It was just so amazing to feel so good after a life time of depression, and then have it last such a short time. You almost forget what life can be like.
Oh well, apparently they were saying on the board, that yet another new drug is coming out, possibly at the end of the year.
I guess we will have to hang in. You never know what may be around the corner.
maryhelen
This is the end of the thread.
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