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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 8 of 8. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by girlnterrupted78 on June 18, 2007, at 19:04:37
I'm on my 11th day on Nardil.
It is working, but I am very confused, because unfortunately (or fortunately, whatever that might be) I began taking klonopin 2 weeks before Nardil, just to "be safe" during the washout period when I tapered off Celexa. I just didn't trust myself without any meds and I had to keep my job.
So now I don't know what results come from the Klonopin and what is the Nardil really doing.
All I know at the moment is that I definitely feel better. I feel a lot more confident, a lot more assertive, and my sense of humor is (partially) back. I really couldn't smile, let alone laugh, before. Now I'm laughing my a-off at work and I'm getting positive responses from people, whereas before I used to have a dead-face and would hardly ever smile.
I am not in a perfect state yet (the way I was when Celexa peaked 5 years ago) but I can recognize similar antidepressant effects that make me feel a lot better. Emotional strength is one of them. I used to let people walk all over me and I didn't have the strength to say something. Now I don't. The other day, I did tell a coworker pretty calmly to f-off (not with those words, of course) when he was being a jerk, and it was so well-said that he couldn't say much back.
I'm still on 45 mgs. I'm going to try to go up to see if that improves things.
I wonder though, is it normal to feel a bit of a response so fast with such low dose? I've read people who've reacted to it until the 6th week and on higher doses. I'm wondering why I am feeling relief so fast.. or maybe it's the klonopin? But the klonopin is not supposed to make you assertive/emotionally strong, is it?
Oh well.. confusion will reign until I up the dose or maybe I'll do a few days trial w/o klonopin and see how I feel.
I also seem to lose my equilibrium at times. Sometimes I'm standing at the subway station, and I fall to the side and have to hold on to the wall. It doesn't feel too bad, because the feeling is accompanied by emotional relief, so it doesn't bother me. By emotional relief I mean something like.. a 3rd layer of skin has been added to me. I used to be so sensitive, (what you might call thin skinned) but so bad, to the point that it felt as if I had 3rd degree burns on my skin and anything would hurt/bother me. So this added layer of skin feels great because things don't bother me so much or get to me the way they used to.
Anyway, any comments are welcome/appreciated
Posted by Phillipa on June 18, 2007, at 20:17:36
In reply to 11th day on Nardil.. a bit confused, but ok so far, posted by girlnterrupted78 on June 18, 2007, at 19:04:37
You'll have to taper the klonopin ask you doc about a taper as it's addictive. Love Phillipa congrats on feeling so much better
Posted by Sigismund on June 18, 2007, at 20:26:41
In reply to 11th day on Nardil.. a bit confused, but ok so far, posted by girlnterrupted78 on June 18, 2007, at 19:04:37
I don't think 45mg is *such* a low dose.
It is just lower than most people use.
If you can get (any decent) relief at that dose, then you may have fewer side effects.
I remember SLS quoting an experienced MAOI doctor: something like.... Nardil will help 90% of patients, and 75% of them will give it up because of the side effects.
If I were you, I'd take the long view.
Posted by FredPotter on June 18, 2007, at 20:51:43
In reply to Re: 11th day on Nardil.. a bit confused, but ok so » girlnterrupted78, posted by Sigismund on June 18, 2007, at 20:26:41
Yes the side effects, weight gain and no sex plus hypotension and dizziness, are what I pay for feeling good. I'm still taking Xanax. Not sure why. Just habit I expect. GI if you took Klonopin before the Nardil you'll know what K does for you. I found the anxiety relief from Nardil was of a much deeper kind
Posted by Quintal on June 18, 2007, at 21:31:49
In reply to 11th day on Nardil.. a bit confused, but ok so far, posted by girlnterrupted78 on June 18, 2007, at 19:04:37
>I used to be so sensitive, (what you might call thin skinned) but so bad, to the point that it felt as if I had 3rd degree burns on my skin and anything would hurt/bother me. So this added layer of skin feels great because things don't bother me so much or get to me the way they used to.
Great minds......I was just thinking exactly the same thing about how best to describe the way I'm feeling off opiates (which are also very good for that kind of sensitivity) - like a raw wound after the dressing has been taken off. I banged my hand against the tumble dryer getting some socks out today and it went right through me, and it was just a light tap too. An extra layer of skin would be very welcome right now, and not just in the physical sense.
Klonopin can make you feel more assertive, it certainly had that effect on me. That's one of my bugbears - nearly all MAOI users also take fairly large doses of potent benzos so you can never know for sure what's doing what. Never mind, as long as you're feeling relief. It would be interesting to see how you felt after a few days without Klonopin though.
Q
Posted by Jedi on June 19, 2007, at 1:40:28
In reply to 11th day on Nardil.. a bit confused, but ok so far, posted by girlnterrupted78 on June 18, 2007, at 19:04:37
Hi,
A lot of your social confidence at this point is probably coming from the clonazepam. I have taken Nardil with clonazepam for most of the past ten years. Most people starting Nardil take at least three and sometimes six weeks at an effective dose before it starts to kick in. When it did kick in for me it was like being struck by lightning. There was nothing subtle about it. One day I felt like sh*t, the next day I felt great. None of the 45+ combinations of ADs and augmentors has ever done that for me. Some people, myself included will get an initial feeling of euphoria from Nardil. This can best be described as hypomania. If you have been depressed for some time, this can be a very intoxicating feeling, but it is not the true antidepressant response to Nardil. This hypomanic stage is usually shortlived; don't misinterpret the loss of this feeling for a loss of efficacy in the medication.Nardil with clonazepam has been the only combination to bring me out of at least three major depressions.
Good Luck,
Jedi
> I'm on my 11th day on Nardil.
>
> It is working, but I am very confused, because unfortunately (or fortunately, whatever that might be) I began taking klonopin 2 weeks before Nardil, just to "be safe" during the washout period when I tapered off Celexa. I just didn't trust myself without any meds and I had to keep my job.
>
> So now I don't know what results come from the Klonopin and what is the Nardil really doing.
>
> All I know at the moment is that I definitely feel better. I feel a lot more confident, a lot more assertive, and my sense of humor is (partially) back. I really couldn't smile, let alone laugh, before. Now I'm laughing my a-off at work and I'm getting positive responses from people, whereas before I used to have a dead-face and would hardly ever smile.
>
> I am not in a perfect state yet (the way I was when Celexa peaked 5 years ago) but I can recognize similar antidepressant effects that make me feel a lot better. Emotional strength is one of them. I used to let people walk all over me and I didn't have the strength to say something. Now I don't. The other day, I did tell a coworker pretty calmly to f-off (not with those words, of course) when he was being a jerk, and it was so well-said that he couldn't say much back.
>
> I'm still on 45 mgs. I'm going to try to go up to see if that improves things.
>
> I wonder though, is it normal to feel a bit of a response so fast with such low dose? I've read people who've reacted to it until the 6th week and on higher doses. I'm wondering why I am feeling relief so fast.. or maybe it's the klonopin? But the klonopin is not supposed to make you assertive/emotionally strong, is it?
>
> Oh well.. confusion will reign until I up the dose or maybe I'll do a few days trial w/o klonopin and see how I feel.
>
> I also seem to lose my equilibrium at times. Sometimes I'm standing at the subway station, and I fall to the side and have to hold on to the wall. It doesn't feel too bad, because the feeling is accompanied by emotional relief, so it doesn't bother me. By emotional relief I mean something like.. a 3rd layer of skin has been added to me. I used to be so sensitive, (what you might call thin skinned) but so bad, to the point that it felt as if I had 3rd degree burns on my skin and anything would hurt/bother me. So this added layer of skin feels great because things don't bother me so much or get to me the way they used to.
>
> Anyway, any comments are welcome/appreciated
Posted by FredPotter on June 19, 2007, at 22:28:29
In reply to Re: 11th day on Nardil.. a bit confused, but ok so far » girlnterrupted78, posted by Jedi on June 19, 2007, at 1:40:28
Jedi your Nardil experience exactly coincides with mine. At 12 weeks I'm actually starting to feel little bouts of suffocating panic. But they don't worry me for some reason. I just breath in for 5 and out for 10. It's not emotionally charged or anything
Fred
Posted by Malcolm664 on June 24, 2007, at 1:45:12
In reply to Re: 11th day on Nardil.. a bit confused, but ok so far » girlnterrupted78, posted by Jedi on June 19, 2007, at 1:40:28
> Hi,
> A lot of your social confidence at this point is probably coming from the clonazepam. I have taken Nardil with clonazepam for most of the past ten
years. Most people starting Nardil take at least three and sometimes six weeks at an effective dose before it starts to kick in. When it did kick in for me it was like being struck by lightning. There was nothing subtle about it. One day I felt like sh*t, the next day I felt great. None of the 45+ combinations of ADs and augmentors has ever done that for me. Some people, myself included will get an initial feeling of euphoria from Nardil. This can best be described as hypomania. If you have been depressed for some time, this can be a very intoxicating feeling, but it is not the true antidepressant response to Nardil. This hypomanic stage is usually shortlived; don't misinterpret the loss of this feeling for a loss of efficacy in the medication.
>
> Nardil with clonazepam has been the only combination to bring me out of at least three major depressions.
> Good Luck,
> Jedi
>Well I made the mistake of misinterpreting the loss of the hypomania and euphoria as meaning that the Nardil had stopped working.
Unfortunately, the doc who prescribed the Nardil didn't have much experience with MAOIS and didn't warn me that the the hypomania was something transient and not the true effect of the drug.
Consequently, we didn't supplement the Nardil with Klonopin or another benzo. As I recall, he just prescribed Lunesta to help me sleep and that was that. The doc I'm seeing now (a psychopharmacologist) would definitely have warned me about the transient effects of the Nardil and cautioned me not to make any drastic life decisions based on my new-found confidence. But for those few wonderful weeks when I was on that Nardil high, I felt literally on top of the world: there was no job interview I couldn't handle, no personal interaction I was afraid of, I literally felt on top of the world and walked around with a smile on my face.
And people responded to me accordingly. It's amazing the reaction you get from strangers when you actually smile. Of course, I wouldn't have been able to do this had it not been for the Nardil.
Now I'm on Parnate (80 mgs + 50 mg Klonopin and 3 mg Lunesta at bed time) and while I don't wake up with quite the same wonderful feeling of euphoria, I still wake up feeling pretty damn good. My insomnia seems to have been diminished greatly ever since I increased the dose of the Klonopin and added the Lunesta.
Of course, it's only been a few weeks since the total remission of my depression and I'm terrified that I will relapse.
But so far, so good. Keeping my fingers crossed.
Malcolm
>
> > I'm on my 11th day on Nardil.
> >
> > It is working, but I am very confused, because unfortunately (or fortunately, whatever that might be) I began taking klonopin 2 weeks before Nardil, just to "be safe" during the washout period when I tapered off Celexa. I just didn't trust myself without any meds and I had to keep my job.
> >
> > So now I don't know what results come from the Klonopin and what is the Nardil really doing.
> >
> > All I know at the moment is that I definitely feel better. I feel a lot more confident, a lot more assertive, and my sense of humor is (partially) back. I really couldn't smile, let alone laugh, before. Now I'm laughing my a-off at work and I'm getting positive responses from people, whereas before I used to have a dead-face and would hardly ever smile.
> >
> > I am not in a perfect state yet (the way I was when Celexa peaked 5 years ago) but I can recognize similar antidepressant effects that make me feel a lot better. Emotional strength is one of them. I used to let people walk all over me and I didn't have the strength to say something. Now I don't. The other day, I did tell a coworker pretty calmly to f-off (not with those words, of course) when he was being a jerk, and it was so well-said that he couldn't say much back.
> >
> > I'm still on 45 mgs. I'm going to try to go up to see if that improves things.
> >
> > I wonder though, is it normal to feel a bit of a response so fast with such low dose? I've read people who've reacted to it until the 6th week and on higher doses. I'm wondering why I am feeling relief so fast.. or maybe it's the klonopin? But the klonopin is not supposed to make you assertive/emotionally strong, is it?
> >
> > Oh well.. confusion will reign until I up the dose or maybe I'll do a few days trial w/o klonopin and see how I feel.
> >
> > I also seem to lose my equilibrium at times. Sometimes I'm standing at the subway station, and I fall to the side and have to hold on to the wall. It doesn't feel too bad, because the feeling is accompanied by emotional relief, so it doesn't bother me. By emotional relief I mean something like.. a 3rd layer of skin has been added to me. I used to be so sensitive, (what you might call thin skinned) but so bad, to the point that it felt as if I had 3rd degree burns on my skin and anything would hurt/bother me. So this added layer of skin feels great because things don't bother me so much or get to me the way they used to.
> >
> > Anyway, any comments are welcome/appreciated
>
>
This is the end of the thread.
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