Social Anxiety Support Forum banner

Experiencing mania on Nardil

3K views 16 replies 8 participants last post by  Caedmon 
#1 ·
Has anyone here experienced mania (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mania) while taking Nardil? Apparently it is a side effect of the medication. I'm not even necessarily referring to a full-blown manic episode, but a hypomanic episode (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypomania) or something less severe than that, but still manic in quality. I actually had a manic episode myself about two weeks ago, which was technically less severe than hypomania but still manic nonetheless. I've never had anything before like it, and it was a fascinating experience.

In a nutshell: Nardil has almost brought me 100% remission from my major depressive disorder symptoms after suffering from MDD for about six years, and I think it was my such utter relief that the MDD was over which precipitated the manic episode. Basically, I was very eager to show my parents (who I still live with) that I had resolved my depression, so I started cleaning my house like crazy - dusting, organizing, wiping counters and walls, etc. - to prove this to them. This would surprise them greatly, as I would never do this in a million years during the time I was depressed - commonly I would just be asleep all day, get up at 4 pm, stay on the computer until 6 am when I would then go back to sleep, etc.... many of us know the drill here.

So I started intensely cleaning everything like mad, for hours and hours on end without breaks. I remember getting extremely excited, to the point where I couldn't sleep at night after a day's work of cleaning, so I would just get up and clean throughout the night. I also remember feeling fairly intense euphoria at specific points. I also started getting insane thoughts. For example, I started dreaming up these fantastic renovation ideas requiring a great amount of labour and costing over a thousand dollars (money I didn't have, except on credit), such as replacing old sinks and taps, and buying a new, better ceiling fan and toaster oven for the kitchen. I was going to preform all the renovations overnight as a surprise for my family in the morning.

The whole point of this was to show to my family that I had gotten better, as they have been quite concerned over my state of mind during the last several years (I have a close relationship with my parents). Of course, none of these plans were realistic. They were too expensive and labour-intensive. I did eventually realize that I was having some sort of crazy episode - by this time I hadn't slept for almost 48 hours - and I found the concept of mania on Wikipedia and realized that I must be going through something like that. So I immediately came to my senses, forced myself to drop all my plans, realized I was feeling physically sick, went to my room, took a sleeping pill and forced myself to sleep.

Since then I've had no more manic episodes, but I find that I still have to beat back manic thoughts more than occasionally. The mania episode I described was at 60 mg/day (this is after about a month of Nardil) and the manic thoughts went away after some time at that dose, but have resurfaced lately, as I have recently jumped to 75 mg/day.

Does anyone relate to mania on Nardil? I'm also interested to hear mania stories in general.
 
See less See more
#5 ·
Ah, interesting. It's good you experienced only the positive effects of mania, which I hear is quite possible. My mania experience was overall quite negative, I'd say - it felt pretty horrible when I think about it after the fact, and I wouldn't want to experience it again.
 
#3 ·
Seems common to Nardil. Mood destabilization is generally not good for long term mental health. Hypomania increases the likelihood of a subsequent relapse. You may want to look at something other than Nardil.
 
#4 ·
Seems common to Nardil. Mood destabilization is generally not good for long term mental health. Hypomania increases the likelihood of a subsequent relapse. You may want to look at something other than Nardil.
Lol NO WAY!!!! Nardil is very likely literally the best thing that has ever happened to me. I've gotten almost full MDD remission and excellent SAD remission. The only way I am coming off this medication is over a slowly dying body chock full of tumors caused by it, or something.

The manic thoughts do go away after some time. I think it is just the dose increase which caused them. But thanks for the advice anyways.
 
#7 ·
But why would I want to give my hypomania away? It's so full of benefits, I feel good and very hyper, I get get alot of things done, I can work longer hours, I can become sick from sleep deprivation, and I can talk and interact socially and I am always on the go. Hypomania should be normal, I'm not telling him about it, this is my useful weapon.
 
#8 ·
I have been on 30 mg Nardil since 1988 and have years of experience on this drug . The dose cannot be sane for everyone but from what you are saying your dose is very high!

If you can tolerate bring it down to 15 mg X 3 daily .

I was taking sleeping meds for 25 years with this drug until two years ago . I can tell you my sleep has been a nightmare on 30 mg day so you must be flying high and feel the way you do because your dose is so high that there is no way you could sleep normally
I still
Lay awake at night fall off to sleep 6 am sleep till 3 but once you get into this sleep cycle it is very hard to break .

I went on insomnia courses with nhs and was advised no matter how tired you feel after no sleep get up carry on your normal day then go to bed sane time each night . Sleep deprivation over several days works as your body has a time clock all of its own

If you play around with it like you are doing you will never get normal sleep times back .

Try to not sleep at all during day for several days and lower your dose

Whoever put you on this dose needs their brains examining

This is a very powerful drug !

The more you take the more you will have the side effects you are experiencing .

Try to get your GP to agree to you taking 10 mg cetirizine antihistamine that should knock you out each night

I take 10 mg temazepan and 5 mg cetirizine it knocks me out

Get some advice from a good psychiatrist who has years of experience re this drug


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
#10 ·
...I went on insomnia courses with nhs and was advised no matter how tired you feel after no sleep get up carry on your normal day then go to bed same time each night ...
:yes Yup basic sleep hygiene.

Sleep deprivation, and staying high from hypomania, is pro-inflammatory and even if you "feel good" it's causing long-term problems.
 
#11 ·
I definitely became manic on Nardil which included having lots of ambitious ideas. I only realized how manic I was being once I went off it. I just wanted to go go go all the time and never take a break. It's much better than being depressed but it catches up to you. If I go back on it, I'd try to augment it with a sleep aid and mood stabilizer. Nardil was wonderful for SA for me.. just need to learn how to tame all the side effects.
 
#15 ·
@YummyYum You might start with this page: http://psycheducation.org/antidepre...ontroversies/ad-controversy-3b-kindling-more/

The author notes:

I fear there may be some people who are indeed "kindled" by antidepressants, so that they experience a form of bipolar disorder they might not have experienced until later in their lives, or perhaps might never have experienced at all. To my mind, this is just a matter of adding two plus two: antidepressants can clearly induce hypomania and/or mania; and manic episodes, at least - and perhaps hypomania as well - may in some patients cause later episodes to be more severe and more likely to recur (the "kindling" concept).

Indeed I have noticed more than a few cases of Nardil poop-out followed by very severe and intractable depression. It's enough that I would be cautious about allowing hypomania to set in.
 
#17 ·
Yeah I think that's a good idea to titrate slowly. Sleep might be a good metric since it's objective. Let Nardil unlock doors for you instead of kicking them down, haha :)
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top