On SSRIS: I had WAY MORE side effects: probably increased depression, zero motivation, all loss of sexual function, felt like a zombie, weight gain, i could just go on...
On Nardil: NO WEIGHT GAIN (actually have lost weight), appetite is down to normal, no crazy carbohydrate cravings, I eat cheese all the time. I've eaten cheddar, montery jack, swiss, mozzeralla.. pretty much everything except blue cheese bc i know that can be serious. Only problems i have now are insomnia which i had before (its worse than before admittedly), inorgasmia which is supposed to pass (not worried about it), and some tempory urinary retention which lasted like two days.
Tips to reduce nardil side effects : Take your doses with food! It definitely reduces the side effects. I was having reduced libido and hypotension, but as soon as I took my doses with food, those SE's faded. Some people might say it makes the medication less effective but I dont really buy that. I've been doing great.
When I took nardil on an empty stomach it seemed more activating,and I could feel it entering my system which made me sort of uncomfortable. Now when I take it with food, its just a smooth relaxing feeling all day long.
For those who are scared to take nardil because of what they have heard, please consider this medication. Im sure many of you will benefit from it. My pdoc said that theres a 60% chance a patient will strongly respond to either nardil or parnate. I'm sticking with nardil because I can definitely notice the gaba effect.
I can still drink beer but i do so in moderation. why? Because I feel pretty intoxicated after just 2-3 beers (probably all the extra gaba in my brain) when it normally takes about 6-7 to get a really good buzz. I've also been able to reduce my benzo dosage. I never really took them regularly, just prn and sleep sometimes. I took a .5mg kpin that normally would just take the edge off, and felt like i took 1.5mg. I prefer now to not even use benzos or alcohol in social situations because i feel more confident just being sober. I went over with my gf last weekend to hang with a bunch of her friends. Before nardil, just her suggesting we go over there would cause panic. Now im like yea definitely, and dont think twice about it. I had all the her friends laughing and they thought i was a different person. I was normally so quiet before but now i was being a smartass and having a good time.
Good lord.. Can't believe i wrote this much. I just really wanted to share my experience with everyone. Give nardil a shot. Its not a scary drug at all. Just slowly work your dosage up starting at 15mg for a week, then add on more pill each week until you get to 60mg. Stay there for like 3-4 weeks until you see results. If you are having success on 60mg just stay there for a while and see if you need any adjusting later on. And dont be scared if you have to reduce your dosage for some reason.
I started having urinary retention. mainly because I was taking tons of magnesium at night and partly because I was taking all 60mg together at once in the morning. My pdoc told me to go to 15 mg until I could piss normally. I had the retention for like 3 days and was getting worried that I would have to get off of nardil or start flomax so I went to pray about it in church, and the priest gave a blessing and prayed over me. That night something inside me decided to stop taking my ZMA (zinc magnesium aspartate) which helps me sleep and have been taking everynight for over a year. The next day my urinary retention started to improve.. A couple days later it was back to normal. I stayed at 30mg Nardil for probably a week and actually felt better than I was on 60mg before the retention, but I thought it was bc the nardil had longer to work. So now im back up to 60 mg and feeling great.
Supplements that helped me a ton this past semester: I took vitamin b complex in the morning with a few grams l glutamine, and took the glutamin again with 100mg b6 at night. When you combine b6 with glutamine your body synthesizes gaba. Taking GABA supplements cant cross the blood brain barrier, but glutamine can. And B6 is required to turn the glutamine into gaba. This combination definitely helped me with sleep this past year and lowered my anxiety levels enough so I could maintain having a girl friend. Taurine also works on gaba and can calm your mind.
I don't take these supplements now that I'm on Nardil but they definitely were one of the more effective combos that I used.
If you are taking nardil you need to be supplementing with B6 bc nardil depletes it. B6 helps in neurotransmitter synthesis and is important in making gaba, which is why nardil is effective on social anxiety.
Now my regimen in the morning is:
wake up 7am (i usually sleep late but insomnia..)
take 2 B complex pills (contains 50mg b6)
Multivitamin
B6 100mg pill
3000 iu vitamin D (definitely improves mood, was tested months ago and came up low on the scale)
(If I feel anxious this combo settles me down pretty quickly) 50mg zinc for libido (used to be in my ZMA but i avoid the magnesium now)
I eat a light snack (bowl of cereal)
Take 2 nardil pills
My first class is at 12pm so right before
I eat my second bowl of cereal
Take 2 more nardil pills (that gives me about 5 hours between doses)
Its weird because ever since I started Nardil my appetite has been way down. I either get out of class at 2pm or 5pm and then I get something to eat, but by bed time I still feel full. So im only eating 2 meals a day. Usually im constantly hungry.. but whatever, it helps me maintain my weight.
NEED SLEEP ADVICE!!!!!!<<<<<<<<
So once I started having severe insomnia for and did not sleep for 4 days my dad prescribed me a few lorazepam at 1mg per night. Didnt do much, so my other pdoc prescribed me lorazepam 3mg per night. Started sleeping like a baby. Did that for like 2-3 weeks and then my girlfriend for the weekend. I had noticed a tolerance beginning to develop and she is hard to sleep with so i went up to 4mg for two nights. After she left 3mg never worked again, neither did 4mg... Since then I've tried ambien, didnt work and gave me daytime anxiety. I've tried temazepam up to 60 mg and got a few hours of sleep but not sufficient. I've taking doxylamine up to 100mg with no response. I dont want to use trazodone because in the past it gave me really bad hangovers/headaches. One night I took 2mg klonopin, no response, so i added two vistaril, a few hours later i took 4 mg ativan, a few hours later i took 2 doxylamine, and about like 5 in the morning i took a lunesta and got 2 hours of sleep. Im talking HARDCORE insomnia here.. Any suggestions?
Night Regimen
Melatonin (1.5-3mg) its never done much for me
Temazepam 60mg? makes me sedated but not enough to sleep
I know I made this post into a novel, but I would greatly appreciate any comments, suggestions of sleep meds.
If you have any questions about nardil, dosage, or anything I am more than happy to respond.
Thanks for reading the story of my life lol,
mr t