Thanks Noca 
If I well understand, it's a forum with only social anxiety topics here?

I just ask this question because i'm a member of another forum about general psychiatric problems but it seem that I can't find a lot of answers on the other forum, since not a lot of people are have social phobia and anxiety as a main problem...But they are also very nice on that board...it's seem to be the same here...anyway's...
To answer to dss, I don't feel a calming effect on the Parnate, it's seem to be a lot more activiting than the Nardil or the newer drugs, you always want to sleep all day long, even if you drink 10 cups of coffee...

Did you have only a social phobia problem or you have also some comorbidities like general anxiety, panic attacks, depression and agoraphobia?
I have to admit that the general anxiety became my main problem as well as the depression and agoraphobia, but my social anxiety is the main part of the problem. Having social phobia for more than 14 years and never find something to releive it make all of this happen. I do several therapies (CTB) in the past and like I write before, I try everything...exception of the "new" cymbalta, that's the new thing very popular in Canada...but from what I read and also what my psychiatrist say, it's nothing else than a more or less good version of effexor-xr....so not very helpfull for social phobia directly.
The main problem about the newer drugs is that they are safer but not very effectives to threat directly social phobia and anxiety, even if the Paxil and Zoloft are the only ones to be approve for this by the FDA in the States and health Canada. They just relieve some comorbidities like panic attacks with or without agoraphobia, and sometimes they cure the depression that developp with time when the social phobia is not treat well...or depression caused by the use of some drugs like the benzos...or the abuse of alcohol...but even for depression, I never find a good newer drug to treat me well...
Anyway's...I have big hopes about the Parnate...Even if I feel a little bit more anxious on it, at first, I always react fast to side-effects and I feel them always. I tend to have the worst side-effects of the list. It's always like for all the drugs I try. I think my general anxiety make me feel like this, I have a fixation on my body sensations and if I feel something not normal, I begin to feel bad and I do a panic attack...So that's easy to blame the new pill for this...but in fact that's not the pill but just something wrong in my head...
I hope the Parnate will be able to reduce my social phobia anxiety. I'm tired to ne be able to go where I want, when I want, without thinking about 1 000 000 things at the same times, about where I Will have to walk to go there, if I will see peoples I know, if I will be watch by everyone or judge. I'm also a lot tired to not having the abilities to make new friends and to be often alone... And i'm also tired to not having the necessary level of energy to find a good work...or just to finish my university studies...
For the insomnia, I do this since more than 4 years. I can fall asleep very fast at night, less than 10 minutes, but i'm awake after 2 or 3 hours and i'm not able to stay in the bed and fall asleep again. SO I have to leave my bedroom, make others things, open my laptop, take my emails...and I generally return in my bed at 8 or 9 AM...I sleep 1 more hour and I have to do a nap in the middle of the afternoon , at least 1:30 hours...to be able to do something at night with the only friend I have. I worked on that in another CTB I do last year, I had a cedule to respect and days without nap...and it was crazy as hell...I was not able to respect that cedule...I always feel tired, that's not my fault...I also do severe amnenia cause I had a gastric by-pass for the obesity problem I had from my youth to 25 years old. That's not helping for my energy, even if I recieve intravenous iron each month and even if I take oral iron pills everyday...and a lot of others vitamins that my bodies don't absord very well that comes from the food I eat...since I don't digest a lot of food, I also don't digest the vitamins or pills I take. It's why, I can't take a XR version of a medecine...It have to be a regular version not en extend release cause I will not absorb all the drugs in my blood...Well, that's another story...
Since more than 1 1/2 years, I stop the university, I don't work, I had to wait severals months before being able to meet a psychiatrist, I had my reference paper made by my family doctor to take an apointment with a psychiatrist but it's a public health system in the Canada, so I had to wait my turn. The same apply for the therapy...if you don't have the money to afford a private psychologist, you have to wait your place on the wating list...so I din't have the money for this and I wait more than 1 year...I just begin another CTB therapy 3 weeks ago after all the time I wait...In the mean time, my psychiatrist had 1 year to find a good drug to help me to treat or control my social phobia and my anxiety problems, but my psychiatrist didn't succed to reach that goal before I begin my new therapy...I will have to put more energies and efforts in that therapy and I will also have to fight my social phobia anxiety and cope with my panic attacks problem when I Will do social "exposition"...That's one of the thing I will work on that therapy...Try to change my automatic thinks with positive thinks...
So you can imagine that always have to wait like this before receive some treatments is just a loose of time and it's also not helping because the mental health state always deteriorate...
Anyway's...I will continue to put some update of my progress on Parnate. I'm suppose to up my dosage to 30 mg in 1 or 2 weeks, I have to look at my cedule again, I have a lot of memories problems since a little while...thanks to the benzos drugs!!! :boogie
For
bluebird274, I wish you good luck with the Parnate...like you see, you're not alone in the same boat. You can look at the Nardil topics, since it's similar to the Parnate, except for the Gaba activaties with the Nardil...They have a similar mechanism of action on a lot of neurons...I don't think the gaba effect of Nardil make it a more good drug for social anxiety or phobia. I think in fact that everyone is different, so we all react differently on drug. Some lucky people fall on the good drug at the first try, especially the newer drug with less side effects, but they are exceptional people I think since I never know someone who try only one kind of drug to help with his social phobia problem. What I can say, after 14 years searching for the good drug, i'm not a desesperate case and I have big hopes about finding the good one for me. So, continue and persiste....i'm sure you will have some relief of your symptoms soon...

Think that you are one of the lucky person who find a GOOD doctor to help you, MAOI's are not common prescribe drugs and a lot of doctors fear them. You are lucky to have a good doctor like that. Yeah, maybe you will feel more side-effects on a MAOI's, and maybe you will find the diet to be a little bit hard to follow (don't care about it, just don't eat not fresh protein products and blue cheese...) but a lot of studies show a more good success rate and remission on them...Too bad, we can't find studies who compare old MOAI'S with newer drugs...but i'm sure the newer drug will have very low results compare with the MAOI's... I know some studies exists about TCA's and SSRI's comparaison, but they show similars results. I read somewhere ( I don't remember where, I think it's a book...) but I read that MAOI'S give between 60-85% of success rates, compare with 15-20% with the SSRI'S (Paxil, Zoloft) and the SRNI'S drugs (effexor, cymbalta...)...so you can see the difference. If MAOI's don't work, don'T be dissapointed like I was with the Nardil experience, i'm sure you will find something!!!
Take care of you, and post your progress here !!! Bye
