Posted by Elizabeth on March 2, 1999, at 18:50:25
In reply to MAOI Parnate, posted by David on March 2, 1999, at 17:55:36
David, I take Parnate for depression + panic disorder. I had a spontaneous hypertensive episode each time I tried to raise the dose to 30mg, so I am only taking 20. This is an unusual reaction, I gather, at such a low dose.
The only side effects Parnate seems to cause for me are insomnia (although I already had that, it's been worse) and dry mouth (and this got better after I'd taken it for a while). I tried several tricyclics but I could not tolerate their side effects so I never was able to give them an adequate trial, but they might be worth a try for you. Imipramine was the first drug used for panic disorder, and nortriptyline and some (though not all) of the other tricyclics also work.
The MAOI diet is over-hyped. It's really not that bad, and it doesn't need to be that restrictive. Research has actually been done on which foods contain tyramine (the stuff that you're supposed to avoid), and they found that many of the allegedly bad ones don't have any (or only contain tyramine if they are spoiled/overripe). They've also found that a lot of foods are listed as off-limits based on nothing but a single poorly-documented case report. This is bad because when people discover they can "cheat" (because some of the items they were told not to eat are really not dangerous), they may disregard the parts of the diet that really are important (such as aged cheeses).
Overall I think Nardil was better than Parnate for anxiety, but it stopped working after a few months. I think they were both about equally effective for my depression.
Well anyway, good luck.
poster:Elizabeth
thread:3352
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/19990601/msgs/3353.html