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Attempting med washout after decades of crazymeds.. So DONE... with SSRIs, SNRIs, tricyclics, A/Ps, mood stabilizers, been cycling through 2nd & 3rd trials of same damn meds I've already tried... Ritalin officially pooped out on me and I can't get out of bed in the morning. They helped with affective symptoms of depression, but at what cost? I've been (barely) existing in this anhedonic blah wasteland for YEARS. I want to just rip off the band-aid... I'm stable, but can't continue like this.. I feel drained 24/7, doesn't matter what activity. I lack pleasure/motivation/drive to do anything but lay around staring at the wall. My cognition is mush, memory poor, I can't multitask.... I cannot do anything productive (work/maintain job), engage in leisure stuff (sex, read books, enjoy music, socialize) or creative tasks... It all makes me TIRED... Is this my baseline? I'm afraid my brain is permanently disabled from longterm psych meds.. Blood tests, checkups indicate I'm in perfect health. I expect to have sh&tty withdrawals for awhile, but once dust settles - if I do go back on any psych med I want to try an MAOI... I know they are old school (with diet restrictions) but I've read they're proven 100x more effective than SSRIs & SNRIs (particularly for anhedonia, they hit dopamine + serotonin + epinephrine) Can anyone shed light as to WHY no one here mentions/or is taking MAOIs? Pdoc said there aren't many being produced bc they are considered "old" and never prescribed? I've heard loads of testimonials that the no-Tyramine diet is really NO BIG DEAL... So I skip red wine (gives me awful migraines) and stinky old goat cheese (hate it anyway!) Any feedback/ thoughts? I just want to function like a normal human being! Many say Parnate is the only thing that helped lifelong, suicidal depression (after taking all other meds & ECT...) https://www.drugs.com/comments/tranylcypromine/parnate-for-depression.html?sort_reviews=most_helpful

Hi, I'm a 43 yo guy who's been severely depressed since I was 19 and I'm amazed I'm still alive. Antidepressants (and there's very few I haven't tried, including the popular combos) either do nothing, make me more depressed or help partially for a few weeks and then poop-out. I've never had mania/hypomania (other than a period on Abilify). After my stay at an inpatient psych ward in February, a young PDoc added Lithium to my Nardil (which, incidentally has been my most successful med to date but now does nothing) on the hunch that I might be BP2-ish. Whilst I can't say I went "WOO I'M FIXED", the Lithium certainly had a positive effect for a couple of months. Which has since just waned and stopped. So now I'm desperately depressed again. I'm seeing my PDoc soon to discuss alternative BP2 treatments. Top of my list of suggestions (since he is malleable in his dispensing) is Lamictal. But should it be? I read a lot of positive feedback on it's effect on depression but the data says it's poor. Should I perhaps be aiming towards an alternative? There are so many it's quite bewildering and I'm relatively new to the BP2 scenario. Any tips are most appreciated. Pete

Has anyone has experienced weight gain with Emsam, at about 6-9 mg? I've been on antidepressants since I was about 12 (am now 45) and have taken essentially everything under the sun with mixed results. I'm interested now in trying the Emsam patch, but I am terrified of gaining weight. I gained a lot on both Nardil and Parnate, so I am leery any MAOI that claims to be "weight neutral". Water retention is a concern as well...I'm hoping that given that it's a patch and enters directly into the bloodstream, chances of water retention or an effect on glucose or metabolism might be lower. Does anyone have experiences to share? Any insight would be appreciated!

Anyone been on Nardil or other MAOIs? I'm not real excited about the diet and potential side effects but I'm willing to try anything at this point. I've tried tons of ADs, AAPs, mood stabilizers, just about everything except tricyclics, plus a failed round of TMS. Really hoping Nardil is the answer. any experiences or tips are appreciated!

Hi everybody! A while ago I asked about switching to MAOIs from tricyclics. I ended up switching from imipramine to clomipramine instead with (surprise!) no results. Now I'm actually making the switch from clomipramine to Nardil/phenelzine. I just wanted to know of anybody who has been on Nardil, what side effects they had and how they found it, especially those suffering from severe or treatment resistant depression. I have a history of serotonin syndrome which worries me a bit but I'm going up slow (15mg a week) with a seven day washout. Hopefully, since my SS is usually caused by combinations of tricyclics with Pristiq, I will be okay but I'd like to know if anybody else has had problems and what helped/didn't. I am scared but I always hate switching meds and I'm pretty miserable at the moment as well. If anybody wants to talk to me that'd be great. I'm exhausting myself worrying and just want concrete information, be it good or bad, to arm myself against the fancy conjured by my imagination. Thanks gang.