Amethyst Posted January 30, 2006 Share Posted January 30, 2006 Hi everyone. I'm new here. I was just wondering if anyone else is on any old school ADs. I am on amitriptyline. I'm not even at the normal dose yet and already feeling a difference. I was on paxil and celexa and they did nothing but make me manic (I'm BP). Wellbutrin seemed to make a difference after many months, but then again that could have been the part of the cycle I was in or because of a decrease in my mood stabilizer. That got me thinking though, that serotonin is not my problem. Anyone else fail with SSRIs and have some luck with these old school meds. (Desiprimine was another candidate). THanks, Ameth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harmony Posted January 30, 2006 Share Posted January 30, 2006 Hi Amethyst! I was on Pamelor (nortryptiline) for about 3 years after trying Prozac, Paxil, Effexor, Celexa, and Remeron. I pretty sure I'm forgetting a few. Oh yeah, and good old Welbutrin I took for a week and it made me nutso psychotic. Any way, after years of dicking around with those, I went on Pamelor and it was the only antidepressant that ever stood the test of time for me. The other ones would make me a little hypomanic for a few weeks and crap out. It made me feel so good in fact, that I decided that I must be cured of depression and slowly weaned myself off of it.(The withdrawls are killer). About 6 months later I could feel myself backsliding, 1 year later I could barely function from the crazy mood swings. My doctor put me back on prozac, (trying to test his bipolar theory on me I think), and whereas I'm feeling better than I was, I still have breakthrough depressive craziness. On my next visit, I think I'm going to request Pamelor again. It was my favorite drug that I love to hate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fiona Posted January 31, 2006 Share Posted January 31, 2006 I took a bit of a tour of 'modern' AD's myself, individually and in various combinations. I don't think I've ever taken a tricyclic as my primary AD, but I have taken nortiptyline, amitriptyline, and desipramine with various levels of success as 'helpers.' I take Parnate now, an MAOI, and while the diet can be a pain it (with the Lamictal and Seroquel I've been taking a long time now) more or less lifted my depression -- fairly quickly -- and is continuing to do so a year later. Nothing is going to pry me away from my Parnate. MAOIs are effective, but the diet issues and potential side effects generally make them 'last or near last resort' meds. Fiona Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amethyst Posted January 31, 2006 Author Share Posted January 31, 2006 Hi Amethyst! I was on Pamelor (nortryptiline) for about 3 years after trying Prozac, Paxil, Effexor, Celexa, and Remeron. I pretty sure I'm forgetting a few. Oh yeah, and good old Welbutrin I took for a week and it made me nutso psychotic. Any way, after years of dicking around with those, I went on Pamelor and it was the only antidepressant that ever stood the test of time for me. The other ones would make me a little hypomanic for a few weeks and crap out. It made me feel so good in fact, that I decided that I must be cured of depression and slowly weaned myself off of it.(The withdrawls are killer). About 6 months later I could feel myself backsliding, 1 year later I could barely function from the crazy mood swings. My doctor put me back on prozac, (trying to test his bipolar theory on me I think), and whereas I'm feeling better than I was, I still have breakthrough depressive craziness. On my next visit, I think I'm going to request Pamelor again. It was my favorite drug that I love to hate. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> nortryptiline and desprimine were the other two possibilities. I seem to do well with the old drugs and my dr (although not my pdoc) is not too concerned about rx'ing me the newest latest thing on the market, like most do. Thanks for sharing your experience, Ameth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amethyst Posted January 31, 2006 Author Share Posted January 31, 2006 I took a bit of a tour of 'modern' AD's myself, individually and in various combinations. I don't think I've ever taken a tricyclic as my primary AD, but I have taken nortiptyline, amitriptyline, and desipramine with various levels of success as 'helpers.' I take Parnate now, an MAOI, and while the diet can be a pain it (with the Lamictal and Seroquel I've been taking a long time now) more or less lifted my depression -- fairly quickly -- and is continuing to do so a year later. Nothing is going to pry me away from my Parnate. MAOIs are effective, but the diet issues and potential side effects generally make them 'last or near last resort' meds. Fiona <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Interesting idea of the TCAs as helper drugs. If I had to pick a new drug to stay on it would be wellbutrin because it did finally seem to be helping some. But hey, if the amitriptyline does it okay on it's own, who am I to argue. It seems to me that the TCAs have less of chance of putting me in a manic frenzy (at least in my experience), which is good considering I barely am on a mood stabilizer. I was quite suprised to see that you are on an MAOI because I thought with the side effects and all they mustn't be rx'd any more. I guess I was wrong. Thanks for the post, Ameth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fiona Posted January 31, 2006 Share Posted January 31, 2006 I was quite suprised to see that you are on an MAOI because I thought with the side effects and all they mustn't be rx'd any more. I guess I was wrong. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> It's a last resort issue -- I had a choice between Parnate (which had worked when I'd taken it for a limited time in the past) or ECT. Suddenly, Parnate looked really really desirable -- despite my thinking that cheese is/was a food group. Fiona Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
null0trooper Posted February 1, 2006 Share Posted February 1, 2006 Hi everyone. I'm new here. I was just wondering if anyone else is on any old school ADs. I am on amitriptyline. I'm not even at the normal dose yet and already feeling a difference. I was on paxil and celexa and they did nothing but make me manic (I'm BP). Wellbutrin seemed to make a difference after many months, but then again that could have been the part of the cycle I was in or because of a decrease in my mood stabilizer. That got me thinking though, that serotonin is not my problem. Anyone else fail with SSRIs and have some luck with these old school meds. (Desiprimine was another candidate). THanks, Ameth <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Huh. I've always considered Wellbutrin to be one of those "if it works it works great, if/once it doesn't it really really doesn't" meds. Not a lot of middle ground. If the problem is high serotonin or sensitivity to it , Parnate can be a coin toss. In my case, I've had it with the facial muscle (and other) spasms and the obsession-driven insomnia. At least I didn't wait for the hyperpyrexia. I'll be starting desipramine myself tomorrow. (Edit: Oh yeah. Regarding the SSRIs - Not Good for me. YMWV) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amethyst Posted February 1, 2006 Author Share Posted February 1, 2006 Huh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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