Parnate for Depression User Reviews (Page 4)

• ssr...
• June 12, 2016

"I've dealt with major depressive disorder for 22 years and have always had to be on several antidepressants at one time. They only lessened my symptoms in the best of cases, but did nothing most of the time. I've been on every antidepressant in addition to things like risperdal as an adjunct. I was on 450mg Wellbutrin, 60mg Remeron, and 120mg Cymbalta concurrently with no effect when I decided to take the MAOI plunge. That was 18 months ago. It's truly amazing to feel normal. I'd forgotten what that felt like. I do have to say the first couple of months were the most brutal med adjustment I've ever been through. Very glad I hung in and didn't give up."

• Jim...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• April 28, 2016

"After trying many more modern antidepressants, which I found uncongenial due to primary or side effects, I tried Parnate. From the initial dose, I felt a lift in my mental state, and although I have had to increase the dosage to maintain this improvement, it is certainly worth the dietary restriction hassles. The only bugbear is difficulty in getting to sleep, and having to take sleeping medication to cope, with the unwanted effects that come with using them. Overall, though, Parnate has been most useful."

• Jay...
• Taken for 6 months to 1 year
• March 3, 2016

"This med really kills the depression and anxiety I have had for years. The best advice I can give is, if it doesn't seem to be working, try switching to the brand name. Generic versions don't seem to work as well."

• Anonymous
• March 1, 2016

"I have been on 48 different medications, of all the drug classes used for anxiety and depression. I can honestly say, the same day I took this medication at 10mg, I felt calmer. This truly knocks anxiety completely out of the water. My depression is also in total remission. I also am not experiencing any side effects. This is a wonderful medicine, despite the bad reputation they have."

• Jus...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• February 7, 2016

"I have found that people around me say that I have improved and seem better. Yet, inside, I still feel like I'm in a deep, dark hole. I've only been on 40 mg for 3 months, however. As for increased sex drive?! When does that happen? It's killed my sex life. Have lost a lot of weight due to food restrictions, but needed to shed a few kilos. I also find it messes with my bladder. Anyone else have this issue? Some days I can pee, no problems, others, it's just painful, and I struggle to pass urine even when busting to go! Though after reading others' stories, it gives me hope that this drug will bring me out of the darkness... as I'm really over being in here. (I had a nervous breakdown.)"

• Jul...
• November 6, 2015

"I've been taking Parnate for 8 weeks now. It has helped my depression, PTSD tremendously. I started off at 20 mg, and now I'm at 30 mg. I follow the strict diet and don't allow myself to have anything with tyramine. (Maybe I'm a little too cautious?) The side effects that I can't stand, but I tolerate, are BP drop, dizzy almost fall over, extreme fatigue when Parnate is supposed to give you energy. I will stay in a place for some time like I have no ambition. I have lost a lot of weight on Parnate. That has to be the best side effect! :) Rarely have an appetite, nor do I care to drink anything half the time. I wish I knew what to do so I don't get those horrible dizzy spells. They happen maybe 5 or more times a day, and I have to hold on to the wall."

• zir...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• October 2, 2015

"I have had depression for over 10 years (I am 47 years old). I would say that in the last two years, I was in bed 90% of the time without the strength to hold a pen. I only had a bath every three months. And when they took me to a psychiatric hospital, the doctor explained a lot to me, mostly about diet, 80%. I talked to my doctor here and started taking Parnate. In the first few days, I noticed an improvement, and today, I am five months out of bed. I even made a website to help people with depression. I shared my whole story, including almost suicide, etc. My doctor suggested ESKALITH."

• bro...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• August 5, 2015

"Parnate is the second-greatest thing to ever happen to my brain, second only to ECT. I started it in the hospital. Before Parnate, I was spending about 22 hours per day in bed. Now I am in bed just at night. I have started to laugh again. I'm looking for work after being unable to hold down a job for over 2 years. My parents see the improvement too, and they are really pleased. Just be careful. Everyone talks about the food interactions, but you also got to be aware of the medication interactions, those can be deadly. I had a hypertensive crisis as a result of a drug interaction that nearly ended things. Before Parnate, I would have viewed that as a missed opportunity, but now I want to live again!"

• pet...
• July 22, 2015

"I took Parnate in the hospital. It's the second most wonderful thing to ever have happened to my brain, after ECT. But it tried to kill me. But that was due to a drug interaction. Don't take a high dose of Parnate (60 mg) with more than 150 mg of trazodone. I did. I had two hypertensive crises. My BP was 208/163. It was extremely painful. But I would go back to Parnate in a second, just without the trazodone. Look up the drugs it interacts with before you take something with it. I felt cheerful, I started laughing again for the first time in years. Until the hypertensive stuff happened, my team was talking discharge. And I came in very sick. Parnate is great."

• Ana...
• July 20, 2015

"I tried at least 7 or 8 'traditional' antidepressants. They never worked at all. Quite the opposite; I had to take benzo because I became tremendously violent and aggressive. My doctor finally decided that he had no option but to prescribe Parnate, for which you need a special license in my country. What a difference! Finally, no depression, no aggression, nothing. Just feeling good. I didn't feel drugged up; just felt like myself. Wonderful feeling! Yes, I do miss cheese sandwiches and I have to take sleeping pills, but it's so worth it."

• Anonymous
• Taken for 5 to 10 years
• July 19, 2015

"Have taken Parnate for 5 years. Tried 5-10 other medications before trying Parnate. Had a bad reaction to most of these - worsening depression and anxiety. Currently taking 80 mg of Parnate, which is above the normal therapeutic range. Have a few side effects that still come and go, including daytime fatigue/some tachycardia right after dosing. Take 30 mg in the morning, 20 mg in the afternoon, and 30 mg in the evening. When I started taking it, I had pretty bad orthostatic hypotension for a week or two. The medicine works well. Depression and anxiety have been kept at bay for 5 years. I can enjoy life. Highly recommended."

• Pra...
• May 24, 2015

"MAOIs surpass all other groups of contemporary antidepressants in my biased opinion. Unlike other medications, Parnate enriched me with clarity and motivation and just simply made me feel better. You adjust to the effects over time, but it still makes me functional where I was once disabled. I owe this venerable chemical my gratitude, despite the one horrific yet transient reaction I've encountered on it."

• moh...
• Taken for 5 to 10 years
• November 22, 2014

"Only antidepressant to quell my panic attacks and lessen my emotional reactivity. Only downside is ruined sleep and constant vigilance to prohibited foods and medicines. Also developed a bad sweet tooth. But you will definitely feel much better."

• Bil...
• October 27, 2014

"I've spent so many years battling crippling depression, and trying almost every medication on the market. I know the feeling of sleeping for 12 hours and not getting anything accomplished because depression controls everything you do. After trying multiple medications and seeing multiple doctors, I FINALLY found a psychiatrist that suggested I try an MAOI. Parnate has been a miracle for me. It knocked my depression out of the park! I've been on Parnate for 3 months (with a combination of Lamictal) and my life has completely changed for the better. I feel like the person that I want to be. If you're reading this and suffer from crippling depression, I would highly suggest you talk to a doctor about taking Parnate."

• meg...
• March 26, 2014

"I have been on Parnate for about 3 weeks. Am finding the insomnia really hard, as in the day I can be really tired, like fatigue at times, and am unsure whether this is coming from switching medicines, Zoloft to Parnate, or from just the Parnate, and not being able to sleep properly."

• Anonymous
• Taken for 2 to 5 years
• January 4, 2014

"Parnate is a great medicine. It will mess with your sleep cycle and cause severe insomnia, but other than that, it's great. It improves mood, lowers anxiety (not perfectly, but enough), improves sex drive, and gives you energy. In my case, I welcomed slight weight loss. I've taken up to 40 mg a day. It's very important to take Parnate either in the morning or at 2 pm. If taken in the morning, it may cause drowsiness at around 2 pm. Take food warnings seriously. If I eat the wrong food, my blood pressure definitely increases."

• Jak...
• July 11, 2013

"So far, it is much better and with fewer side effects than Celexa, Pristiq, Wellbutrin, Remeron, or Viibryd. The main issue is anxiety, and this medicine stops it like nothing else. It is in a whole different class. Still finding out how it is going to work on my 'zest for life' and other symptoms of depression. Still a long way to go."

• Los...
• Taken for 10 years or more
• February 2, 2013

"Been on Parnate (tranylcypromine) for about 17 years. Like many others, I felt like a guinea pig when I was first diagnosed. I went through about a dozen different psychiatrists. They all just tried different meds to find one that would work. I or anyone else could have done that. One convinced me to have ECT, which I did against my better judgment. It was a nightmare of torture! After the first two, I lost all sense of time as well as my memory. I had 14 ECT treatments and was nothing more than a zombie! To get it to stop, I said I wasn't depressed anymore. Finally found a doctor that used Parnate."

• deb...
• Taken for 1 to 2 years
• December 20, 2012

"I have been on Parnate for 1 year now. I have been on many other antidepressants. Parnate has certainly worked for me. There are still some days that I feel just a little down, but nothing compared to the major depression I had suffered. Before my doctor put me on Parnate, I had been hospitalized and underwent ECT successfully. Now I feel good finally. I do have to watch the foods because I hyperventilate and also have severe diarrhea. Plus, I am on 50 mg of Seroquel in the morning and 100 mg in the evening. Parnate is 10 mg x a day, which is low compared to some people."

• Joh...
• Taken for 5 to 10 years
• November 15, 2012

"5 years on Parnate. Have tried numerous antidepressants and psycho drugs, this is the only one that has worked. Also take 2 mg/day Suboxone, it helps somehow."

• Ork...
• November 9, 2012

"It may include some side effects, I used it, and I prefer Parnate with some side effects versus depression. That's my experience."

• Anonymous
• November 19, 2011

"I have been treated for severe cyclic depressions (atypical), anxiety, and OCD since college and I am 47. Without effective medication, my illness is debilitating. In 1993, after trying many different antidepressants, I urged my psychiatrist to prescribe me the monoamine oxidase inhibitor, Nardil. Wow... somebody switched the lights on and the symptoms off. 90% of the time I was in remission with only brief minor periods of symptoms. Nardil was reformulated and stopped working, so I switched to Parnate. 160mg/day give 100% symptom relief (with 1200mg/day lithium). I mentally feel like I'm 20, bursting with mental energy. Many considered me brilliant prior to Parnate, but after years on it, my cognitive skills, retention, and creativity reached a new level."

• Anonymous
• November 19, 2010

"Side effects are terrible. They include diarrhea, dry mouth, in my case weight gain, it also made me agitated. I have been trying to withdraw from it and now have neuromuscular symptoms of cramping, teeth grinding, eye blinking."

• ret...
• January 17, 2010

"I give it a 10, and I would give SSRIs and SNRIs only a 5. It's our first experience with MAOIs and it's still early days. But what a difference with fatigue (none). Other side effects, in our case, are minimal or non-existent. I wonder what percentage of people actually notice severe side effects (maybe less than 20%). It appears that MAOIs are well known these days. I presume it's because they are old generic drugs (not covered by active patents) and hence will not get high advertising budgets from the pharmaceutical companies. I also presume that many GPs have no knowledge of this class of drugs or that these are too risky, adverse (side effects) to recommend a trial. It took us at least 7 years of battling depression and fatigue before we found out!"

• Anonymous
• September 19, 2009

"After 15 years of SSRIs and SNRIs, I was told to consider shock therapy or Parnate. Parnate is a miracle drug as far as I am concerned. At 47, I seem to have the energy that I had in my 20s and 30s. I am taking Ambien to deal with the side effect of insomnia and it's working great. For once, I seem to be able to synchronize up with the rest of the world. The special diet required has not been a problem so far. I seem to have a problem with almonds, but cheese pizza (non-aged cheese only!) is still okay."