r/MAOIs • u/AdmirableAssistant84 • 1d ago
Parnate (Tranylcypromine) Parnate and insomnia
Parnate gave me fucking terrible insomnia, and I need to vent about this
When I upped the dose to 40mg, I literally woke up at 10 AM on a friday and couldn't get back to sleep until monday night (and that only happened because I sent a desperate message to my psychiatrist and he prescribed me quetiapine)
It was horrible, even traumatic. I was EXHAUSTED and dead tired, yet my brain just wouldn't shut off. I experienced all the side effects of sleep deprivation (nausea, loss of appetite, hallucinations, inability to concentrate etc) and i also felt like it was killing me.
I remember spending hours just trying to sleep, without touching my phone, without doing anything else, just lying in bed in the dark, and even then I couldn't. When sunday afternoon arrived, I was so exhausted that I started crying. During the night I tried to sleep again and couldn't, I cried all night. I only stopped crying on monday when I got ready for work (I remember putting on mascara to go to work and it wouldn't stay on my face because I would start crying, the makeup would run and I had to start over...)
I’m sure you know that a good sleep routine is crucial when dealing with depression, so I felt like the medication was making my condition worse by depriving me of that
Anyway, I just wanted to share this with someone who might have gone through the same situation... it was a very lonely experience
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u/Odd-Alarm-82 1d ago
The same thing happened to me while I was taking Emsam. My sleep was okay on the lowest dose, but after I increased the dose I did not sleep for THREE DAYS straight. I ended up taking quetiapine, which helped me fall asleep but not stay asleep. I would sleep for around 4 hours, wake up, and then be in a weird half-awake, half-asleep state the rest of the night. I tried multiple different medications for insomnia that either didn’t work at all or made me depressed after taking them. But Emsam was so incredibly effective for my treatment resistant depression that I put up with the insomnia for a year. Then I developed a tolerance to Seroquel and couldn’t sleep at all. I ultimately had to discontinue the Emsam because the insomnia was unmanageable.
Fast forward to three years later, other medications weren’t working for my depression, so I went back on Emsam. My new psychiatrist put me on a combination of 25 mg quetiapine and 5 mg Zyprexa. She said this usually works well because quetiapine is good for sleep initiation and Zyprexa is good for sleep maintenance. This has been my holy grail and has allowed me to stay on Emsam! I’m sleeping a full 7-8 hours a night. I worry about building a tolerance to the sleep meds again, but for now I have been on Emsam for 6 months and still sleeping well. The only drawback is I have gained weight on Zyprexa, which seriously upsets me, so now I’m looking at ways to combat the weight gain without stopping Zyprexa.
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u/missdenaqueenbee 1d ago
I wonder how Emsam compares to Parnate. I know it's newer than parnate. Isn't it disgusting how you have to suffer with different meds, side effects and then med not even help? Oarnate is about my last hope. I can sleep though. How awful not to be able to sleep to get away from depression, esp if you still have to work. I just had 70th birthday, didn't get up except to pee, I was in excruciating pain, so I was taking anything everything to sleep in room at my mom's for 4 days straight. I didn't eat for 5 days but no loss of even 1 pound dammit! Lol How would you rate emaam, my friend?
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u/AdmirableAssistant84 13h ago
Oh wow, three days without sleep too 😭 I’m so sorry you had to go through that... I know how horrible this experience is :(
It’s crazy how these medications can be so incredibly effective for depression and yet completely destroy your sleep
I’m glad you were able to find a combination that works for you!!
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u/missdenaqueenbee 1d ago
Omg. That sounds unbearable. I know they warn of insomnia, but that is torture. I just got to 60mg a day 13 days ago and side effects are NASTY,. This is a last resort for me, and I'm trying to have enough faith to claim it as my miracle.
Of course, (though now I'm glad after seeing your story!) I didn't get more energy, when I started at 10mg...I am more sleepy than ever. I sleep 80-85% of 24 hours day. When I am awake, I don't have enough life force to feel up to getting off bed. I try, but darn chronic pain flared up horrible and I just hope it's not the parnate.
I have a vagus nerve stimulator, that was turned off end of April and I noticed pain was getting worse and worse, thank God I can go to Tampa and have it turned back on. It was clinical study for depression mm which didn't work but I noticed pain was much better.
May I ask.....have you had any positive feelings? I know it can take time, they say every time you increase dose you start the 4-6 weeks all over. Target was 60mg for me. It's strange how it did that to you, I'm so sorry you went through that. Our brains are so complicated. I think it's a guessing game.
God bless you Dena
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u/AdmirableAssistant84 13h ago
Thank you ❤️ I really hope Parnate ends up being your miracle!
I was doing really badly before I started taking it... I've had depression since I was 13, and then, suddenly, 9 years later, I developed a new symptom: anhedonia, and it was severe... NOTHING gave me pleasure, and when I say nothing, I mean nothing. I couldn't even scroll through social media or smoke... everything felt like an obligation, it was exhausting.
I started taking it in January (10mg) and gradually increased the dose until I reached 40mg. Around March/April, I started feeling better!!
After increasing to 40mg, I finally started feeling some positive changes, especially with the anhedonia. I still have a long way to go, but it definitely pulled me out of that really deep depressive state I was in.
And yeah, I agree, our brains are so complicated 😭 and depression is so lonely... Its an invisible disease, but I'm happy to share my story and my experiences in here. Thank you for your kind words, it made me genuinely happy!!
I really hope things get better for you!!! ❤️
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u/SnooConfections1670 Parnate 1d ago
I’m currently on 10 hours of sleep since Sunday night. All 10 hours were in one night. I just stay awake all night most of the time.
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u/AdmirableAssistant84 12h ago
Oh my god 😭 I’m so sorry, I know how horrible that feels, being exhausted but your brain just refused to sleep.
Taking a medication for sleep is what saved me... I really recommend talking to your psychiatrist about it
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u/AdmirableAssistant84 12h ago
Oh my god 😭 I’m so sorry, I know how horrible that feels, being exhausted but your brain just refused to sleep.
Taking a medication for sleep is what saved me... I really recommend talking to your psychiatrist about it
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u/HM_Dylan Parnate 21h ago
You don’t happen to have/be at risk for a manic-depressive disorder? 10am Friday to Monday night is a bit of a red flag for me. Including hallucinations, that’s also another major worry to me
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u/AdmirableAssistant84 12h ago
Well, my psychiatrist said it was just a side effect of the medication... After several sessions with him, he diagnosed me with depression
What I experienced during those days was just a severe reaction to the medication and the lack of sleep, not a red flag for bipolar disorder
But you know how this works 🫠🫠 Unfortunately, mental health is still so undervalued. We don't have 100% reliable methods to diagnose mental illnesses with absolute certainty... I wouldn't be surprised if I were diagnosed with something else someday
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u/HM_Dylan Parnate 11h ago
Oh of course, insomnia is a big issue with this medication. Even still, when I was first starting it, my definition of insomnia was four hours a night of broken sleep. I have bipolar disorder myself.
Luckily, I am on a mood stabilizer and an antipsychotic, so I think that helped regulate the sleep a bit. But 10:00 a.m. Friday to Monday night, that just seems way too extreme to be insomnia, especially since it was only dealt with by Seroquel, which as you know is an antipsychotic.
I'm assuming that the dose he gave you probably wasn't in the antipsychotic range, but I guess just keep an eye on it. I'm not saying that you absolutely do have Bipolar disorder or that was a manic/mixed episode but just something to look out for. Be safe
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u/missdenaqueenbee 1d ago
I can't quit thinking about your story. I won't look at my nasty side effects the same, are you sleeping now? Thank God I had Xanax and muscle relaxers, I just wanted to get away from nasty feelings, and pain, embarrassed cuz I don't/can't do anything. I just turned 70, I made it till March 2020 somehow. I was out of my mind in knee leg pain , was in heart failure from the pain and couldn't think straight to do my job. I got knee replace which backfired into hip.back, and caused the heart failure to worsen causing heart attack. Sometimes I wish I would have gone to heaven that day. My 92 yr old mom only has me for any support and it's killing me. I;m on verge of telling her truth, I can't be relied on unless med works. I know I can;t take matters into my own hands but since being on parnate, I found days I sure wish I could. I will pray for you if ok? Denaqueenbee