Thank you so much everyone for all your wonderful posts about your experiences on EMSAM. Like many of you can relate, I'm sure, I've been struggling the past 10 years with the horrible downs, paranoia and anxiety that seem to come in waves. I've tried drug after drug (I'm currently on Seroquel, Lamictal, Effexor XR and Remeron - the list of others I've tried would be way too long.) Some seem to work for a bit, but none have lasting effects. I think about 6 months was the longest I spent without too many symptoms. I've just recently had another downturn, and I've gone back to the hopelessness and locked myself up at home for about 6 months now. Doc has upped the dosages of the meds I'm currently on, but I'm still in the hole.

My last appointment, we discussed the fact that maybe my digestive process doesn't allow for the medications to work as well, and he suggested either MAOIs or ECT. At first I was scared as heck about the MAOIs and was leaning toward ECT. I had met numerous people undergoing ECT in all my hospital visits, and it seemed that it worked for all of them and they were functional (no drooling or any of the Hollywood crap.) But then my psychologist (I have both a psychiatrist and a psychologist) mentioned that he had heard that MAOIs are now in patch form, reducing all the horrible side effects.

I am so glad I found this forum, as neither of my doctors could really elaborate at the time about the pros and cons, being that my psychiatrist hasn't used MAOIs in years and my psychologist doesn't deal with the medication side. I called my local pharmacy and was told the only MAOI patch they had was for Alzheimer's. So pretty much NO help whatsoever. LOL

Does anyone know any good reference sites to read up on all the side effects, the benefits and the downfalls? Right now it's my only option as the doctor that performs ECT in my area told me I need to try the MAOIs first, but I still would like to find out all I can. Are there still the high number of drug interactions? I know it cuts down on the food interactions, but I'm very nervous about the drug aspect. I'm also very nervous about the time I will have to go without medication...as I'm not coping to well with it.

Thanks in advance.
Shana :)