cabaretic

Those of you who know me know that I am not a fan of summer. There are many reasons why, but the main one is that I seem to always hit a depressive episode during that season. Now that summer will soon be upon us, I have been having mood fluctuations in which I have been bouncing back and forth between a stable state and a mild depression. If this keeps up, I'll call the p-doc, though I know precisely what he'll suggest---increase the Parnate. A wise psychiatrist will never increase more than one medication at a time. When I have my next appointment in three weeks, he might consider tweaking the dose of a second med as well. Lithium is tapped out and cannot be increased. Seroquel could be increased, but 600 mg is a awfully high dose and the sedation would counteract the corresponding antidepressant effect. At any rate, I'm going to wait another day or so before I call his office to see if this is a lasting condition or just one of those unexplainable, short-term dips in mood that all of us manic depressives have from time to time.

I took 20 mg extra Parnate this afternoon to see if it made an immediately impact, and I'm glad to see it has. The good thing about Parnate is that if you've been taking it for long enough for it to reach its peak of effectiveness, it doesn't take very long to fully realize the impact of an increase in dosage. What the doctors in DC were telling me while I was up there is that a person ought to be on an MAOI at least a year to get the maximum effect. This situation might be remedied quite easily by taking more Parnate in the summer months and less in the winter months. At least, that's what I hope. A simple solution for once would be very much appreciated.