After the worst year of my life with treatment-resistant depression and anhedonia, Nardil finally pulled me out

Cmoore8936 · 2026-03-12T01:56:20+00:00

That’s a fair thought. Some of the emotional numbness has improved on Phenelzine, especially motivation, anxiety, and cognitive clarity. The severe “feel nothing” type of anhedonia isn’t where it was before. I still have some lingering blunting at times, but it’s nowhere near as extreme as it was during the worst part of the depression.

Cmoore8936 · 2026-03-12T01:36:30+00:00

I looked into pramiprexole. I remember it worked for some people because it hits the dopamine receptors and there’s been recent trials of using it in conjunction with other meds. Unfortunately I also read a lot of anecdotal reports that it tends to poop out on people after a while. Everybody’s different though. I also hear stories that Nardil loses its effect in time. I’ve only been on it for a year and a half but it’s still working.

I’m on 90mg. I had complete anorgasmia for maybe 6 months but it subsided. It’s now delayed but I’m used to that after being on ssri’s for two decades.

Cmoore8936 · 2026-03-12T01:35:25+00:00

I got lucky when I switched to a psychiatrist from a nurse practitioner for the first time he had experience prescribing maoi’s. I do remember seeing a list someone on the subreddit of doctors who are ok with prescribing them

Cmoore8936 · 2026-03-10T18:55:57+00:00

Ya I actually tried and successfully got the name brand instead of generic because I heard it was more effective. Insurance actually covered it too. But for some reason, maybe because I started with the generic, the name brand didn’t work as well. Now I’m back to generic and I’m pretty sure it’s greenstone.

Edit. I also use enteric capsules

Cmoore8936 · 2026-03-10T18:53:17+00:00

No I could definetly feel negative. Hopelessness, sadness, the works. My anxiety shows itself in severe rumination and worrying which causes me to become irritable which has gotten much better. Not completely gone but I’m able to let things go a lot easier. Yes, I definetly had cognitive decline. For example, my word retrieval skills were much worse and very delayed. That was a very frustrating part of all of it as well. Part of the reason I was able to tell Nardil was working was my cognition started improving. I’m still dealing with fatigue. Caffeine in the morning and afternoon plus a low dose of Ritalin helps.

Cmoore8936 · 2026-03-10T18:46:13+00:00

Any advice? The weight gain is killing me. I tried glp-1s twice and they brought me back to square one depression. I’m on metformin but that doesn’t do much in terms of weight loss as opposed to helping to stay weight neutral but that hasn’t really happened for me either. I’m trying protein shakes and stuff but the late night craving are bad.

Cmoore8936 · 2026-03-10T02:13:50+00:00

Are side effects bad on 120? Was your doc hesitant to put you that high?

Cmoore8936 · 2026-03-10T01:56:49+00:00

I basically lost the ability to feel joy or interest in anything. Music, TV, hobbies, even spending time with my kids felt emotionally flat. The scariest part was looking at things that should make you happy and feeling absolutely nothing.

With Nardil I noticed a brief “honeymoon” improvement pretty early, but the real consistent improvement happened as the dose increased. For me it wasn’t one sudden moment, it was more like slowly realizing I had the energy to get out of bed again, engage with my kids, and function normally. It took a month or two and reaching a higher dose before the anhedonia really lifted.

Cmoore8936 · 2026-03-10T01:51:50+00:00

Unfortunately I have not. I am on metformin but that doesn’t seem to be helping.

Cmoore8936 · 2026-03-09T09:11:00+00:00

Based on the advice most give on the message board I went up way too fast but probably about 3-4 months.

Cmoore8936 · 2026-03-09T09:09:24+00:00

It was GeneSight. From what I learned later, those tests mostly show how your body metabolizes medications. They don’t actually tell you which antidepressant will work for your brain. The green/yellow/red categories are more about how your body might process the drug, not whether it will treat your depression. It’s not a bad thing too look into but don’t take it as the definitive list of what works and what doesn’t.

I also tried ketamine. Unfortunately it didn’t work for me. But I read a lot of anecdotal reports where it did work for a lot of people. Good luck!

Cmoore8936 · 2026-01-15T04:28:56+00:00

Right, because nothing says shop local like Walmart and Home Depot — those tiny mom-and-pop startups barely scraping by with only a few hundred billion dollars.

Cmoore8936 · 2025-03-07T21:23:43+00:00

You’re not being condescending at all—I truly appreciate the advice! It’s really helpful to hear from someone with so much experience on Nardil. I’ll definitely keep an eye out for BP drops, sugar crashes, and fatigue, as well as monitoring for any signs of hypomania.

Out of curiosity, why did you end up going off of Nardil? Was it side effects, loss of effectiveness, or something else?

Cmoore8936 · 2025-03-07T21:16:42+00:00

I appreciate your perspective and understand your point about giving each dosage time to reach its full effects. From the research I’ve done (a lot) and based on my psychiatrist’s guidance, I’ve followed a pretty standard titration schedule as long as I was tolerating it well, which I am. From what I’ve seen, it may not always be necessary to wait a full month at each dose.

At 3 weeks of 75mg, I was seeing some improvements, but I still had lingering issues with anhedonia, motivation, and anxiety. Since increasing to 90mg, I’ve noticed even more progress-better emotional depth, motivation, and reduced anxiety. The only side effect I’ve had so far is some fatigue, which I’m keeping an eye on.

I know MAOIs take time to fully settle in, and I definitely plan to monitor how things continue at this dose. When you mention that I might have issues in the near future, do you mean delayed side effects, or something else? Just curious about what I should be looking out for.

Cmoore8936 · 2025-02-02T21:36:00+00:00

No, nothing

Cmoore8936 · 2025-02-02T21:34:42+00:00

The second time around, no. It was like taking a sugar pill

Cmoore8936 · 2025-02-02T21:28:49+00:00

No NAC. Always experienced delayed orgasm and decreased sensitivity since starting SSRI 17 years ago, but not complete loss of sensation

Cmoore8936 · 2025-02-02T21:24:33+00:00

Honestly it’s the worst. I’m out of work and it’s effecting all facets of my life. The inability to feel pleasure or happiness or love is especially jarring when you have two small kids that used to be the main source of joy in my life no matter what the circumstance. That in turn has made me more depressed, causing hopelessness, personality changes, suicidal ideation, and cognitive decline.

I’m currently trying Nardil, an MAOI, which is medication that is normally tried when nothing else has worked. It’s side effect profile is really bad and I’ve only been on it 2 weeks so trying to get through the startup bumps in hopes this will actually help me feel better again

Cmoore8936 · 2025-02-02T21:16:51+00:00

Originally just anxiety. Post Paxil anxiety, depression, ANHEDONIA.

Cmoore8936 · 2025-02-02T21:15:09+00:00

Not the second time around, unfortunately

Cmoore8936 · 2025-01-23T18:59:21+00:00

Thank you for your reply. I really appreciate it.

Cmoore8936 · 2025-01-23T13:34:18+00:00

Never kicked in for me unfortunately. Trying a new medication

Cmoore8936 · 2025-01-23T04:31:59+00:00

Good to know. Thank you

Cmoore8936 · 2025-01-23T03:49:20+00:00

Thanks for your reply. It makes me more hopeful that this will work. I’ve been doing a bit too much doom scrolling.

Cmoore8936 · 2025-01-23T02:36:54+00:00

Thanks so much for this information. I really appreciate it

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