EMSAM Update - Day 4

Guest post by the bloggohusband.

Just a quick update on how Barb’s doing with her new “patch”: the EMSAM, which is an MAOI. In one sentence: no change. On the positive side, that means no side effects (such as hypertensive distress because of increased blood pressure); on the negative side, that also means no improvement.

Of course, this is not exactly surprising, as it usually takes at least a couple of weeks for anti-depressants to build up enough in the body to achieve efficacy, and often only after an adjustment in dosage. (In this case, we’re really hoping not to have to increase the dose, as then Barb would have to adhere to some dietary restrictions that are not an issue at her current level.)

The biggest problem Barb’s been dealing with lately has been hypersomnia, which we don’t think is related to the EMSAM (as it predates it); instead, we think that maybe her Tegretol levels are too high, and so she has reduced her dosage by 25%.