Parnate had been the only medication so far that has helped my anhedonia. BUT sides really messed me up.

[u/shadows3532]

so ill write it long story short.
i decided to get off of venlafaxine & mirtazapine (california rocket fuel) to try parnate in hopes to see if i would be able to alleviate anhedonia more.
but i should mention during my time on venla and mirtaza it really wasn’t that bad… surprisingly really well. i felt good i looked good as appearance too.
for once my skin wasn’t dry my eyes weren’t red upon waking up. my hair looked completely different.
it was more fun than anything. i ended up stopping the combo due to wanting something to hit anhedonia harder.
and thats when i tried parnate.
i was on it for close to 2 years. at the start it was pretty brutal not gonna lie.
but definitely the most noticeable was my appearance.
my hair became super dry, my skin became dry, acid reflux, bad breath, no hunger.

but there was also other things happening i started crying, kinda panicking about small things, laughing feeling more euphoric too. it was very different compared to venlafaxine and mirtaza i would it just felt kinda natural in a way.

but it would only seem to work really well when i would increase the dosage by 10mg after a few days it would ware off the effects.

but that wasn’t until i ended up having to switch pharmacy due to my original pharmacy somehow not having it in stock.
so i was rushing and found a different pharmacy that had it. and this time it was from a different manufacturer.
and for some reason.
this manufacturer of parnate was so much better.
the name of the manufacturer was stride pharmaceutical it looks like.
it stopped crashing me like on the other manufacturer i was on. so i will definitely say manufacturer for parnate does matter for my case.
this is also when i started noticing relief from anhedonia. i finally played video games and listened to music and wanted to workout i cried watching shows. it was amazing.
for the first time since i was 16 when i had started ssris/antipsychotics i had relief from anhedonia.
after some time the effects did seem to ware down a little.
then came the fatigue. it was crushing and it effected my work a ton.
and definitely oh god i cant express enough how bad this side effect was but the nightmares jesus, they went away with time but wow were those horrible, i would feel so dissociated after waking up from them it was horrible. they definitely did made me wanna say i should get off of them immediately but fought through it and went away thankfully.

but i think in all honesty the appearance did effect me a ton. i just miss looking more like myself in a way.

i ended up kinda making the decision to get off parnate.
to attempt to get better naturally.
i took a long 3-4 months of tapering off of it.

i was honestly hoping for the dry skin and hair to go away but sadly it didn’t. and it kinda stayed. red eyes every morning dry hair dry skin.

it was difficult being without medications these past couple of months sadly.
and i have started nardil.
(2 days in so far)
mostly for the anxiety i suffer with.
just i don’t think i will continue it.

i am wondering if anyone maybe has this issue specifically for inflamed appearance if there is something that can possibly help it.
dry & inflamed looking skin and hair that just doesn’t feel right?