5 replies to this topic

[NeuroNootropic]

Hi, I have dysthmia or at least that's what my psychiatrist calls it. My main symptoms are:

• Severe anhedionia
• Very low libido
• Lack of concentration and focus
• Lack of motivation or interest in vitually everything
• Fatigue
• Hypersomnia
• Low appetite

I was taking Wellbutrin XL 150 mg in November and stopped taking it about 2 weeks ago. Last week, I started taking a combination of Maca 1000 mg and Rhodiola Rosea 500 mg every day in the morning. It's working somewhat for my anhedionia. In particular, I can actually laugh at funny things for the first time in years.

It doesn't do anything for my lack of motivation though. I talked to my psychiatrist about my lack of interest and motivation and asked if he could prescribe methylphenidate. He gave me a prescription for 30 mg of Biphentin, which is similar to Concerta:

Biphentin is a once daily, long acting medicine. One major advantage over Concerta is that the capsule can be opened and sprinkled in apple sauce, yogurt or ice cream. This will help children with trouble swallowing. It is also approved for the treatment of adult ADHD, and Concerta is as well.

One final difference between Biphentin and Concerta is that Biphentin releases approximately 40% of its medicine in the early part of the day, whereas Concerta only releases 22%. This may mean that Biphentin may work better for ADD/ADHD in the morning, whereas Concerta may last a little longer into the day.

→ source (external link)

I am currently taking:

• NOW Foods Maca root 1000 mg
• NOW Foods Rhodiola Rosea 500 mg
• Healthy Origins Vitamin D3 5000 IU
• 1 cup of Coffee

Is it safe to take Biphentin with the above stack or should I take it by itself? Also, if it's not safe then how long do I have to stay off the Rhodiola and the Maca for my neurotransmitters to return to baseline?

[Dissolvedissolve]

Rhodiola Rosea is an MAOI and should not be combined without supervision by a medical doctor. Mixing stimulants and MAOIs is risky business and is rarely done. Realistically, it's a pretty weak MAOI and you'd more likely than not be fine, but I would really recommend against it.

Coffee is fine, just know that it might make you overstimulated. So anxiety as well as high heart-rate and blood pressure are possibilities. If you're prone to panic attacks, they're a possibility.

I know of no interacitons for Maca or D3 with methylphenidate. That said, I do not know very much about maca. I just did a quick search to check if it's an MAOI, and it appears not to be one.

[NeuroNootropic]

Would it be okay if I take the Biphentin tomorrow morning without the Rhodiola? Or do I have to wait a week before I can safely take it?

[magniloquentc0unt]

this is extremely funny.
i have the exact same symptoms as you (even the sleeping a lot / eating nothing) ((except the very low libido))
and am about to get a ritalin prescription aswell.
and was wondering what to mix with it, taking rhodiola ashwaghanda and ginseng atm
ill keep an eye on this post

[NeuroNootropic]

That's really interesting, keep us updated on what Ritalin does to you and I'll do the same. I'm still not sure if I should take a week off of Rhodiola before I start Ritalin. Though, the effects of Rhodiola seem to disappear in the morning.

[NeuroNootropic]

I took a day off of Rhodiola and took Biphentin (30 mg) today with 500 mg of Maca and a smaller cup than usual of coffee. It's been 6 hours since i took it so it's safe to say what benefits and side effects I experienced.

Benefits:

A small increase in:

• Focus and attention span
• Motivation/drive
• Mental energy
• Learning ability. I was able to read and better understand topics than usual. Most likely due to the slight increase in focus

Side effects:

• Tensed out
• Blood pressure increase (I didn't measure it but my body feels tense.)
• Cold hands
• In the second hour after taking it my heart was beating faster than normal, but that's settled down
• Very slight headache, although not noticeable if I keep myself occupied with something
• I still space out randomly when doing anything, but with greater focus, i.e. when I space out now I just ignore my environment
• I feel hungry all the time and eating does not get rid of it. Also, there's no increase in the desire to eat.

Sex drive is still the same, dead. I tested it with porn and trying to think about sexual thoughts.

Anhedionia is also the same, no change.

Honestly, it feels like I had a second cup of coffee instead of taking an NDRI. Also, Maca (1 g per day) gives me the same benefits, but without the side effects after about 3 weeks of use. I can feel the Maca working after a week, but it takes 3+ weeks to reach its maximum benefit, at least for me.

Wellbutrin (150 mg) was much more potent than Biphentin, but Wellbutrin slowly builds up in the body so that's probably the reason why it affected more than Biphentin. With Wellbutrin I saw the same benefits in the first 2 weeks of taking it as I did with Bipentin today, but disappeared completely after that. I also had much more side effects with Wellbutrin than I did with Bipentin.

I don't want to try a higher dosage so I'm giving up on MPH.

Edited by NeuroNootropic, 16 January 2013 - 12:11 AM.