Worth the MAOI restrictions to go straight to Nardil, or try something milder first?
I have panic disorder, social anxiety, PTSD, depression, OCD traits, and AuDHD.
SSRIs never worked for me. Sertraline in particular did nothing helpful — the emotional blunting actually made me more anxious socially, and it left me tired on top of that.
So now I'm trying to decide between starting with something milder like buspirone or pregabalin, or going straight to phenelzine. I've read that phenelzine is close to a gold standard for social anxiety, which is why I'm considering skipping ahead.
For anyone who went straight to Nardil — do you regret not trying the intermediate options first? And how much did the dietary and drug restrictions actually affect your day to day life?
Obviously this sub is likely to be in favor of MAOIs, so I'm actually more interested in hearing from people who tried something more benign first and got real relief from it. But I'll take all perspectives, of course.