EMSAM Reviews (SELEGILINE)Average Rating: 3.6 (65 Ratings)Filter ResultsCompare EMSAM with similar:
Type: Rx Drug
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Results are sorted by Satisfaction highest to lowest. Key to Ratings: 1=LOW (I would not recommend taking this medicine.) |
More on EMSAM: Reviews Summary | Drug Safety Information
| RATING | REASON | SIDE EFFECTS FOR EMSAM | COMMENTS | SEX | AGE | DURATION/ DOSAGE | DATE ADDED |
| 5 | History of atypical depression | So far just falling asleep. Benadryl helped. | Perhaps this is a bit premature, but on my 4th day I am feeling terrific. The first antidepressant I took was Nardil 30 years ago. That worked liked a dream but had to stop because of severe insomnia, Like most people on this thread, I have tried almost every antidepressant that was available before 2010. None alleviated my depression as well as Nardil. I "winged it" for the next 14 years. Retirement, Covid, and some serious health problems set me back and I found myself unable to get out of bed and could not complete the simplest of tasks. Causing problems with my spouse. Because of my experience with Nardil I requested Emsam. I was surprised my HMO approved it. Like Nardil, I started feeling good within 3 days. This is my 4th and I am up, dressed, and ready to go! My only complaint is the cost. Fortunately my insurance covers all but $75 but the retail is almost $2000/month - so this is out of reach for many people. Well off patent time and needs a generic. | M | 70 | 4 days 6 mg 1X day | 1/23/2024 | 5 | Severe Atypical Depression | Insomnia responded to low dose quetiapene. Application Site Reaction responded to using skin lotion to remove. | Life-saving and incredibly transformative medication. Too bad it took me 35 years to get on an MAOI. Psychiatry should be embarrassed that they don't use MAOIs frequently enough. | M | 54 | 6 months 12 mg 1X day | 9/28/2021 | 5 | Atypical depression | No noted side effects. | I started experiencing depressive bouts in my late teens...40 years of therapy, every known medication but few with efficacy. An insightful physician and friend recognized my chronic depressive pain and arranged an evaluation at the Mayo Clinic. They prescribed Emsam and it was like a switch...like going from black and white tv to color. The effects were immediate and have been consistent for over 10 years. It’s a miracle medication for those that have struggled. My only complaint is it’s cost...about $2000 a month. With Medicare its about $700 . At times I am unable to afford the prescription and within 2 weeks I return to a deep sorrow, complete lack of mental clarity, frustration and anger... But quickly recover once I’m back on “the patch”. Highly recommended . | M | 67 | 10 years 6mg 1X day | 1/29/2021 | 5 | Anxiety | 51 | 10 days 12mg | 10/12/2019 | 5 | Depression | Some trouble getting the patches to stay on | I have to say that I have been really impressed with this medication. I have had no side effects and one I figured out were the patches would stick I was good to go. For me this has been the best antidepressant in 20 years. | F | 44 | 3 months 6 mg | 3/31/2018 | 5 | Major depressive disorder | Occasional dizziness when standing quickly or urinating while standing | Wonderfully effective, without any mental side effects. It just works, period. | M | 24 | 2 years 9 mg | 12/16/2016 | 5 | Major depression | Insomnia, weight loss, | This is the most effective antidepressant I've ever tried. I was very suicidal and the minute I put on the patch I felt better. I have energy, less emotional and less depressed. It's expensive but any antidepressant that will help me lose weight is worth it to me. It also doesn't make you fatigued like other drugs. At 6mg I can eat and drink whatever I want but on 9 mg you have to cut back on caffeine and other foods that interfere with MAOI's. So glad my Dr. recommended this! | F | 49 | 1 months 6mg | 9/27/2015 | 5 | Major Depression | After more than three years, I have had no side effects. | I had tried every Anti-Depressant since 1994, nothing worked. At my wits end, I decided to try ECT, hoping it would kill me, but the psychiatrist said to try EMSAM 6mg patch. He said it would work. After three weeks of feeling like I had the flu, I read all of the instructions again, and it said, "Do not cut." So I cut it from 6mg to 4mg and in 45 minutes I felt better than I had ever felt in my life. Two days in a row, I would cut 1/3 of the patch off, and on the third day, I would use the 2 pieces of 2mgs which equalled 4mgs. Two boxes lasted me three months. My life changed completely; my depression was gone, except in times of great stress, but it still worked well enough. | F | 69 | 3 years 4mg | 9/27/2015 | 5 | Major Depression (suicidal) | 6 mg made me feel like I had the flu, so I cut it down to 4 mg (I'm 5 ft tall, 125 lbs) and that worked perfectly. I had insomnia, but Melatonin tablets helped. | I've been using EMSAM for four years and it is the only thing that ever worked. It saved my life. | F | 69 | 4 years 4mg | 4/2/2015 | 5 | Fibromyalgia | Yes, Emsam is inexplicably flying under the radar. I'd been around the block from time to time with antidepressants for dysthymia or depression. Then I developed fibromyalgia and the treatment methods most doctors use are still in the dark ages. They don't understand fibro and they don't care. After fibro, I became intolerant to many meds that had been effective in the past. Or, those old meds no longer worked. I also have IBS (common in fibro patients) and everything ruined my stomach for days. Realizing that I needed to try something completely different from the mood stabilizers, SNRIs, SSRIs, etc. it was either transdermal selegiline or Viibryd. My doctor had a eureka moment when I suggested it. It won't go through my GI system, I don't have to watch my tyramine at 6mg, and he had samples right there in his desk that no other patient would've benefited from. They were almost expired, that's how little attention anyone in his practice paid. Since he was more familiar with MAOIs than new Viibryd, we gave it a chance. I'm not exaggerating: overnight my depression and anxiety began to lessen. Within a week I had sustained energy, improved mood, clearer thinking, and no dude effects. Here's the major breakthrough and the reason Emsam is seriously, for everyone's sake, grossly undervalued. Within 10-14 days I noticed that MY PAIN WAS GONE! Muscle aches, spasms, parasthesia, tender points, all GONE. I had my sense of humor and libido back. No more brain fog. Normal word rec | F | 35 | 1 years 6 | 8/16/2013 | 5 | major depression, recurrent, severe | redness and petichiae at the application site, increased general muscle tension, chronic daily headaches along with increase in frequency and severity of migraines, odd form of acne on back/upper arms/chest/neck | is it perfect? nope. but no med is going to be a miracle cure with no adverse effects. as a vegetarian who likes asian foods, the dietary restriction that i have the hardest time with is the soy sauce/tofu/miso restriction, but i manage. the side effects have been all slowly getting better the longer i am on the med, and i noticed a change within the first week. it took about 4-5 days after increasing from 6mg to 9mg to get a "full effect" which is to say that i feel like myself in a way i never thought possible again. everything i tried before (SSRI's, SNRI's, wellbutrin) felt like a floatation vest -- enough to keep me from drowning but not actually helping me engage well in therapy or helping me feel different. and that's how i feel on this patch...not "better," but "different" in such a positive way. i can engage in therapy in a meaningful way, i have a range of emotions now that is near normal, and i feel more relaxed and at ease than i think i ever have before in my life. and good riddance to pills! | F | 35 | 6 months 9mg/24hr 1X day | 1/5/2012 | 5 | social anxiety | Weight gain, constipation, diarrhea | Because of EMSAM I am able to go to work and earn a living and get health insurance. The weight gain is the same as on when I took Nardil years ago but EMSAM is more effective. | F | 33 | 2 years 6 MG 1X day | 10/23/2011 | 5 | Major Depression | It's been a year since I stopped Emsam, so my memory of the side effects is reduced to just the most problematic ones. At the top of the list is insomnia. I normally sleep 7-8 hours, but on Emsam, I only slept 5-6 hours and much of that was "light" sleeping. As a disclaimer, I was also abusing caffeine (3-6 cups a day) and chocolate (1 very dark bar per day) and these couldn't have helped. Sexually, I found it difficult, but not impossible to have an orgasm. Erectile function and desire were normal - unlike my experience with many SSRI's and SSNRI's. Taste perversion. This is a term used in the literature to refer to drugs that change your sense of taste. What I noticed first was that a beer I had been drinking for years all of a sudden seemed extremely bitter. For the most part, this change in taste was not a bad thing because I strangely seemed to like only healthy foods (fruit, vegetables, nuts, etc.) and had little desire for unhealthy ones (desserts, fries, | This is the best antidepressant I have ever been on. It wasn't perfect, but it brought me back from a suicidal brink that no other medications could do (or not without intolerable side effects). After decades of living a muted, desperate and unsatisfactory life, I was back reconnecting with friends, and doing activities that I had given up years ago because of lack of interest (surfing, hiking, traveling, photography, exercise). I quit taking Emsam after 3 years because of insomnia and a gradual lessening of efficacy. However, as I noted under the side effects, I was also abusing caffeine and chocolate as well as alcohol (2-5 beers/day). These may have played a part in both the insomnia and the sense that the efficacy was decreasing. I have read some anecdotal evidence that MAOI's can increase addictive behavior. I am not sure if this is what happened to me or not, but the key is not to get started with any of these substances in the first place. Once you are started with them, it is very difficult to stop. The good thing, at least for me, is that I am now off them. After a year of being off Emsam, I am ready to try again - sans caffeine, chocolate and alchol. | M | 53 | 3 years 9MG 1X day | 6/11/2011 | 5 | atypical depression, panic,anxiety | Redness at patch site with fading after 3 wks but still visable. Main problem...erratic heartbeat (multiple pvc's) that started after a week on patch. Finally had to go to cardiologist and they are running tests. I also get the chills alot. Insomnia at first but not now. | This med has brought me out of my depression completely. I have lots of energy and a positive outlook for the first time in years.The running negative and angry, hopeless thoughts are gone. The panic is still there when i face a trigger issue (driving on the freeway) but it is dulled somehow and my dr. gave me low dose xanex to help as i work through it. I hope I can continue with emsam....maybe cutting the 6 mg patch by 1/3 will help. I'm going to try it. | F | 50 | 1 months 6 mg 1X day | 5/16/2011 | 5 | *started waking up at night after I've fallen asleep easily *I feel generally anxious all the time *lots of headaches *skin irritation from adhesive *thirsty all the time *cold all the time | I started at 6 mg and until I got to 12 mg I didn't really feel better mood wise.I think if I wasn't so tired and having so many headaches I'd feel pretty good right now. But I don't know how long I can stand the side effects. | F | 57 | 5 weeks 12mg 1X day | 1/13/2011 | 5 | depression | localized acne/skin irritation. difficulty with orgasm. | the first drug that's actually helped me with my depression! | M | 52 | 3 months 24mg 1X day | 7/26/2010 | 5 | treatment resistant depression | insomnia, some difficulty with orgasm, but still attainable | has changed my life- I have my life back and feel like my old self once again, it's been 3 years of trying everything else with always intolerable side effects. | F | 49 | 2.5 months 6mg 1X day | 4/20/2010 | 5 | bipolar (rapid cycling) | For the first 6-8 months after I began taking EMSAM I experienced severe acne on my upper trunk and arms -- a shock to the system of a 45 year old man who never had acne before. However, this very unpleasant and disturbing side effect diminished considerably by the end of the first year. Oddly, I found that once I limited application of the patch to my back, and no longer applied it to my chest or upper arms, the acne diminished. I also experience some insomnia, of a different and less disruptive sort than I experience when I am having bipolar episodes. The insomnia is usually quite manageable only occasionally disrupting my daily functioning. Also, though it may be unrelated to the EMSAM and more related to the discontinuation of my previous medication, I note that I have gained significant weight(going from 165 pounds to 210 pounds)since starting the EMSAM although my diet and exercise routine are unchanged or better than they were before. | I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder (rapid cycling) nearly 20 years ago. I have been on dozens of medications (all the usual suspects), abandoning each in turn for lack of efficacy or intolerable side effects (e.g., toxicity, dramatic weight gain, loss of bladder control, excessive sedation, mental dullness or confusion). My doctor finally prescribed EMSAM, in combination with Lamictal and Deplin, and I am thrilled to report that is the first regime that has had any modicum of long-term success (now 18 months) in the treatment of my bipolar disorder. The bipolar episodes are much more muted, of shorter duration, and far less frequent than they were with any other medication regime. As the side effects are very tolerable compared to the other medications I have used and the efficacy quite high, this is a "miracle" drug for me. If only it worked so well for everyone! | M | 45 | 18 months | 5/31/2009 | 5 | severe depression | some difficulty staying asleep. Mild skin redness under patch that lasts for about 24-36 hours after the patch has been removed. I have VERY sensitive skin though. | This medication has given me my life back (and probably saved my marriage!). Over the past 35 years I've been on just about every antidepressant made. The side-effects were always unbearable. Major anxiety on the SSRI's, complete insomnia and horrible paranoia on tricyclics. From the moment I put the patch on there were no unbearable side effects or really any adjustment period. Then with each passing day I started to feel more and more "normal". It was gradual, and after about 3 weeks I realized I no longer felt like I was walking through mud every day in order to function. My attention and memory increased. My over-all mood improved. I no longer got irritated about things I used to get irritated with. I've been in therapy for years and at best I was only able to "maintain" in therapy. Having my depression lifted has allowed me to move forward with my therapy. I know everyone's body is different and this drug won't be the "miracle drug" for ev | F | 50 | 2 years | 11/12/2008 | 5 | MAJOR DEPRESSIVE DISORDER | Slight sleeping problems depending on dose...either sleep too much or not at all but thats basically normal for me whether on meds or not. Higher dose seemed to bring on a little anxiety & irritation but it didnt last after adjusting to it. When you increase or decrease a dose you have to remember that it may take a little time for your body to get used to it, if you get side effects they might go away if you're patient enough to wait it out a couple weeks. | Everyone reacts differently to everything...Emsam happens to be the one thing that has finally worked for me after years of trying numerous meds. But yes i still have to try hard to maintain a normal lifestyle because there is no such thing as a perfect miracle pill, but this has totally made life easier, better, & more content. Especially considering that before i used to have suicidal thoughts constantly & cried all the time, since i started the patch those have basically disappeared!!! YAY! I really hope you find the same relief, whether its from this drug or not. :) | F | 26 | 3 years | 11/6/2008 |
EMSAM (SELEGILINE): Selegiline is an antidepressant (monoamine oxidase inhibitor) that treats depression by restoring the balance of certain natural substances (neurotransmitters) in the brain. Selegiline can improve your mood and feelings of well-being. This medication is a patch for use on the skin. FDA Approval Date: 2006-02-27 (Sources: U.S. Centers for Medicare Services, FDA)