Anti-Depressant stories, a love hate affair.
Posted by prettyin_punk on Sep 27, 2009 · Member since Nov 2006 · 1615 posts
I'm diagnosed with MDD and it's an on and off going depression. I've tried 3 different SSRI's with both negative and positive effects and I'm a bit confused. I'd like to hear some success and non-success stories, if you wouldn't mind.
It's hard to find the right medication. I've been on a few SSRIs and I wasn't really happy with any of them. Now I've been on an SNRI for a few years and I don't know what I'd do without it. I don't want to go into too much detail on here, but if you want to email me at amara (dot) good at yahoo (dot) com I'd be happy to tell you more or you can IM me as blurredpaint and we can chat.
Hey there- I, too, have major depression, along with GAD and some others that go along with the two. Medication is a very individual experience. I posted some about it on a different board..
http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=29148.msg342269#msg342269
Hope you find a combination of things to help. Depression can be quite the bitch. Hang in there!
zoloft... made me feel cracked out... my pupils were huge, i didn't want to be around anyone, my palms were sweating... basically i had every side effect imaginable... had to call in sick for work stopped taking immediately
wellbutrin... not as bad but i def became anti social... stopped taking after a week
trying lexapro starting today... this is all for help with my anxiety... basically u r a guinea pig... my doc said if it doesn't make u feel good stop taking it and try another... good luck i would def stay away from zoloft though that shit's crazy
I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, but I think it is closer to depression. I have a very hard time making friends and lonelyness plays a big role in how I feel I think.
Abilify: made me shake, edgy, woke once an hour every hour at night, was always nervous
Zyprexa: didn't do anything for me at all
Prozac: makes me sleepy, sleep too much, and loopy, I loose everything when taking Prozac and act like a total didtz.
I found medication of mine from almost 2 years ago, was just starting it when I found out I was pregnant. Symbyax (sp?). Thinking of taking it again since I am no longer nursing but it has prozac in it.
TL is so right. Everyone reacts differently. And as AML says, we are guinea pigs! I was given huge amounts of antidepressants in college and am still paying the price for that. I react strangely to a lot of meds now. Prozac makes people in my family unable to sleep. We just can't get tired enough to sleep! You lie down and kind of zone out, but you can hear everything going on around you. After about a week or 10 days we start hallucinating and stuff like that. I think it must be genetic, because 3 family members (me, mom and brother) all had the same reaction.
I am still struggling with addictions to things to help me sleep. OTC sleeping pills, even herbal teas. Life is hard now. If only I had had the courage to tell someone what was really going on in my life when it started, then maybe we could have changed the situation instead of just treating symptoms.
Prozac: makes me sleepy, sleep too much, and loopy, I loose everything when taking Prozac and act like a total didtz.
Prozac turns me into a complete dumbass, too. Also kind of apathetic and lazy, though if my dose is too high, it can turn into mania. At the 'right' dose it kind of blurs out any extremes of emotion, good, bad, or ugly. But it does what it needs to do... keeps me functioning when I can't actually find a way to really deal with my problems...
To be honest, I don't remember a whole lot about the period of time when I was on antidepressants...probably because I was so drugged to the hilt I had no idea what I felt or thought. I was very against taking medication in the first place, but was basically forced to do so. I agree with the guinea pig sentiment I've read here from others... for a long time they changed the dose or drug itself so frequently that I was never out of the adjustment period, so none of them ever got the chance to settle and sit right with me. Prozac stopped me sleeping even worse than I already was and I think I ultimately felt worse, the sleeping pills caused extreme hallucinations, so got antipsychotic drugs with the side effect of drowsiness to help me sleep! Cetalapram was no better than Prozac as far as I recall. I honestly felt like a lab rat, taking drugs in the morning to get me out of bed, taking drugs at night to combat the morning drugs, rinse repeat - hated it and felt no improvement in how I felt the entire time (though as I say, maybe I just didn't realise that they were helping). In the end I made my own decision and stopped taking all of them, didn't tell anyone until several months later and by that time they were absolutely shocked I had managed that (??) and said they wouldn't give me more.
As a disclaimer I DO NOT RECOMMEND anyone just stops taking their drugs. In hindsight, it was pretty irresponsible of me to do that and could have had horrible consequences - consult with your doctor if you aren't happy with what you are taking.
But basically, drugs did not work for me. I agree with the statement that everyone is different, we all have our own body chemistry and coping mechanisms, and I know antidepressants have helped a lot of people, just not me.
I hope that you can find a way of dealing with depression that works for you, I know it sucks and I wish you the very best in finding a way through *hugs*
Pretty much everyone in my family tends to suffer from issues with severe anxiety. I imagine we have some sort of genetic predisposition towards it.
What seems to have worked the best for both my mother and me has been a combination of medication and cognitive-behavioral therapy. For both of us, the medication has certainly been a wonderful thing (once we got on the right meds, I'll discuss that in a sec), but the main thing has been has been coping techniques as well as dealing with the underlying behavior and thought patterns behind our anxieties. The medication doesn't totally get rid of the anxiety, nor is that what we're using it for. It kinda dials the intensity back to a more manageable level. I still get anxious cuz sometimes life is stressful, but the difference is that the stress doesn't keep me from functioning.
As far as specific meds, my mom's been on a combination of Zoloft and Wellbutrin for a while. I'm not sure how much switching she had to do until she found what worked, but what she's got now is working.
Since Zoloft worked so well for her, that's what my doctor back in undergrad started me on. Different meds work better or worse for different people at least partially because of differences in brain chemistry from person to person, so it can be really hard to know what will work, but trying what worked for my mom was a good first, educated guess of what might work for me. Gotta start somewhere. Unfortunately, the Zoloft amped me up way to much. Instead of helping the anxiety, it actually made it worse.
Next try was Lexapro. That sedated me way too much. Overly sleepy, no interest in much of anything, etc.
What I'm taking now is Prozac (which, after I started on it, I found out my maternal Grandmother also takes). I've been on this one for a while now, and it's doing its job.
A good doctor will really work with really work with you and listen to what you want and how you're reacting and will take the time to make sure you understand the rationale behind his/her suggestions. I've been fortunate enough to have found good doctors in each of the various places I've lived in, and they've each put in the effort to make sure I can make the best decision for my own well being. Unfortunately, some doctors suck, and while I've been lucky, I've seen others struggle to find a decent doctor, which can also be somewhat trial and error.
lexapro... i feel totally weird and out of it today... dont want to be around anybody... :( i'm gonna try to stick it out for awhile longer... i'm only taking half a 10 mg dose
lexapro... i feel totally weird and out of it today... dont want to be around anybody... :( i'm gonna try to stick it out for awhile longer... i'm only taking half a 10 mg dose
I don't know about Lexapro, but I know that with Prozac it's important to wean yourself on and off really slowly... I know you're already on half a dose, but ask your doctor about how long Lexapro stays in the system. Things like Prozac can hang around for over a week, so it can work to take the medications alternating days, or in one lump sum at the beginning of the week. This is highly dependent on individual body chemistry and the medications in question, of course, so make sure you clear everything with your doctor.
i took it at night... felt super crazy for a while... had a hard time sleeping... couldn't eat... stomach ache all day and went lots of number 3's (sorry for the details) it kinda eased off the more i was awake... gosh i couldn't imagine taking it all in the beginning of the week (i would be f***ed up!) but maybe alternating days sounds like a good option for me... i always start with half doses but this crap really messes with me but i also really want to ease my anxiety... zanex works wonders and cures me constantly... i wish they had anti-depressants that catered more to anxiety cause i'm not depressed... though i know what it's like to go through i went through it during my high school years
i took it at night... felt super crazy for a while... had a hard time sleeping... couldn't eat... stomach ache all day and went lots of number 3's (sorry for the details) it kinda eased off the more i was awake... gosh i couldn't imagine taking it all in the beginning of the week (i would be f***ed up!) but maybe alternating days sounds like a good option for me... i always start with half doses but this crap really messes with me but i also really want to ease my anxiety... zanex works wonders and cures me constantly... i wish they had anti-depressants that catered more to anxiety cause i'm not depressed... though i know what it's like to go through i went through it during my high school years
Oooo... definitely talk to your doctor before making any dosage changes.. Usually, an every other day thing is not a good idea. The idea of medication is to stabalize things, so it's meant to be taken on a daily basis usually. Just see what your doctor has to say.
i took it at night... felt super crazy for a while... had a hard time sleeping... couldn't eat... stomach ache all day and went lots of number 3's (sorry for the details) it kinda eased off the more i was awake... gosh i couldn't imagine taking it all in the beginning of the week (i would be f***ed up!) but maybe alternating days sounds like a good option for me... i always start with half doses but this crap really messes with me but i also really want to ease my anxiety... zanex works wonders and cures me constantly... i wish they had anti-depressants that catered more to anxiety cause i'm not depressed... though i know what it's like to go through i went through it during my high school years
Oooo... definitely talk to your doctor before making any dosage changes.. Usually, an every other day thing is not a good idea. The idea of medication is to stabalize things, so it's meant to be taken on a daily basis usually. Just see what your doctor has to say.
Definitely talk to a doc before playing around with your dosage. The alternating days was very reliant on Prozac's habit of sticking around in the system, so you would have to make certain it would be safe/effective with what you're taking. Especially if you notice changes in side effects or the drug 'wearing off' within a 24-hour period!
lexapro, I think that's escitalopram, yeah?
I'm not really sure about the whole taking it every other day in the beginning. If taken daily it will take about a week to get to steady state (ie have a stable correct amount in the blood). Antidepressants generally take about 4-6 weeks to hav etheir effect. Taking it every other day will mean it will take much longer to get to steady state (not necessarily double the time either). I would alsos suggest talking to you dr or pharmacist (they know more about drugs anyways!) before messing around with it.
Also, SSRIs are well known to cause insomnia and here in the UK we will counsel patients to take the dose in the morning to minimise the sleeplessness. Maybe try taking it in the morning. Unfortunatley GI upset is also a sideeffect of SSRIs, so I will usually counsel my patients to take it after food to minimise this - maybe this would help you?
Also, SSRIs are well known to cause insomnia and here in the UK we will counsel patients to take the dose in the morning to minimise the sleeplessness. Maybe try taking it in the morning. Unfortunatley GI upset is also a sideeffect of SSRIs, so I will usually counsel my patients to take it after food to minimise this - maybe this would help you?
Yesyesyes. Take it with breakfast, definitely. Liquids aren't enough - I pretty much need a solid-food chaser or it is HELL.
thanks for the tips... my pupils r really big is that normal? i feel like a crack head... does this eventually go away? i'm gonna see if i can break the pill up even smaller and maybe take 1/4 a dose cause i feel weird :( the morning thing sounds like a good idea
Medication likes to make me look like a druggy too.
I have been diagnosed with GAD and OCD, and my doctor pushed really hard to get me to take an SSRI; however, I will not take any synthetic medications. I did LOTS of research and decided to give 5-HTP and inositol a try because studies have shown that these can be just as effective as SSRIs, but without any of the nasty side effects. I can say that it has made a HUGE difference in my quality of life. Both products are very inexpensive. They do have to build up in your system for about a month before they are truly effective, but the combination really does work (or at least it has for me).
Has anyone heard of the Icarus Project? It's a really supportive movement/organization that advocates that society look at "mental illnesses" from a more wholistic perspective. For example, is depression sometimes an adaptive response that prompts us to re-examine the circumstances of our lives? Is it possible that those who hear voices are actually undergoing profound, transformative (often spiritual) experiences? What happens when we support these individuals and encourage them to talk about their inner-experiences, rather than suppress them with psychopharmaceutical substances? I'm not saying that I completely endorse this point of view in all circumstances, but I really like what I've read so far. I especially appreciate the fact that the group does not seem to have adopted the angry, violent anti-psychiatry stance that many authors and commentators have in the past.
If anyone is interested, the website is really informative and the support forums are AWESOME.
http://theicarusproject.net
Haven't heard of it..
A few of my previous negative responses to medications..
-Effexor (depression): raised my anxiety through the roof- was actually afraid to work because I thought I would drop all the money due to my constant trembles
-Trazodone (insomnia): knocked me on my ass within a half hour- had to have people help me up the stairs because I could hardly walk.. however, my mind stayed wide awake for another 3 hours
-Seroquel (anxiety, insomnia): did not feel the intended effect until the next morning where it would feel almost impossible to get up, keep my eyes open, or even hold my head up. left me with terrible headaches- what I call a "medication hangover"
Out of all the medications I've taken over the past few years, the above three are the only ones that leave me running away at the mentioning of them. Of course, I know plenty of other people on some of those medications, and they do just fine on them. It's weird how we all react so differently.
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