Anti-Depressants

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Loghead

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How many of you take anti-depressants? Why? What brand do you take? How was it for you in the beginning? Do you like how it works? Were you more depressed than usual at the beginning of your treatment?

A lot has happened in the last month, and I recently found out that, not only do I have a Generalized Anxiety Disorder, but I have a Major Depressive Disorder as well. I was recently prescribed an anti-depressant called Prozac, and I'll likely be on it for the rest of my life. In the week that I have taken it, I've felt nauseous at random moments, and I've felt more depressed than usual at certain times of the day. I'd just like to hear about your experiences so that I know what's in store.
 
I hope you have told ur doctor about becoming nauseous taking Prozac...I never had a problem with Prozac, and took a very high dosage of it due to Chronic Depression, along with another drug, Abilify....After about a year, it didn't seem to help me any...so I was switched to Wellabrutin, which gave me nightmares...all in all...several attempts of taking anti-depressants, and nothing helped, I told my doctor that I did not want to take anything else....due to the side-effects. I've been free of anti-depressants for a very long time now.

However, anti-depressants affect people in different ways. It's a trial and error situation. But am hoping you and ur doctor can work this out!.....
 
I have been on Lexapro, Zoloft, Prozac, Neurontin, Lyrica and Cymbalta.
Most of them either made me so loopy that I could not care for my family or I had such allergic reaction to them that I had to be hospitalized. Others I ended up developing a resistance to them and they did not work any longer.

I am now not able to take anything.
 
I've dealt with depression, and have been on a few different anti-depressants over time. The thing to bear in mind is different ones work differently for different people- depression can be tied to an imbalance of a few different chemicals in your brain (dopamine, seratonin, norepinephrine) and different meds are meant to work for different imbalances. So if you're put on a med that doesn't feel like it's working that well for you, don't be discouraged- sometimes it's just a matter of trial and error to find the right one.

Definitely talk to your doctor about the nausea and depressive episodes.

I hope things get better for you! Have you sought any counseling? I may be biased as a counselor-in-training, but I don't believe in JUST using anti-depressants. If you're dealing with anxiety and depression it might be really good for you to have a professional to talk to as well, who can help you to find ways to cope with these issues.
 
Loghead said:
How many of you take anti-depressants? Why? What brand do you take? How was it for you in the beginning? Do you like how it works? Were you more depressed than usual at the beginning of your treatment?

A lot has happened in the last month, and I recently found out that, not only do I have a Generalized Anxiety Disorder, but I have a Major Depressive Disorder as well. I was recently prescribed an anti-depressant called Prozac, and I'll likely be on it for the rest of my life. In the week that I have taken it, I've felt nauseous at random moments, and I've felt more depressed than usual at certain times of the day. I'd just like to hear about your experiences so that I know what's in store.
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Nausea is common with SSRIs. They change your body chemistry.

Who put you on Prozac? A family physician?

You don't have to be on Prozac for the rest of your life. There are treatments that are showing more success than any of the pharmaceuticals available. Please find a good psychologist that practices narrative therapy. There is also a new treatment being used called transcranial magnetic stimulation.
 
rockin'robin said:
I hope you have told ur doctor about becoming nauseous taking Prozac...I never had a problem with Prozac, and took a very high dosage of it due to Chronic Depression, along with another drug, Abilify....After about a year, it didn't seem to help me any...so I was switched to Wellabrutin, which gave me nightmares...all in all...several attempts of taking anti-depressants, and nothing helped, I told my doctor that I did not want to take anything else....due to the side-effects. I've been free of anti-depressants for a very long time now.

However, anti-depressants affect people in different ways. It's a trial and error situation. But am hoping you and ur doctor can work this out!.....
Click to expand...

Considering you no longer take anti-depressants, are you seeing a psychotherapist?

And thanks! :)
 
KristinaB said:
I have been on Lexapro, Zoloft, Prozac, Neurontin, Lyrica and Cymbalta.
Most of them either made me so loopy that I could not care for my family or I had such allergic reaction to them that I had to be hospitalized. Others I ended up developing a resistance to them and they did not work any longer.

I am now not able to take anything.
Click to expand...

Sorry to hear that, Kristina. :( Do you see anyone?
 
Ildri said:
I've dealt with depression, and have been on a few different anti-depressants over time. The thing to bear in mind is different ones work differently for different people- depression can be tied to an imbalance of a few different chemicals in your brain (dopamine, seratonin, norepinephrine) and different meds are meant to work for different imbalances. So if you're put on a med that doesn't feel like it's working that well for you, don't be discouraged- sometimes it's just a matter of trial and error to find the right one.

Definitely talk to your doctor about the nausea and depressive episodes.

I hope things get better for you! Have you sought any counseling? I may be biased as a counselor-in-training, but I don't believe in JUST using anti-depressants. If you're dealing with anxiety and depression it might be really good for you to have a professional to talk to as well, who can help you to find ways to cope with these issues.
Click to expand...

I'm seeing my doctor in a month to discuss the medicine's effects. In all likeliness, she'll up the dose of Prozac.

I am going to be seeing a psychotherapist soon. We'll be getting a call about it within the next week. :)
 
jillio said:
Nausea is common with SSRIs. They change your body chemistry.

Who put you on Prozac? A family physician?

You don't have to be on Prozac for the rest of your life. There are treatments that are showing more success than any of the pharmaceuticals available. Please find a good psychologist that practices narrative therapy. There is also a new treatment being used called transcranial magnetic stimulation.
Click to expand...

That's what my pharmacist told me. He said that nausea isn't uncommon with Prozac.

Yes, my family doctor prescribed the anti-depressant.

Narrative therapy? Transcranial magnetic stimulation?
 
Loghead said:
Considering you no longer take anti-depressants, are you seeing a psychotherapist?

And thanks! :)
Click to expand...

No, not at all....the last doctor I went to strongly suggested to me that the cause of my depression was my deafness.....My feelings were it was life in general, not completely my deafness, however, it may have been a part of it.

After several nervous breakdowns, the realization that I needed to get a grip on life's situations. I took a very long vacation from all the stresses I was enduring, and came back to face everything so much stronger. My mind set had a lot to do with my recovery and it still does to this day.

So good luck to you!...Take it a day at a time, and when things get too overwhelming, find you a place to unwind, mediate, even yoga, exercise. And avoid negative people and things in your life. Surround yourself with positive people and environments, avoid those or things that bring you down.
 
I have had a number of nervous breakdowns and took anti-depressants for clinical depression for a long time. The first one was citalopram which made me feel really ill and left a permanent horrible taste in my mouth. After a week or two, I was switched to venlafaxine (or mirtazapine, I can't remember which). I was on this for a while but was never able to shake off my depression. The third stage was when I was put on a combination of venlafaxine and mirtazapine which did the trick for me.

The doctors told me that finding the best anti-depressant varies from person to person, so you should always tell the doctor about the side-effects and discuss whether another anti-depressant would be less unpleasant (there are nearly always unwanted side-effects). My moods stabilised and I was on this combination for a long time. One side-effect for me was always feeling hungry and I put on loads of weight until I because officially obese. Another side-effect was that I was feeling numb. I actually thought this numbness was due to my depression, but after some research I decided that the medication was the cause. In the end I felt that the side-effects were becoming worse than my actual depression and decide to try life without them. Fortunately I was able to come off the anti-depressants and not relapse into clinical depression again.

But please note that I was prepared to keep taking the anti-depressants for the rest of my life so it wasn't a case of feeling the need to stop taking them to show the world that I'm now cured. I wasn't ashamed of needing to take anti-depressants.

Also beware of those research findings that say anti-depressants are no better than placebos. Scientific research of people who are seriously depressed do show that anti-depressants are beneficial. It's people who are mildly depressed who don't tend to show any benefits, and they probably should have never been prescribed anti-depressants in the first place! It's the latter group that dominate those surveys claiming to show that anti-depressants don't work.

Throughout this period I was seeing a psychologist, and I still see one now. In my experience finding a qualified expert (whether psychologist, psychotherapist or other talking therapist) to talk to about your depression and how to cope with it is a very helpful thing.
 
Wirelessly posted

I take prozac for my genetic depression and it work pretty well it wont completely cure you from depression. what it does is reduce it to minimum and nausea is normal at first but it will go away also important info, never ever stop anti depressant/antipsychotic cold turkey (tried and went completely nuts and run off in middle of highway but my ex saved me by holding my arm and tell me to take medicine as we get home)
 
bupropion, it made me moodier then usual. get frustrated at little things, get pissed off at anything. but now its fine.. even stopped smoking.
 
Loghead said:
I'm seeing my doctor in a month to discuss the medicine's effects. In all likeliness, she'll up the dose of Prozac.

I am going to be seeing a psychotherapist soon. We'll be getting a call about it within the next week. :)
Click to expand...

Ask your psychotherpist if they are familiar with narrative therapy.
 
AJWSmith said:
I have had a number of nervous breakdowns and took anti-depressants for clinical depression for a long time. The first one was citalopram which made me feel really ill and left a permanent horrible taste in my mouth. After a week or two, I was switched to venlafaxine (or mirtazapine, I can't remember which). I was on this for a while but was never able to shake off my depression. The third stage was when I was put on a combination of venlafaxine and mirtazapine which did the trick for me.

The doctors told me that finding the best anti-depressant varies from person to person, so you should always tell the doctor about the side-effects and discuss whether another anti-depressant would be less unpleasant (there are nearly always unwanted side-effects). My moods stabilised and I was on this combination for a long time. One side-effect for me was always feeling hungry and I put on loads of weight until I because officially obese. Another side-effect was that I was feeling numb. I actually thought this numbness was due to my depression, but after some research I decided that the medication was the cause. In the end I felt that the side-effects were becoming worse than my actual depression and decide to try life without them. Fortunately I was able to come off the anti-depressants and not relapse into clinical depression again.

But please note that I was prepared to keep taking the anti-depressants for the rest of my life so it wasn't a case of feeling the need to stop taking them to show the world that I'm now cured. I wasn't ashamed of needing to take anti-depressants.

Also beware of those research findings that say anti-depressants are no better than placebos. Scientific research of people who are seriously depressed do show that anti-depressants are beneficial. It's people who are mildly depressed who don't tend to show any benefits, and they probably should have never been prescribed anti-depressants in the first place! It's the latter group that dominate those surveys claiming to show that anti-depressants don't work.

Throughout this period I was seeing a psychologist, and I still see one now. In my experience finding a qualified expert (whether psychologist, psychotherapist or other talking therapist) to talk to about your depression and how to cope with it is a very helpful thing.
Click to expand...

The research shows that anti-depressants can be effect in relieving symptoms in the short term. Their efficacy in the long term has not been determined. In fact, the reason that people have to change their med regimen when using these drugs long term is because they stop working. The most successful results are seen with a combination of therapy and medication with a gradual weaning of the medication during therapy. Just as you have done.
 
Ildri said:
I hope things get better for you! Have you sought any counseling? I may be biased as a counselor-in-training, but I don't believe in JUST using anti-depressants. If you're dealing with anxiety and depression it might be really good for you to have a professional to talk to as well, who can help you to find ways to cope with these issues.
Click to expand...

I totally agree.
 
For postpartum depression years ago, I took Prozac and Xanax - prescribed by a psychiatrist - without any problems. When my husband was dying, I tried to be proactive and asked my family doctor for Prozac and Xanax. It messed me up with really bad anxiety. After a little more than a week (and a 2nd visit to the doctor), I went to the ER and they changed the meds to Zoloft & Clonazepam - within a day or two, I was feeling much better. Though I had planned to find a psychiatrist to monitor me eventually, after this episode, I found one (my previous one had died a few years ago) and saw her on a regular basis. As it turns out, thankfully, I did not develop depression from my husband's death and weaned off the drugs about a year later.
 
Loghead said:
Sorry to hear that, Kristina. :( Do you see anyone?
Click to expand...

I see a therapist via Skype once a month now. I had to change therapists and put in a plea for someone else I worked with. She does this in her own time on her day off. She is a part time therapist with a men's residential treatment center.
 
I'm seeing a therapist and psychiatrist.

I take cymbalta for anxiety and depression.
 
KristinaB said:
I see a therapist via Skype once a month now. I had to change therapists and put in a plea for someone else I worked with. She does this in her own time on her day off. She is a part time therapist with a men's residential treatment center.
Click to expand...

I'm really glad that you found someone else you were comfortable working with. It can be difficult, especially if you had the kind of connection you had with your previous therapist.
 
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