Antidepressant round-up

[footfootfoot]

What are you on now? What have you been on in the past? How's it working out for you?


I've taken Zoloft on a number of occasions and today I was gently told by a friend who knows about this sort of thing and me that I might want to go see my doc about getting beack on the program again.

I'm looking for a new kick though. Zoloft just hasn't worked lately.

Suggestions?

[Perry Winkle]

I've been on most psychoactive drugs in my life.

The ones I remember working best are Effexor and Wellbutrin.

Currently I'm on a combination of Zoloft and Trazodone. That's working very well for me, aside from a brief stint of fainting spells early on (potentially a side-effect of Trazodone).

My "diagnosis" is Bipolar I, so what works for me might not be reasonable for a more common depression.

[Undertoad]

Paxil, a wonder drug for my chronic anxiety illness.

[Number 2 Pencil]

I am on Wellbutrin and Abilify. Frankly I don't know if they improve my mood much, but I'm not stopping them to find out what exactly they are doing. The Abilify is giving me a very slight involuntary motion of the arms, so the doc just added a tiny dose of Cogentin to the mix, it is a side-effect suppressant for the Abilify.

Of all the antidepressants I have been on, Wellbutrin has settled best with me. The ssri's like Paxil and Prozac killed my sex drive and made me feel very flat.

I am also on Simvastatin for cholesterol, and I just read that it can cause memory issues, so I am wondering if my occasional foggy memory is because of the statin or if it is all the other stuff I am taking.

[anonymous]

I remember paxil, prozac, zoloft...then somewhere in there was a wellbutrin add-in, which didn't last long. Currently Effexor XR 150 plus an occasional generic atavan for anxiety attacks. Current has been a few years now, and seems to still help. Sometimes others just "stopped working."

[skysidhe]

Sorry, I am one of those anti-antidepressant people. I think much can be done with CBT and good nutrition and exercise.

I do realize there are times when people need them. My sis is dealing with chronic pain and my mom. My sis doesn't like SSRI's either, but conceded that it was in the best interest of sanity and pain management. When you are in pain it is hard to deal with stress. I am happy to report they are all happy now. My mom is happy as a clam and my sis is doing well and happy mom is with her.

[Pico and ME]

I only take trazodone to help me stay asleep, but it is an anti-depressant. It really doesn't stop the SAD tho, which comes on at the end of daylight saving time. I know that I need to eat better and start exercising to counteract that. Soon.

[Clodfobble]

Maybe get the partial temporal lobe seizure thing ruled out first, just to be sure. People with seizures are also prone to depression, and I can tell you right now that being on low levels of anti-seizure meds (Trileptal, specifically) makes me feel freaking fantastic.

[Perry Winkle]

Originally Posted by skysidhe

Sorry, I am one of those anti-antidepressant people. I think much can be done with CBT and good nutrition and exercise.

I do realize there are times when people need them.

I'm very anti-drug. About 10 years ago I was on a very intense drug regime. The only things that ended up helping were the things you mentioned.

Then I went about 6 years without them, and stayed pretty healthy with diet and exercise, practicing CBT techniques myself and going in for periodic CBT "check ups." But then my ability to cope was overwhelmed by stressors (3 deaths in the last year, 2 moves and job switches, marriage, etc.). I spent 10 days in the hospital this month to get things back on the rails.

If you are safe (i.e., are coping "okay" and not self-harming or suicidal) and don't have the therapy, nutrition and exercise situation pegged do that first.

Sometimes you just need drugs.

[skysidhe]

I hope you are doing better Perry.

[Juniper]

Pinot Grigio. Or sometimes Jim Beam & Diet Coke. Beer's just too fattening.

Okay, seriously, I'm terrified of antidepression meds. Many years ago I was in one of my valleys and mentioned to hubby that maybe I ought to take something for it - he adamantly said *no way* and gave me some horror story about some guy he knew whose wife was crazier after she went on the meds than before, and how he believed you got to be dependent on the stuff and it messed up your brain. This from a guy who did his share of recreational chemicals, you know?

So I got scared off. I did take Wellbutrin for a week or so when I was quitting smoking - figured it'd kill 2 birds with 1 stone - and it made me so hyper I couldn't stand it. I was happy, sure, but felt like I'd drank 4 pots of coffee.

Actually coffee does work just about as well as anything else! The hard part is getting motivated enough to get my ass out of bed and brew some.

Now, I have no idea why I thought I needed my husband's *permission* to take medication, for heaven's sake. I'm seriously thinking about discussing it with my doctor. But I don't like my doctor, and we're still trying to figure out what I should take for blood pressure, and I'm not sure how well the two types of meds play together anyhow.

Truthfully I think I'm bipolar. I had kind of a manic episode last August and while I can see why some people actually *like* them, I found it extremely unsettling. Of course, it could just be my age and the hormone thing. Damn, we're so complicated.

[Sundae]

I'm on 40mg Citalopram (Celexa?)
It's used as much for anxiety as depression, and I think this might be where it helps me.

It's made a HUGE difference to my life.
I no longer have a heightened fear of everything. I no longer automatically think about killing myself when something minor goes wrong. I have been able to deal with bills and creditors - I've even phoned my bank when I've been worried I'm about to go overdrawn, rather than bury my head in the sand.

I haven't thought that anyone hates me and is laughing about me behind my back for a couple of years now.
I no longer lie awake at night wanting to die and hating myself so intently that I am rigid with disgust.

I have tried to get CBT, but there is nowhere locally that has it on the NHS and I can't afford to pay.
I'm fixing the diet and exercise thing.
But if I'm on Citalopram for ever I don't care.
I'm still me - I still have ups and downs. I can feel joy and excitement and painful nostalgia - it's certainly not all flat and grey. But there is less desperation, hopelessness, distress.

[DanaC]

I tried a few anti-depressants years ago; but didn't like them, and didn;t really treat them with enough respect (note to self: Seroxat is not a recreational drug! )

I am quite wary of anti-depressants on the whole. I think they are often prescribed to people who are not actually suffering from the kinds of depression that the drugs are meant to tackle. That's probably where a lot of the horror stories of people getting worse on meds come from. Some types of depression can be tackled with medication, some really shouldn't. Unfortunately many GPs have a tendency to view it as a simple depressed/not depressed issue and either assume drugs will help, or assume they won't, without actually establishing a real diagnosis of what kind of depression they are looking at or what causal factors might be at play. At the same time, the psychiatric professionals often seem siloed into their own area of expertise and push their own pet strategies almost regardless of depression type/cause.

If you have a bi-polar condition then medication is usually a very sensible route. CBT is great, but is unlikely to be able to tackle wild swings in brain chemistry.

What I do take are drugs that act on anxiety, rather than depression. I take hydroxizine, which is a combination anti-histimine and sedative. Because of the eczema, I get anxious, and because I get anxious the eczema gets worse and so forth. Even if my eczema is ok, if I have a bout of anxiety it will kick it off big style. The hydroxizine allows me to break that cycle when I am in it, and prevent it occurring at certain regular times (such as night time). It's far from perfect, but it helps. Unfortunately medicine hasn't really learned how to deal with the sensation of itching yet. They can block histimine production, but that really only answers a small part of the itch problem: not all itching is the result of histimine production. beyond that, anti-priuritics and sedatives can be helpful: but they all treat itching as essentially a mild form of pain. We now know, though only very recently, that itching is an entirely distinct process using entirely distinct receptors.

All they can really do right now is sedate, mildly anaesthetise and bring down inflammation.

For the rest i self-medicate with pot and coffee, and sci-fi :P

[Trilby]

what is CBT?

eta - oh. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. (thanks, Google!)

I see a therapist but she's actually a cancer therapy specialist. She's helped me more than any other form of Rx/therapy combined. She's simply wonderful. I've learned so much from her - she's helped me! BUT, I went to many, many therapists who were of minimal to no help. It's important to keep pressing and looking for one that works for you.

The one thing cancer did do for me was introduce me to her. She's changed my life in many ways.

plus, the prozac. Gotta have the prozac.

[ZenGum]

Well, it might lift a little depression to know that every time I read CBT, my sick mind thinks of the other CBT first. Even when reviewing psych student essays at work.

Sometimes it is hard to be me. Is there a pill for that?