Anti-depressants... your own experiences...

It is more for anit-anxiety, but NEVER TAKE XANAX! Worst experience of my life! Look in BTS health if you care.

Most Anti Depressants now are called SSRIs or Selective Seretonin Reuptake Inhibitors. I have suffered from depression most of my life.
I can tell you one thing, SSRIs like Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil, Celexa, Lexapro are great medicines when they work.

Most all the anti-depressants I have taken have eventually made me psychotic, cutting on self with sharp things, basically acting like a rabid animal.

Finally a doctor pegged me with Bipolar1 and everything has been great since. (correct medicines and combos)


So yes, SSRIs can even cause a diagnosis in a patient....made me exhibit whats called schizo-affective until we determined it was the SSRIs. Man it sucked being a pissed off animal on SSRIs.

I take Lexapro 10 mg now......very small dose which seems to be the best anti-depressant I have found. Of course I got the mood stabalizers working for me now to.


If anyone needs any questions answered about this just drop me a u2u and I will try to assist. Like I said, SSRIs can actually make one worse, it did me.

I've been taking anti-depressant for nearly a year now. I was on Prozac for 4 months, I hated Prozac, it #s you up even more. Im on zispin now. Zispin is helping a little bit, but its much better then Prozac. Prozac =

Anti-depressants are for weak people who wish to hide from their karma. Truth.

[Edited on 7-5-2004 by SaltyBeachedRat]

To saltedbeachrat:
WTF??! Wat gives u the right to say something SO ignorant! OMFG! I think mayby u should really think about wat your saying here... why the hell would a 14 year old child who has been picked on and told that they are worthless by practically everybody in their grade be experiencing bad Karma... honestly i think it would be the "cool kids" who should be lookn out for the bad karma... not the depressed student!!
Saltedbeachrat... go take another hit of your bong...before your karma gets u...

Originally posted by SaltyBeachedRat
Anti-depressants are for weak people who wish to hide from their karma. Truth.

[Edited on 7-5-2004 by SaltyBeachedRat]

Im on anti-depressants and i take deep offence to that

Around late 99, I wasn't depressed. Things probably couldn't have been better, but I got pulled leaving a restaurant "because I had a headlight out"...DUI.

Enter the courts, manditory psych evaluation, manditory rehabilitation treatment, manditory AA, manditory probation officer for compliance with every little thing the shrinks say...

When you get a DUI the court says you're an alcoholic. When the court says you're an alcoholic, you have to get treatment. Treatment says you must be drepressed and prescribes accordingly.

I went NUTSO on Paxil. Mind you I wasn't complaining, it was awesome. High as a monkey eating chocolate. I was way acting out, but in compliance.

It took about three years to completely ruin my life and get out of the court system to be able to actually evaluate the Paxil. I stopped on my own, but didn't go back to normal like before the drug...I was actually depressed FOR REAL this time. My brain had chemically changed...it was lazy and needed the help.

But since Paxil made me nuts, they tried about 6 other drugs in a years time. They made me manic, or suicidal, or fat, or lethargic...or whatever...but bottom line, none work now, and the first one screwed me up.

Thanks unnecessary drugs!

In my opinion, these little brain candies may be necessary for some, but SHOULD NOT be mass advertised like they are as soultions to all your problems. Mental health proffessionals should take care in prescribing brain altering chemicals and do so sparingingly...NOT as routine experimental treatment.

Just a warning...it may work, it may not...but sometimes the effects of simply trying the drug may be permanent or at least severely life altering.

Try losing 100 pounds at 30. Or living down a second or third DUI earned while in the manic throws of trying the latest trial pack your shrink hands you.

If you aren't THAT depressed to begin with, stay away from Anti-D's (if the courts let you).

Depression sucks, i've dealt with it all my life, but i refuse to take any medication. I get mood swings so i get uppers and downers, finally last year it got really bad, so i was put on two heavy hitters, Zyprexa and Lexapro. Didn't do much for me. I stopped taking them and for me its all mental. I am learning myself and controlling my emmotions. I still suffer from depression but have managed to learn and think through situations. My motto is mental power or chemical power. Chi, unagi.......And don't anybody say anything about some mental institutions the one i went some time back was a picnic!. It was like a vacation.

It worked at first then I gained weight and then became suicidal. (I dont know which was first, I didnt care about the weight at the time)
I didnt know or read about theses side effects

Now I weaned myself off;....Im off for about 2-3 weeks

Im not lethargic and my mood is better but its too short to tell.
I pissed I got fat and I work out everyday, but thats not a big issue compared to the suicidal tendencies and lethargy

What a fascinating thread.
I must agree with everyone when the SSRI's are good they are very good and when they are bad they are very bad! Good fortune and Luck to all that have difficulty adapating to the world that encircles us.

Tut

Originally posted by Jonna
It is more for anit-anxiety, but NEVER TAKE XANAX! Worst experience of my life! Look in BTS health if you care.

Well said, you would be better off taking a street drug than this one. It bit me hard. Damn near died.

took this for about a year[20mg] , had a nervous breakdown and needed it .
trouble i had was it made me lethergic ,unable to get up for work.
foolishly i just stopped taking it , awful reaction , my head felt like it was 12 inches to the right [very strange!!] for 6 weeks .
useful if used as a 'stopgap' but what they tell you about ssri's not being addictive is rubbish.

when i took my medication it also made me fat........

Guess I will share my experience as well.

I started having problems with Anxiety attacks, so off to the doctor who gives me Xanax. Well it worked, for a while, then I started having the attacks more frequently , about twice a day. When they hit I would start to really panic and if no medication was taken I would sometimes pass out (apparently I caused myself to hyper venilate). Once I got up to about 6 .5 xanax a day the doctor put me on prozac. I became extremly violent, with almost no control over my emotions.

Doctor says well take the xanax but let's try... Effexor. Effexor made me sleep, for a week. So now we tried Celexa, had most things in check but the anxiety attacks seemed to still come, but the depression I did not even konw I had got better.

In the end they had me on Celexa twice a day, Effexor at night along with Xanax and Buspar. All of these to control what they called social anxiety disorder. It got so bad I had to go on medical leave from work, then once it turned into long term leave I was released from my job (apparently the company had a policy I was unaware of).

so after losing my job, not driving a car for over 3 years due to the attacks and taking so much medication I had zero emotions (my best friend died and I am told I barely even registered it, hence no emotions). I decided one day enough was enough. I moved myself to a smaller town and took 6 months to get myself off all the pills. Now? Well I still have bad days. Because of my issues the bad days can be really really bad (as only someone who suffers from depression can understand). I discovered a drug that I can use only as needed, does not get me addicted and has helped more than anything I ever used before (coupled with meditation). That is majiuanna. Yes an illegal drug I know but I think I will live longer and better. I do not even use it more than every couple of months but it does what no other "legal" drug could. I guess that is why it is still not legal. BTW: my doctor who helped me kick all the other drugs suggested I try it, I thank him everyday I can look at my kids and feel the full range of emotions that come with being a parent.

I know the drugs help many people but I can personally tell you that they can hurt you as well. We are supposed to feel emotion, it is part of being human. These drugs often times will make you lose that part of yourself. While I found that acceptable at first (just for the ability to walk into a store or be in a room wiht more than 5 people) it later became the worse years of my life.

My advice would be to research your own medical needs along with your doctor. The 6 doctors I saw over the years did not treat me as a patient they just threw drugs at me hoping one would stick. Although today I have to use something that is not legal, I am better than before. I am not saying everyone should do this, in fact I don't suggest it at all. It has worked for me. The challenges I face today come from the 2.5 years I missed working due to my illness (can't explain that to a potential employer) and the fact that now I cannot pass a pre-employement drug screen. But I can enjoy my life, something I missed for the 6 years I battled with this illness. Small price to pay.

ok, here is my story

About 6 years ago, I quit my job to become a full time at home dad. My wife had a great stable job, and was making good money, so I was fortunate enough to be able to do this. Everything was fine at first. Then slowly, I began to get depressed until one day, I put my head down on my keyboard, and refused to move. For 2 weeks anytime anyone would try to talk to me, all I could to was turn, look at them, swear, then go back to sitting there with my head down.

I have always been a tad sad, and often had a fatal view of the world. Very gloom and doomy.

My wife finally forced me to go to the doctor, kicking and screaming. He ran some tests, asked me a series of questions, then said I had clinical depression and perscribed me paxil.

I went thru several changes in doses while they tried to find what was right for me, before all of this, I was having some odd feelings, I would have bad anxiety attacks, and was just always grumpy.

My doctor refered me to a mental health specialist, I wasnt to crazy about the idea, I was kind of worried because what I do on the side, could very easily be viewed by some as dellusional, as I am a very spiritually intune person. I was worried about that.

After talking to the specialist, and revieling some things about my past, I was diagnosed with cronic ptsd. It was a major relief to find an answer to some of my actions that I could not explain. During this time, they took me off of paxil cold turkey and 3 days later I tried to drive off a cliff, I just couldnt cope. This was right before they found that paxil had some dangerous side effects, and was addictive. At the last minute a small girl walked in front of my car with her parents and I got flashes of my kids, wife, and everything that I have experienced that was good in my life, and I stopped, realizing that I didnt want to die...I had been sitting there arguing with myself for a while. Trying to talk myself out of it. I knew I wasnt in my right mind..but yet...although I was fighting myself, wasnt until that last moment that I won.

I drove home and told my wife what I had almost done, and that I needed help. We went back to the doctor and I was put on effexor. Things got so much better after that. I had not laughed in years, didnt enjoy anything at all anymore, I used to love to fish, and I couldnt even do that. Some things got better, and as my therapy went along, some things got worse, I became agorophobic, which I still battle to this day, and although the ptsd is a constant battle, I am coping. At some point after 2 years of meds, I figured it was time to stop, I was ready, and the side effects of the medication were in some ways troubling, I was very apathetic a lot of the time, and wasnt reacting to things like you should, certain things that should make you mad, just wernt working on me. One of many side effects, sometimes you have to take the good and the bad and pick the lesser of 2 evils is how I see it. I was sick of feeling like a zombie and being tired all the time, so I talked to my doctor, and we descided it was time to come off the meds. Coming off of them was like walking into a whole new world. The depression was gone finally, and if it wasnt for those meds, I dont think I would be here today talking about it. I read farther up the post where someone said that these were all signs of weakness, needing these things, and I can tell you, that it sure as hell isnt. These meds saved my life. Although I still cope with my ptsd, and that is a day to day battle, I understand that the meds are there to help you to cope until you can get some other means of therapy if needed, they are not a cure they are a helper so that you can face things and do what needs to be done.

I was angry at first reading the posts saying people who need these are weak, but I also had to face that when I started. At first I felt weak, and then realized, that by taking these meds, I was actually taking charge of myself, and taking the first step to getting well.

it has been almost 3 years since I was on anti depressants, and although I dont think I will ever take them again, I am very greatful that they are around for people who need the help, without them, I wouldnt be here.

For someone who has never experienced sever depression, it is hard to understand, I wouldnt wish it on my worst enemy, the total lack of will to live and inability to see the good things in life are terrible to experience, its like being trapped in a cage in the dark knowing that no one is coming to feed you ever again and there is no escape, you just slowly wait to die. Thats what it was like for me.

now, I am doing much better. I am not depressed anymore, and I place full credit to the medication I was given at the time I needed it. I am not weak, but stronger for going thru this and being a survivor.

Peace

I have suffered from panic disorder since 1983. At one point, in 1983, I had full-blown agoraphobia. Although I was treated by a psychiatrist, I really didn't get any great relief until the introduction of Prozac. Periodically, we've tried other SSRI's but Prozac seems to be the one that helps me the most.
Before Prozac, the idea of having a panic attack kept me from doing many things. Now, there are still some things I don't particularly LIKE doing BUT I can do.
I'm convinced that there's a genetic component to depression/panic disorder/ocd etc. My dad had ocd and depression, his father had something akin to panic disorder and depression, several aunts had agoraphobia and depression and/or ocd. I think that there's the genetic predisposition to begin with, then, something stressful causes it to "kick in".
My father finally got help...in his late 70's...with his problems The doctor, after hearing Prozac had worked for me, prescribed him Prozac as well. His reasoning was that we had the same brain chemistry and what would work for me would work for him. He got almost immediate relief. I know it's supposed to take 6 weeks to get relief, but he and I were both "fast responders". So, I definately believe it's a brain chemistry problem.
I do know I'm a much happier, grounded, and better adjusted person because of Prozac. All the scare tactics don't concern me. I know the difference between a life of fear and depression and a happy, productive life that is filled with just the normal ups and downs everyone experiences.
joey

I would like to take this oppurtunity to thank everyone who posted on this thread and shared your experiences... alot of the stuff does seem very private, but i thank you for sharing it...

I've been diagnosed as clinically depressed for about a month now, but my depression has actually been lingering for a year or two, but i was to wrapped up in denying that i was depressed to seek help for it.

I snapped at my family constantly. If someone looked at me and I didnt want them to, i yelled. If someone turned up the TV, and i didn't OK it, i yelled. I knew i was yelling, yet i felt helpless to stop it, and would feel guilty after i yelled.

I would sit on my porch and bitch to the neighbors about how i hated the neighborhood. i'd yell at kids if they touched my fence. stupid things, but i couldnt help myself- everything set me off.

I also had a pretty dim outlook on things. i started failing classes in school, because i stopped going to them due to the negative thoughts i would have all the time- that i wasnt going to make any money when i graduated, i wasnt going to pass the test, etc.

literally, the world seemed to be shades of gray for me- nothing was bright, and instead of waking up every morning and appreciating life, i woke up and thought "god damn it, i've gotta be around another day."

i never felt suicidal, i knew that killing was wrong, and i couldnt imagine the hell that would put my family through.

finally, due in part to several reasons which i cant get into because of pending legal issues(not against me), i had to leave school. this threw me into a 6 month period, starting in january 2004, where i was so depressed that i became physically ill. i would throw up for days on end. nothing i ate stayed in my stomach. i had test after test, colonosopies, endoscopies, mis-diagnosises, etc.

i even started having panic attacks, which would cause me to pass out on more than one occasion.

finally, at the end of may, i decided, after much urging from my parents, that maybe i should see another doctor for my stomach troubles, and instead of calling a gastroenterologist, i decided to see a psychologist, who eventually diagnosed my depression. he consulted with my regular doctor, who in turn called me in to sit down with him, and we discussed my treatment options- therapy alone, which could take years or therapy and medication, which was the suggested treatment from both my Doc and my psychologist.

I have always been uneasy with medications, but i decided to give one a shot in combination with therapy.

my doctor put me on 50mg of Zoloft, which i started on June 4th 2004.

I'm hoping over the next few days and weeks, the zoloft continues to work, and then i can be tapered off of it.

anyone that has had experiences with zoloft in particular, i would appreciate it if you could either post, or u2u me, any side effects you had, and how quick it worked for you.

I have taken Xanax three times and each time I took them I "blacked out". Twice I got violent and the other time luckily I was alone. I also took a Paxil once and I felt drunk and passed out. Prozac did absolutly nothing to me, but at first when I took it, I got that feeling that you get just when an acid trip is getting ready to kick in, and then nothing. That was back in my experimental days. I won't take any anti-depressants or anti-anxiety meds now. I'm pretty much done with pharmecuticals.

Nutzo

I've taken Lexapro for almost a month now and I've had no side effects at all. From what I've read on the 'net, its one of the better ones to be on. Its not a "happy pill" where you feel something immediately. You just gradually feel better. Any other successes with Lexapro?