Before I was on the drug, I had anxiety…sometimes dibilitating anxiety. But no panic attacks. Well, actually, the day I finally went to see the dr. about my anxiety I had what some might consider to be a mild panic attack. I guess before the drug I had the woodpecker’s little brother on my back all the time, making me anxious and irritable. That goddamn woodpecker! Coupled with some mild situational depression (It’s been a hella year for ‘Disco…we would need a whole other thread for that though). Even with this crummy feeling I have now, my only regret is not going to the dr. sooner. It really gives me a rash when people complain that people on antianxiety meds or antidepressants are looking for a ‘happy pill’. :rolleyes: The point is to feel like your ol’ self, that’s it.
I was on Zoloft for a little while, with terrible insomnia, brain freeze, etc. Switched to Paxil, which worked great for the year I was on it, aside from complete lack of sex drive.
Weaned myself off; took the last pill on Sepember 10, 2001…
I was on Celexa for about a year, then weaned myself off it. It really did wonders for my depression, and I didn’t have many problems weaning off. A friend of mine tried to wean herself off Paxil after having been on it for years, and went through a complete personality change - she turned into a paranoid, hostile, freak-show monster. She finally went back on it after losing her job and almost losing a few friends that she didn’t tell what she was going through. Scared the hell out of me, that’s when I decided to quit the Celexa.
Who or what is Karp2381?
He’s what ya’ll 'round here call a ’ One Trick Pony ’
who expresses his disdain by asking the offender to lick his balls.
and, unrelatedly, can I add that no Paxil and no Straightdope make 'Disco something something
>I’m just REALLY FUCKING IRRITABLE. Especially when I’m around loud noises and/or humans.<
Isn’t that perfectly normal though?
Try going cold turkey off of a high dose Xanax. An anti-anxiety drug. The thing is, it seems like all the anxiety you didn’t have while on the drug comes back all at once within 24 hours of your final dose. It was a nice Christian doctor who decided to just stop the rx when he found out I wasn’t a Christian. This is the same FUCKTARD (love that word!) who first prescribed bible passages as a cure. (I still have the actual prescription.)
Trazadone: hated it.
Paxil: no effect
Nortriptyline: no effect
Wellbutrin: like Trazadone, felt like a fever dream, like being deep under water with pressure all over.
Ah. Enlightenment. Thank you.
**
go crazy?
Missing a dose of Paxil is very, very dangerous. Especially if you’re taking it for depression or BPD.
The withdrawl symptoms of Paxil are basically to throw you into the deepest pit of despair imaginable. It’s during these times that I’ve had some of my stupidest, most self-destructive moments.
Be very, very, very careful. Please.
-Opal
who went from Paxil to Celexa and is now transitioning to Wellbutrin.
When I was on Paxil, if I skipped even one dose, I would wake up the next morning feeling like the shittiest shit that ever shat. Headache, stomachache, and worst of all, a serious case of depression. It would last all day. When I finally kicked the stuff, I felt queasy for about three months.
Don’t mind if I do! 
^ yikes…preview!:smack:
I meant to quote the ‘go crazy’ part.
I guess I’m illustrating that point right now.
Oh shit! I’ve been on Paxil for almost 3 years now, and I’ve considered going off the drug. Will this make all my organs turn inside out and my brain leak out my nose? I’m scared, guys…:eek:
I just started on a new version of Celexa called Lexapro. Hopefully it will help my craziness. I do hate those first few days of the stuff, weird side effects.
Is it generally on anti-depressants, or off anti-depressants, or do you and your doctor experiment with reducing the dosage?
Don’t answer if you don’t think it is any of my business. I don’t mean tapering off the medication, I mean finding a smaller dosage that reduces side effects and is still clinically effective.
Or doesn’t it work that way?
I would also solicit responses from any Dopers who used anti-depressants for sleep disorders. Some one close to me has had anti-depressants suggested to treat insomnia, but freaked out at the words “anti-depressants” (“Me? Depressed? What am I, crazy?”).
Again, feel free to tell me to MYOB.
Regards,
Shodan
I know what you mean. I started taking Paxil during my last few months in college several years ago, and although it pulled me out of a deep funk it had the same brain-deadening and sex-inhibiting effects lots of other people have described. At the time, I didn’t realize I was dysthymic, and thought all my problems were simply stress-related (I worked 7 days a week for three months during the summer, after all). So I quit taking anything after I graduated.
The classic depression problems simply cropped up again 6 months later, and got much, much worse. Wellbutrin is what finally did it for me. I know some people here said they had side-effects, but I never noticed any. The main difference it made for me was that it (along with months of therapy) pulled me out of the abyss. I never had REALLY BAD days anymore, although some were still better than others. And when I was in a good mood I was almost euphoric. I don’t take anything now, and don’t feel I need to. But I’ll always be gratefull to that little purple pill. Without it, I might be dead.
So avabeth, try Wellbutrin, or something from the same family. Different drugs affect people in different ways, and they’re coming out with new ones all the time. Yo owe it to yourself.
My wife is a wonderful person when she is taking her Zoloft.
When she stops, I can tell in less than a day.
She gets all angry, wierd and, um, Vague. She becomes a crazed zombie.
I am a fan of Zoloft.
I quit drinking exactly one year ago because of a doctor’s advice. I was drinking from the time I got home from work (5:30PM) until I went to bed 12 midnight. I told El’Doctor about the drinking and he freaked out. I told him I would quit cold turkey. That very moment he whipped out his handy-dandy checklist of depression symptoms and started me on 20m mG/day.
I wish I would of had a break between the drinking cessation and the Paxil to see if I really needed it. I still take it. I have not noticed any mental effects from it and my libido has not changed one bit. I suspect I don’t need (and never needed) it. I want to quit.
Johnboy,
Last year when I was in an alcohol and drug recovery program, there were more than a few of the alcoholics who had a hard time with depression after quitting drinking. All of us pill-addicts were already on something (Paxil, Prozac, Zoloft, etc) to help us get through the hardest times and many of the alcoholics would talk to us about what we were on and if it would work for them. I know of a couple of them who ended up on an AD after talking to us in group and they were glad they did it.
That’s not to say that you needed to be on an AD, but I just wanted to let you know it’s very common.
Hello all, first time poster, short time lurker here.
My SSRI saga started a few years back. I liked my job, but there were times that it was overwhelming me. My GF would get crazy sometimes too, and I was having a hard time keeping a calm demeanor. I talked to my doctor and told him I felt like I was unable to control my feelings of anger. I was pissed at everything and everyone most of the time. Long story short, I was unhappy but my life wasn’t bad. He gave me some SSRI’s to try. I think I have tried most everything everyone here has mentioned except the Celexa. I forget what order the drugs came in. The first couple I tried, I went back to the Dr. and told him I didn’t feel like I was as ‘sharp’ as I needed to be to do my job. It wasn’t like I was blotto or anything, maybe just a little fuzzy around the edges. I was a lot calmer and happier though.
It was the Zoloft that I finally decided to stick with for a while. After the first couple of test runs with the other SSRI’s, I started to understand that there was going to be a trade-off of sorts. I was so glad to be in control of my temper and mood, I didn’t, at first, mind the diminished libido. It didn’t take long for the GF to complain though, and I didn’t blame her…Of course I didn’t blame much of anything on anyone then. I was happy with my Zoloft and the world was at peace. What I would soon find out, the honeymoon was about to end.
While there wasn’t a whole lot in the world that was going to shake my tree, I was starting to get a little p o’d about some other things. At first the vivid dreams were just that, very vivid. Then they started to get freaky. I would see dead relatives, friends, and strangers in them and they were getting so frightening that I would wake up, and for a few moments, I wouldn’t be sure of where I was, or if I was even safe. That wasn’t the only thing that was costing me sleep either. I was also the unwilling recipient of attacks of priapism. Oh the irony in that! I could have a hard-on that would last for hours, yet it didn’t feel good, and I didn’t have anyone around that wanted to take advantage of it. I would be awake for hours waiting for my body to give me a break and let me get my rest.
I went through life like that for probably close to a year. Since I couldn’t coerce my traitorous appendage to perform when my GF was around, I got a script for Viagra. She was happy, but I was having lingering affects from taking it. The heart attack convinced me that I didn’t want the Viagra anymore. I also shit-canned the Zoloft and the nut-job GF too. A month off from work to recuperate, and I was clean as a whistle when I went back.
What do you know, a happy ending….not. It wasn’t long after going back to work that the little things that irk you were turning into the big things that piss you off. Every time I got in my car, you could bet that someone was going to be shown the bird before I got to my destination. It finally boiled over. One morning, probably around 2 or 3, the computer operator at work called me to tell me that 4 or 5 jobs were crapping out. I was still half asleep, but the anger doesn’t sleep, it stalks, it lurks, it waits for the opportune moment to show its’ ugly face….”FUCK” was my first reaction to the message from the undeserving messenger. Not a FUCK YOU, just a FUCK. That was all it took. I fixed the problems that morning, but I found another waiting for me when I arrived at my place of employ.
So I’m on the Wellbutrin wagon now. Take one twice a day. It really isn’t too bad. I agreed with my bosses bosses boss that I could probably use a little help in controlling my anger. While the Wellbutrin isn’t as potent as the Zoloft, my libido stayed relatively intact!! I’ve not had a bout with the priapism for a while either. The dreams though, oh well, they don’t seem to be quite as bad either. Maybe they don’t seem as bad as the thought of me losing my job! The doc is hoping I’ll quit smoking, I told him I really wasn’t interested in trying to quit, but I think the drug has helped me cut back, even if it is unintentional. My bird is caged most of the time now, but I can still feel things build up sometimes. I get angry every now and again, and every now and again, I think about my past enemy/ally. I wonder if I should visit him again…Maybe after this script runs out.Thanks for the input Nutty Bunny. I know I sleep a LOT better and others have noticed that I appear a lot calmer and able to sit still for long periods of time.