I’ve been in therapy for almost a year now, and things have been progressing nicely. However, due to a number of things that are all happening at once, I’ve basically gotten slammed with a boat load of new stresses. Even with the talk therapy, which helps a lot, I’m often feeling like I just can’t handle stuff.
My therapist and I have discussed the possibility of medication and having me assessed by a psychiatrist she works with, since he can prescribe. I am, of course, under no obligation to go on meds even if he thinks it’s a good idea, but I gotta say, the idea of something that will “take the edge off” as a medicated friend of mine put it, sounds pretty good right now. There are times when I get so anxious that I end up physically exhausted, or when waves of sadness hit me and I just want to cry. Sometimes it feels like there’s all this stuff whirling around in my head and it just won’t stop. I’m not looking for a Magic Happy Pill, but something that would help me calm down, think straight, and not be convinced my life is over whenever something negative happens would be welcome.
But I’m concerned about side-effects (sexual and otherwise)… I wonder about how temporary “temporary” really is, and how I’ll adjust if I go on meds, then off them… all that good stuff. I also don’t know what I’d be put on, so there’s that uncertainty right now too.
So I’m hoping some of you will share your stories of decisions to go on medication, whether it’s temporary or otherwise. Did it help? Did you get side-effects? Did you have to try more than one thing before one worked? If you’ve gone off it, how were things for you med-free?
Thanks in advance. I know this is a personal subject but since people here are generally pretty open about things like depression, I thought I’d have a shot.
It took a couple years, two psychiatrists and about eight medications before I found something that worked, but I think it really was worth all the trouble. I used to be unable to concentrate on anything, and suicidal a lot of the time, but now I’m usually fine as long as I’m on my meds.
The med that owrks for me is Wellbutrin. With this one, for the first couple weeks I had reduced appetite and dry mouth, but it wasn’t intolerable, and it did go away within a few weeks. Of course, if you try a medication and the side effects are too much for you to even stay with it for a few weeks, you can stop before. I did that with one of the ones I tried; I couldn’t get more than two hours of sleep a night for a week on it.
I’ve had more serious side effects than most on the meds, including mania, insomnia, hypersomnia (sleepin almost twenty hours a day), and anxiety, but most people have milder. And despite how difficult it was to find something that worked, in the end it’s worth it to be healthy again.
I think antidepressants are a pretty good option sometimes - they can move people into a frame of mind where they can actually get some positive work done (hard to do those cognitive therapy exercises if you can’t get off the couch :))… as for anti-anxiety medications, I’d avoid most of them, benzodiazepenes in particular. Trade names like ativan, restoril, and valium… most of the drug names end in -pam, like lorazepam. I work in a detox centre, and a lot of clients find benzos really, really addictive because they’re fast acting and give that nice, floaty feeling (plus not being anxious anymore - a lot of our frequent clients are drinking to escape a lot of anxiety and depression).
Most antidepressants have a limited potential for addiction, so they’re ok in my books. If I was looking at the prospect of being on antidepressants for a limited period of time, I’d go for it. Six months to a year (after settling into a regimen) wouldn’t bother me too much - but you need to work within your own comfort zone.
I hope your life gets less complicated soon, and that you feel a lot better soon.
Hang in there Rosebud. I’ve been on meds for depression myself, and it has helped me. My mood swings are much more manageable now and it’s been a looooong time since I had one of those anxiety attacks you mentioned in the OP.
As for side effects, I had a problem with my memory for a while. I even posted about it. It wasn’t a bad, can’t-remember-anything sort of problem, but a nuisance. I had an especially hard time remembering numbers.
The memory thing’s been better since I stoped taking Zoloft though.
Been taking Celexa for about a year now, and it’s doing the job nicely. I also take Neurontin (to help control impulsiveness), and Xanax (only as needed) for anxiety.
I’ve got to tell you something about the Celexa, though (don’t worry, it’s not bad). The first anti-depressant I took was Wellbutrin, given to me by my MD. It helped a little, but then I went in to see a psychiatrist for a regular prescription. He immediately took me off the Wellbutrin, because I have epilepsy and he wasn’t comfortable with the increased seizure risk. He prescribed Celexa.
Less than two weeks later, I was sitting at my desk at work, and I all of a sudden realized…I was in a good mood. Not manic, not filled with overwhelming, uncontrollable glee, but it was as if all of a sudden, things just didn’t suck anymore. And it was the first genuinely good mood I’d been in inover ten years. I hadn’t realized how depressed I was, or for how long it had been going on, until I all of a sudden wasn’t.
Things still suck from time to time, but the meds have helped me to realize that just because something sucks right now, that doesn’t mean it’s going to suck forever. Which is really what the meds are supposed to do–get you out of that chronic dark and in to the light.
Celexa itself has had only one side effect for me, and that was quite temporary. It made me really, really sleepy for a couple of weeks, as my body got used to it. But after about two weeks, that went away, and no side effects since.
Hiya Crunchy. It’s actually been a long time since I’ve had a genunine anxiety attack. One problem I’ve had lately, though, is that despite the years that have gone by since my actual attacks, I can’t sleep well for fear that my current stressed-out state of mind will cause me to have one of the sort of episodes that gave me massive problems sleeping when I was in college. To clarify that, what I consider my “genuine” attacks were kicked off with the one that landed me in the E.R. because my dad thought I was having a stroke. The other stuff was muscle spasms that kept me up all night, tensed up so bad it hurt, several nights a week. (Tangent: I asked my doctor at the time to help me. She gave me a bottle of pills for “PMS” and wouldn’t refer me to a counsellor. Gee, thanks.)
What I seem to be doing now, though, is getting so worked up and anxious about things (things that I’m almost inventing out of whole cloth in my head, usually based on some minor spark) that I end up feeling, at the end of the day or the week, that I’ve run a marathon. The depression side of it manifests sometimes in this kind of hopelessness that comes and goes. Objectively I realize my life is pretty good in the ways that matter, but it seems like I can’t appreciate it or enjoy it as much as I should. Sometimes I simply feel numb, like nothing good matters. Not much going on in the way of mood swings, although over the last couple of weeks I have flown into absolute rages over, for example, a woman at work giving my boyfriend a bag of cookies.
FunkDaddy, thanks for the detox p.o.v. and the good wishes. The potentially temporary nature of any prescription I end up on is based on the fact that some of the stuff that I’m having trouble with right now will surely pass-- yet I need to be able to think clearly to deal with it all, and not sink into these deep funks.
JadedNaive, I’ve heard good things about Wellbutrin; good to know that the side-effects weren’t so severe for you on that one. I hope that we find one that works for me fairly soon, but I appreciate your candor about how long it took for you. Glad you’re feeling better!
Just saw Persephone’s post on preview-- further good information, thanks much! I really appreciate you guys all chiming in.
Things have changed a lot; I used to think anyone on antidepressents was doomed to be a zoned-out zombie. That was mostly a misconception on my part, but it’s also true that they’re coming out with better stuff, and learning more about what works.
To add to what Persephone said, Celexa is a newer drug (been used in Europe for longer, though) and it apparently has the lowest side-effect profile of the SSRI family–at least for most people.
I was just told that rather than going off it when things seemed better, one should take it for a year. It reduces risk of relapse. Of course, you’re not obligated to keep taking it.
I LOVE my antidepressents. I’ve taken Zoloft for over a year now. Hubby takes Paxil and Wellbutrin. I was suicidal when I finally went on the meds, and I’d been in talk therapy for a year and a half at that point. It took about 3 weeks to kick in, and when it did it was a whole different world. I wasn’t happy and floaty, but I was rational for the first time in ages. Hubby said that there was no reaching me by any kind of logic prior to the meds, and he was so right. The best part is it also helps with my muscle problems.
The side effects were bearable. Nausea for the first week or so. The sexual side effects… eh. Hubby puts it best, I think. Too much Paxil for him, Elvis won’t get off the stage. Too much Zoloft, he won’t get on the stage. I noticed for the first couple months it took longer to… get to where I wanted to go, but I could get there. It worked itself out after that.
Talk therapy is great, but if you add in medications it can be so much better. The pills don’t make you happy, but they put you in a place where you can get there on your own. Good luck!!!
Hmmm, Cranky, interesting point about the one year thing. Definitely something I’d want to discuss with the psychiatrist, under the “how temporary is temporary” category of Rosebud’s Concerns.
bobkitty, the main reason I stressed sexual side-effects is that I’m on birth control pills now, and a new prescription as of about two months ago at that. The bc pills themselves are causing some getting where you wanna go issues, to use your wording With my previous prescription, this worked itself out after a little while, but I am a bit concerned about adding another every-day type medication. It’s the only area where I fear an actual doubling of side-effects, basically.
Btw, your sig is quite fitting for this thread in a tongue firmly in cheek kind of way
Rosebud: there are ways of dealing with sexual side effects, at least with some medications. You can switch meds, or you can take a medication that temporarily blocks the anti-depressant medications (when you’re planning ahead for intercourse–how romantic…) or you can take something in addition to the anti-depressant that minimizes that particular side effect.
I’m with Persephone. I’ve been on Celexa for about 2 years. I think it works great. I haven’t had any side effects from it. The only thing is that I tried playing doctor about 3 months ago and wanted off my meds. I hate taking pills(i tried killing myself by taking bottles of pills). So yeah, I stopped taking them and thats when all the side effects happened. I got dizzy,nauseas, sweaty, and it was just hell. The day I started back on, I felt fine.So, uhm, Celexa good.
I don’t really understand for all these people to be taking drugs now. I mean, back in the day, did people have all these disorders? Have they always been around? If not, why are they appearing now; and why aren’t we trying to make a cure? (MOney is in treatment, i know, but there must be someone who cares enough to make a cure.)
I’m not against meds, I think they’re a godsend for some people (and have been for me during a few serious depressions) but from what you describe in your post, I’d think twice. (I’m not saying don’t take them - just think consider carefully). The symptoms you’re talking about don’t necessarily sound like depression to me. (Waves of sadness, maybe, but are you talking about a persistently depressed mood or occasional sadness?) Antidepressants can help with anxiety disorders too, but your symptoms really sound like the type of thing that cognitive therapy would address as well or better. Is that the type of therapy you’re in?
I’d say if you’ve gone through cognitive therapy for a while and tried exercise, and still are not improving, that would be the time to consider antidepressants. That really is just IMHO, though.
Yes they have. Anxiety, depression and manic depression have been described in medical literature for centuries. IIRC going all the way back to Hippocrates.
Pretty much ssj, there have always been large numbers of people who slip between the cracks, though it may have been less prevalent or have somewhat less serious effects.
Depression is thought to be adaptive behavior. In a primitive social setting depression would decrease the potential for conflict in a low ranked individual. A mildly depressed individual could probably function quite well in a hunter gatherer society. In the absense of stress depression can actually be an enjoyable state.
In the modern world depression has no upside. We have higher expectations and depression interferes with one’s ability to function in a more complex world. Instead of providing a psychological break, episodic depression creates additional problems which can lead to more depression. In the worst case scenario the depression takes over feeding of the wreckage it has made of the individuals life.
In most cases of episodic depression a course of anti depressants provides the individual the chance to deal with their problems in a functional manner. In a matter of months they have their shit together and continue life without them. The downsides of anti-depressants are minimal particularly compared to the one way trip to hell experienced when depression snowballs. This is why doctors sometimes seem to hand them out like candy.
ssj, it’s only been within the last hundred or so years that actual therapy for mental/emotional disorders has come in to vogue. Used to be they’d just toss you in to an institution, and leave you there. Well, unless you count electroshock therapy and lobotomies. Those have been around a little longer.
And it’s only been within the last few decades that they’ve discovered the chemical connection in depression. By that I mean, depression isn’t always situational, and meds can fix it.
Depression is curable. Millions of people go through talking and/or medication therapy succesfully, eventually get off both, and never need them again. But, because we don’t know everything there is to know about the brain yet, not everyone is that lucky. However, depression does have (according to the last stats I read) a ninety percent treatability rate. In other words, most people who suffer from depression can get their lives back, even if they can’t get off the meds.
(Didn’t think the board was still up 'til just now, gonna try to slip in a response before it goes down!)
uglybeech, the symptoms I was describing are the most current ones. In truth, I’ve been dealing with this for most of my life. I see your point-- why go on meds if they aren’t really needed? This is my concern as well. But after years of this, I think they might be the way to go. We’ll see after my assessment, which I’ll probably have done sometime in the next few weeks.
ssj, yes, they’ve always been around. And my own WAG is that many in the good old days didn’t get treatment of any kind because of the stigma at the time (a stigma that seems to me to be far lessened these days, going by how open people are about it). Ok, when I say “many” I admit I’m influenced by one specific case that has stuck with me. Namely, my grandmother. Deep depression, screwed her life up something awful. I’m not sure she ever had a happy day in her adult life. But in the world she grew up in, “No one in our family ever needed a psychiatrist.” She actually used this line on my mom, when Mom started seeking help.
For anyone taking or considering SSRIs (Prozac, Zoloft, Celexa, Wellbutrin), I’d recommend checking out the cover article of Discover (July 2001) or the book it’s based on - Prozac Backlash by Joseph Glenmullen. It talks about some of the serious effects SSRIs can have on the brain and alternatives to medication.
Some of the effects are really quite disturbing - sexual side effects are seen in about 60% of patients (not 2-5% as the manufacturers say). Also, there is a risk of becoming dependent and experiencing withdrawal when the medication is stopped (probably what happened to arachnidlove). Most scary (to me at least) is the fact that these drugs can permanently rewire your brain and actually kill brain cells, producing Parkinson’s disease-like symptons - tics, muscle spasms, memory loss.
Anyway, I fully agree that for some people, these drugs are life-saving and absolutely necessary. However, sometimes the drugs are prescribed for relatively minor problems that could be solved by therapy or other treatment. Just some food for thought.
I noticed for the first couple months it took longer to… get to where I wanted to go, but I could get there. It worked itself out after that.