Hi,
I'm wondering which med is best for both depression and anxiety? I'm new on wellbutrin, former med prozac, and I'm feeling a bit like a short fuse. Although, my eating is less. I'm not reaching for a snack every five mins.

Thank you
Kelly

I'm on Zoloft. It does well with my Anxiety and Depression although on some people it does not. I personally haven't had a weight gain side effect although apparently some people have.

I just started wellbutrin too (I think you've responded to one of my posts about it). I've read from others with anxiety that the wellbutrin can enhance the feelings of anxiety. I have never had anxiety (just depression) and am not feeling any of those symptoms since I've switched.

I've heard that a lot of people use wellbutrin in a combination with another anti-depressant. My mom took Prozac with wellbutrin, and the wellbutrin seemed to counteract the side effects of the Prozac.

Probably definitely something you'll want to talk to your doc about. It's not fun to trade one illness for another!!!

Thank you!

I'm feeling better on it as far as I am not picking at food all the time. I just feel like a short fuse. Of course, i'm also peri menopausal and 3 mos no period. This is the time I'd get moody pre period. So I'm going to give it a month. When I go back to the Doc to review and it's not better I'm going to ask for something else. Prozac worked very well for me. Except I was always picking at food and craved sweets a lot more.

Ugh

Kelly

Any SSRI is likely to be better for anxiety than Wellbutrin. Wellbutrin is really only good for depression and can *certainly* cause anxiety. I say this from both personal and professional experience.

(I tried Wellbutrin for a couple months last year. It totally helped me lose weight but in return I was a bit of an anxious b!tch, very easily set off either snide or crying. Decided it wasn't worth it, I'd rather be fat and pleasant. )

If Prozac is the only SSRI you've tried, I'd suggest trying something else, everyone responds very differently to them all, and there's no good way of predicting.

Thank you, Transformer.
I found myself getting short at work the other day. I can't afford that. I think i'm going to ask about paxil. Although, I've heard it's one of the more difficult ones to get off of.
When I went to the Doc she said I was depressed. I was upset about my weight and I teared up. She slapped me on Welbutrin. I also told her, though, I have a lot of anxiety and that I can be a total bietch at times. Being close to menopause doesn't help. So I'm on edge all the dang time. She didn't listen. Argh. Find new Doctor.
Anyone with paxil experience?

Transformer08
You hit the nail on the head. I feel like an anxious ***** on this stuff.

Why won't Doctors listen?

I really like what I'm on now, clomipramine. It is for OCD anxiety and depression. However, there are some issues with it and sugar in the blood stream. So I don't know if it's the best for dieters. I've gained a few pounds since my dose was upped a few weeks ago.

I take Cymbalta and Xanax.

I have anxiety, ocd and depression and had been on paxil for a number of years. While it really helped with the anxiety I lost my libido, quit dreaming and gained 20 pounds and sometimes I still fell into the black hole. I'm now on my sixth week of wellbutrin and I really like it. I wasn't so sure about it after the first couple of weeks while I was getting paxil withdrawls as well as wellbutrin side effects, but now I'm starting to feel a lot better. For the most part I'm over the dizziness, insomnia, uncontrollable sobbing and dry mouth to name a few. Sometimes it takes more than two weeks to adjust to a new drug and every drug does react differently to each individual.
Good luck,
K

Thanks everyone!!

Kelly

Kelly, I think Paxil is a completely reasonable next step. HOWEVER, I would say that it TENDS to be more sedating and more likely to cause weight gain than some of the others. As I said in my previous post, you absolutely cannot predict what side effects a patient is going to get (frustrating!), so you could be completely fine on it. IN GENERAL celexa and zoloft (both available in generic) tend to be well tolerated.

Definitely tell the doctor about how you're doing on the wellbutrin. And tell her that weight gain is a concern, so that she keeps that in the equation (I'm assuming you already did and that's why she tried the wellbutrin).

This is all trial and error, so try not to get frustrated!! I know it's hard, and it's may take months and months of trying one thing and then another, but when you hit something good, it's sooo worth it.

Today I'm feeling a lot better on the wellbutrin. Not as jittery. I think I'll give it a couple weeks. As long as I don't go off on anyone and end up in the big house, ugh. So far I'm a lot calmer today. It is good for the weight issue.
I'm not picking at food anymore. I'm also not eating sugar all day like I did on the prozac. I really craved sugar on that stuff.

I've read where some folks have added buspar with the wellbutrin for the anxiety issues. I may ask about this. I was on it during my divorce and it helped a lot.

Sigh

Kelly

I started out with anxiety issues that lead into depression. They put me on effexor at first but it made me like a zombie. And I felt even more depressed and suicidal. I started seeing a psychiatrist to was able to prescribe me cymbalta. Its been 2 years now and I can't believe the difference! Different meds work for different people and it may take a while to find the right one. I didn't feel great right away on cymbalta, the first 2 weeks were bad but not as bad as when I was on effexor. But now it has really taken my anxiety down. Hope you find what works for you and good luck

I take effexor which treats both anxiety and depression. I seem to be having good luck with this med but like Lynn said all meds do not work the same for all. Good Luck!