Hi I was wondering if anyone could give me any info about anti -depressants my therapist thinks I should talk to my dr about taking anti-depressants so I'm trying to find out all I can side effects and anything else. Thanks

Hi!

I was on effexor XR (I can't remember the strength) for about a year and a half. It really helped with my depression. I felt much better and my family enjoyed me a lot more too!

I remember it really messing up my sleep patterns though. I would crash hard for a few hours and then have really weird dreams and wake up. Then it would be hard to get back to sleep again.

I didn't have a hard time weaning myself off it either. Some people do have trouble but I guess I was lucky.

Good luck in your decision.

i was on and off anti-depressanst for around 4 years an dnever found one that suited me. you're in therapy which would have been my first suggestion so i do suggest you talk to your doctor if it's what htey suggest.

many ad's have bad side effects like weight gain, suicidle tendancies etc but many the good points out weighs the bad. however, it can take a little bit of time to find one that suits you.

http://www.antidepressantsfacts.com/
here is a list of some anti depressants,you can get individual info on each by clicking on the name.
I take doxepin which isn't on that list,it treats a lot of things including depression.I use it for sleep though.I have never gained weight from it,so that is a plus.

I'd taken celexa for years, and then was switched to lexapro. I ended up going back to celexa. It was fine until my dosage was increased. My appetite increased as well. When I was switched to Wellbutrin SR, I lost 15 lbs in a month.

What I'm saying is that we all react differently to different things. I tried therapy, but didnt' get a lot out of it, so have turned more towards journaling, meditation, prayer...my therapist and my Dr. are very good at working with me to find solutions and treatments that work well with me, so I will use them better ( sentence structure bad: early morning).

Find a doctor that will give you good advice, also do what you're doing, asking people what they've experienced. It will help you learn.

Also, if you do take a medication, and decide that it doesn' work for you, don't just quit! It can be worse than any side effects! Always talk to a doctor first about going off of a med.

Depression is a crazy thing, hard to describe, hard to understand, and it can be hard to communicate, be insistent about being heard.

I'm not a doctor, but sometimes my medicine cabinet makes me feel like a pharmacist.


Okay, getting off the soapbox now...

The only thing Zoloft did for me was make me sweaty and give me true affection for Ben & Jerry every night at midnight. I weaned off slowly to avoid more side effects.

Paxil made me gain, Wellbutrin made me jumpy....

it is a very individualized reaction, your doctor can best advise you.

Everyone reacts differently to meds so don't give up if the first one you try is not for you, this is VERY normal to try a few before you find the one that works. Once size does not fit all

HUGS !!!

Meds work differently for everyone. I'm bipolar and I tried pill after pill for 9 years before I found one that made me feel like me. I've been on Zoloft, Prozac, Celexa, Effexor, Wellbutrin and now I'm on Lexepro and I love it. Zoloft made me gain weight, Prozac only worked for about 4-5 years (your body builds up a tolerance to Prozac), Celexa didn't help, Wellbutrin didn't help, and Effexor made my libido non-existant.

I've been on Lexapro for about 3 years now and it's wonderful. But, like I said, everyone is different! Talk to your doctor about your options. Actually, if you're going to go on anti-depressants, you really should see a psychiatrist. They know a lot more about mental illness and the medicine used to treat it than a family practitioner. You can discuss your options. Usually, after they talk to you, they'll have an idea of what medicine will work for you.

Good luck!

Try to see if your doctor will put you on wellbutrin xl if you need medications.There is less chance for weight gain . It is also much easier to get off of when you are ready. Paxil and other SSRI (prozac ,celexa ,zoloft etc) medications can be very difficult to stop. Visit www.quitpaxil.org for a very important information. Personally I can tell you I gained 50 lbs on paxil and have tried several times to come off. But the withdrawl effects are horrible. Please research all meds, discuss the potential side effect with your doctor before you start on anything. I wish I had before I started paxil.

Yes, but be careful with Wellbutrin. If you develop a rash after you start taking it, and continue to take it (after you have noticed the rash), you can die. It happened to my brother. He started it, got a horrible rash on his face and had to stop. It also has the tendency to give you extreme anxiety. Just be careful. Just because one of the side effects of a medicine is weight gain, does not automatically mean that you will gain weight.

Wellbutrin can also induce seizures in people. My husband had no idea that he was susceptible to seizures until he started Wellbutrin. *sigh*

A friend of mine has an excellent site, www.crazymeds.org where he puts a lot of info on the different drugs out there <albeit from a mostly bipolar point of view.>

And alteaon? I can totally feel for you on the pharmacy thing. I was putting together a list of prior meds and reactions and stuff for a new doctor last thursday. 22 drugs. TWENTY TWO. I *am* a friggin pharmacy. I hate bipolar.

Most definitely discuss it with your doctor. I've been there with the medications also. I was on Celexa for a while but it brought out Obsessive-Compulsive reactions & made me yawn CONSTANTLY. Zoloft was some better with the tiredness but made me suicidal. I also had absolutely NO libido at all!!! I also had a hard time weaning off of it... I would get electric shock type feelings in my head. I'm on Effexor now. I'm not sure how I feel about it yet. I stayed sleepy so I started taking it at night. But then I can't sleep cause I'm jittery. My next thing is to start taking it early in the evening & see how that goes. So I don't know.

Best of luck with finding the one that is right for you!!!

Same as everyone's said, talk to your doctor. And if you start on a medication, give it a couple of months. If you don't feel right in any way, tell your doctor. And make your doctor LISTEN. There are piles and piles of different medications that can treat depression, there's no need to stay on one that doesn't work for you.

My own experience: I was on Lexapro for a year. During that year, I steadily gained weight, no matter what I did. I was even severely ill with pneumonia and bronchitis for five months, and still gained when I should have actually been losing weight. I wasn't small to start with by any means, but I was about 189. Every trip to the doctor's scales showed another few pounds, until I was at 206. I finally just said, "Look, I'm really concerned about this steady weight gain. This isn't like me, I've been more active than usual, and I'm still gaining." He agreed, and switched me to Wellbutrin. I didn't suddenly lose the weight I'd gained, but I did stop gaining more.

And no matter what medication you end up on, find out everything you can about it before you start taking it. Some of them have some really nasty side effects, and others are highly addictive. Also make sure you can afford it and/or it's covered by your insurance. Most anti-depressants cause serious problems if you stop taking them suddenly, so you want to make sure that won't happen.

One final bit of advice... if you have other issues with your mental health such as stress, anxiety, addictions, etc., let your doctor know about them. Many of the medications that are available can be used to treat multiple symptoms. Wellbutrin, for example, has a high success rate in treating both depression and anxiety, and also helps curb nicotine cravings. Your doctor should be able to find something that's right for you. Best of luck.

Wellbutrin's main side effect is anxiety. It's contraindicated in anyone who has an anxiety disorder or eating disorder. <That's straight out of the prescribing information sheet.>

But I do agree you need to tell your doctor about all symptoms. Unfortunately those meds that are best for both depression and anxiety are likely to kill your sex drive and cause weight gain. <So I'm fat and I don't feel sexy anymore, but who cares, right? *sigh*>

I was on Zoloft for about 6 years and yes I did gain weight but I gained it by myself, by eating two to three times the amount of fat and calories that I needed in a day...alot of times the weight gain comes from us feeling better and therefore having more of an appetite... I think it is real easy for us to put the weight gain blame on the anti-depressant sometimes rather than admit we are just over eating and then trying to learn or understand what is causing us to over eat ... bottom line as everyone else said there are alot of meds out there and you can find one that works for you...good luck!!

I have been on Lexapro for about three weeks now and really like it, I have actually lost weight on it due to a side effect of less appetite, but I see that as a plus.