It was great reading this thread guys!!I mean ladies..
I'm on prozac for the 3rd time. It's going alright, although my motivation probably isn't what it should be. I'm pretty happy just to work from home whenever the need to be productive strikes me.
The first time i was on it, it was great. The second time was horrid because they got upped so quick-i ended up on 80mg and was so spaced out at work AND at school.
I was on Zoloft for a long while and that made me eat..and took away my will to get off the couch ever..
I was on Celexa first, and it did absolutely nothing for me..
And i was on effexor for a while-but i don't remember those months at all.
Oh..i was diagnosed with depression, social anxiety and borderline personality disorder at the age of 18.

hi all

i've been on lots of different pills and also had a lot of different diagnoses

i have been dx with:
generalised anxiety disorder
depression
bipolar II
bipolar mixed state
borderline personality disorder
narcissitic personality disorder
obsessive compulsive tendencies

i have never stabilised and have had to do a lot of work on my thinking processes and stress mgmt skills to recover. they do stop the suicidal tendencies so that's something good

i have been on
seroquel - worked for 5 days then just made me drowsy
thioridazine - very sleepy
prozac - made me anxious
aropax - can't remember hehe
cipramil - ok but nightmares
effexor - very drowsy
klonopin - quite good for anxiety and sleep
epilim - no emotion and sleepy
risperdal - massive weight gain, sleepy, yucky side effects, worked for nearly 2 weeks and then useless
olanzapine - just made me sleep
lithium - flat, sleepy etc
tegretol - flat

there's a couple of others i can't remember. but yeah i;d love to not need them! more than anything else i would like to wake feeling refreshed. oh that would be bliss. to sleep fully and for a whole night and wake feeling good

Depression sucks. So does anxiety. I've got both. I've been pretty much staying home and doing little or nothing of a productive nature for nearly two months now. I do get out to see doctors, exercise, see friends, and, my personal favorite, shop!! Here's the list of crap I've been on now -
Celexa - Made me shaky
Zoloft - Worked okay, taking it again now
Lexapro - Didn't do much
Seroquel - Makes me super sleepy, but it does calm me down when I need it
Risperdal - I don't notice much with this but I take it before bedtime like I'm told.

I'm going to get blood tests done on Monday and I'm going to see my psychiatrist on Tuesday. This last weekend was rough. I was almost sent to the Mayo Clinic (it's only an hour away) to be hospitalized for a few days but they decided I'd be better off at home.

Dieting has been a preoccupation for me to keep my mood up. I found a diet that works well for me and because it's based on whole grain breads, it helps to raise my serotonin levels. My body has been very exhausted and I've felt very sick lately from the incredible emotional stress that's been placed on my body so it's been hard to stick with it. I gave in a couple days ago and let myself have a day off, which turned into two. I ate four bowls of Raisin Nut Bran in one night! No wonder I didn't lose any weight this week, lol. Good thing I didn't gain.

But yeah. It sucks.

I complained to my doctor of feelings of anxiety and depression that've been there pretty much all of my post-adolescent life. She sent me home with a rx for Lexapro. The first couple days were pretty horrible, I was so dizzy I felt drunk, and the nausea was terrible. The dizziness went away, though the nausea came and went, and my anxiety was mildly reduced. My depression, however, was horribly worse. I think I slept maybe 14 hours a day, gained a ton of weight (probably due to the increase in sleep and the switch in my diet to pretty much exclusively carbs to appease the nausea). Finally went back to the dr. and she switched me to the generic of Wellbutrin SR. I felt absolutely fantastic and had so much energy I cleaned my entire house and did some crafts I'd been putting off the first day. Then I noticed irritability, shakiness, and more panic attacks, so again I went back to the dr. She gave me some Klonopin, which are like, magic pills. They totally calm me down when I get one of those spells.

As for the depression getting better or worse, well.. I don't know. I think the physical depression is gone, if that makes sense. I'm not tired all the time, I don't want to eat junk foods to make myself feel better (or worse). I'm definitely not crying as much as I used to, but I'm still not convinced everything is going as it should.

I did lose some of the weight I gained over the summer (while on the lexapro - though it should be mentioned that I was having a terrible time over the summer with tons of dental pain, lasting at least 3 months, which probably contributed a lot to my depression)

lessthansign3 - what is the diet you are following that helps with serotonin?

It's called the Bread for Life diet. It's a high-carb diet, but you eat lots of complex carbs like whole grain breads so it's actually very good for you. It works because it raises serotonin, which also affects hunger. I feel less hungry and more energetic. Although some days I still sleep 12 hours a day... Again, my body is horribly exhausted from this whole ordeal. Anyway, I totally recommend it because I've lost weight and it makes me feel good. Plus, I love bread and it lets me eat lots of bread.

I definitely think it is an individual thing, but Zoloft caused me to be lazy and complacent, although quite happy to be that way! I gained a lot of weight and was on it for about 3 years.

I switched to Prozac back in October and noticed immediate improvement. I feel back to my old self, much more energetic, much more in control of my life. I have been able to lose over 40 pounds since October. The Prozac has not caused the weight loss but it has made me have more control over my cravings (and less cravings anyway!) and I have a lot more energy to exercise. Plus, even though it keeps the anxiety at bay, I feel like I have a normal range of emotion, which I did not seem to have on Zoloft. I care about the things I should care about. Sorry if I am going on too long about this, but I feel it really did change my life for the better, and make me feel like my old self.

After switching from Zoloft to Prozac, I did have a week or so of racing thoughts - it was like my brain had shifted into high gear and I wasn't used to it! And I did start to have a little anxiety at first, or more like, I was so much more keyed up than usual that I was afraid it would turn into anxiety, but it really didn't. After about the first two weeks I started to feel very normal and my mood and emotions leveled out. It is like I finally found the right medication for me, and I could not be happier with it. Like I said it has been since October and I have continued to be happy with it. Also doesn't have the libido-lowering side-effect like Zoloft. I just feel normal now, like my old self.

the breadforlife diet is interesting. i was told to eat a low carb diet as a way of managing serotonin. things like turkey are high in serotonin. altho if your diet also has lots of fresh fruit and veges it is probably balanced. it's certainly interesting to see a high carb diet in today's climate - not so common. my psychiatrist said to concentrate on low GI foods

oh icmethinner i would love to feel like my normal self that would be bliss. i just find i am so tired and sleepy and easily overwhelmed!

Actually, according to the research done by the doctor who wrote the Bread for Life book, whole grain foods such as bread will raise serotonin more slowly than proteins or sugars but the levels stay high. Large protein meals will quickly raise serotonin and then it plummets. Same with sugars. This diet allows unimilted amounts of veggies, although I often have to force them down, and is fairly balanced. I'd say it is a little low in the protein area but maybe that's just my perspective. My dad is a meat cutter so my family eats a lot of meat!! Still, I eat lots of peanut butter, beans, eggs, and on my protein meal days, chicken and fish. So yeah, it's balanced, is partially based on the GI levels (whole grain bread is fairly low, while regular white bread is high) and is is very low in sugar.

It's perfect for a bread fanatic like me!

High carb is the normal diet. You wouldn't believe the kind of flak people on Atkins get. Maybe not here but man, I've lost count of the number of times I've been told how unhealthy it is. My blood tests say otherwise so I don't care, but honstly, most people eat about 300g of carbs a day.

Oh yeah, I gained a ton of weight on Zoloft because it made me crave carbs. I've managed to lose it all and more. My currently med is Celexa. I tried Wellbutrin, but the SSRIs work the best for me.

Different people have different sucesses on different diets. My cousin is doing some low-carb Atkins-style diet and he's lost over 100 lbs!! I was so amazed when I saw him last Christmas. I was happy for him, too, because he looked so much healthier. He loves it and feels great.

I'm surprised you've gotten a lot of crap about low carbing it!! I guess among many people I've met they think a high carb diet (mind you, they're complex carbs, which are good, not icky carbs) is strange. Ah well, whatever works huh? Congrats on reaching your goal, btw!!

well it sounds really interesting. i love whole grain bread. but i'm not sure i could eat lots and lots of it.

what is the approx % of whole grains as total intake? and is it low on fats...

my real love though is sugar that's a whole different story hehe

victoria i think atkins is too high in fat for me but i do like the high protein apprach to atkins. never been successful at it. i think south beach is slightly more me

end of the day tho any of the above diets would be an improvement on getting my trough stuck in the sugar bowl on a daily basis!