Hey there. I'm wondering if those who take anti-depressants could give me some help. I'm thinking about asking my doc to prescribe me some as well as going to some therapy. My life has been such cr@p for several months. Everything is horrible except for my little boy. He's the only good thing in my life. Everything else I am just going through the motions. I don't have any motivation to do anything or take any pleasure out of life unless it is the time I spend with my son. I don't want this depression to take over my life and make me a bad mom. So what I am wondering is if anyone would tell me what kind of medication they take, what side effects have been experienced, how long did it start to take effect, are you really feeling a difference in your life? I've been thinking about this for a couple of months, going to the dr I mean but I've just kept putting it off thinking that I would snap out of it but I've come to the conclusion that I really need some help. I'm a RN so I know what all the kinds of meds are and I can look up the side effects in my med book but I just wanted someone who really takes them to give me some info on how well it really works or doesn't work. If you don't want to post here please PM me if necessary. Thanks in advance.

Jen, first of all, I think that you are doing the right thing in getting whatever help you need. I am proud of you for taking that step. I know how difficult it is, to admit that you need that extra help, and knowing that it will be able to help your relationship with your son is great.
I have taken anti-depressents for about six years, off and on (mostly on). I started on Prozac and had moderate success, however, I would find myself awake alot at night. I switched to Zoloft and that seemed to really help. I will say a couple of things. First, I have an increased sex drive (my dh likes that) and I find that I have a lot more tolerance toward him. I no longer get pissy at the little things, and can even joke around with him again. For a while I think I was being a real b****. I had a loss of apetite on Prozac, but on Zoloft, it is still too big.

Good luck. I hope that you are able to find what you are looking for. If you ever need to talk, pm me. I've been there and understand what you are going through.

I have been on antidepressants for 11 years, and I've taken so many different ones that I can't even remember what they are all called. Here are some of them that I remember.

Prozac - didn't work at all for me

Zoloft - worked, but I had severe insomnia (I literally could not sleep at all and lived on 3 hrs of sleep per night for 2 years before I put 2 and 2 together and realised it was the zoloft causing the insomnia). If I can recall correctly, I believe my appetite was a bit increased on it as well. It killed my sex drive also.

Paxil - made me angry all the time. I had road rage so bad that it wasn't even funny. I was also tired all the time on it and I was falling asleep after only having been awake for 10 hrs. It didn't increase my appetite but I did gain weight on it (and I have heard of this from soooooo many women, I wouldn't recommend taking it).

Tofranil (Imipramine) - works awesome for me. It's an older tricyclic antidepressant, and my dr was reluctant to prescribe it for me at first, but it works better than any of the newer antidepressants. I have no side effects at all from it, except that it lowers my sex drive. I've been on it again for over a year and I feel "normal" when I'm on it.

Thanks for the great info you two. I'm more determined today to get some help ASAP. thanks again.

I take Zoloft also and have had great results with it with no side effects.

I take paxil - and its been a lifesaver for me. I do find I AM really tired if I don't get at least 8 hours of sleep a night - but I'm also still adjusting to a higher dose. I've actually dropped about 8 lbs since I started taking it.

I will say I have depression, anxiety, and panic issues, so paxil is the best for me because it works on all of them.

Hope you get some help!

I don't take antidepressants anymore, but I lost 70 pounds while on Paxil. Only some women gain weight on it...others lose weight on it, because it hits different receptors in each person's mind. I think you may have to experiment to find the one that works for you.

-Peekaboo

I took Paxil for approx. 5 years and gained a ton of weight. It gave me really strange food cravings and I was hungry all the time. I found it also highly addictive and it has taken me a long time to finally get off it. My sex life went down the crapper and I was either really tired or could not sleep. I agree with one of the previous posts that it made me very moody.

That being said, I used to have very bad panic attacks which I no longer have. It worked by stopping the attacks, so I no longer associate places with having panic attacks. I just wish that I could have used a different drug to get the same result.

I am on Prozac. It didn't really kick in for 3 weeks and made me feel super weird. It has definitely helped cut down on the binges and the *****iness. It has also taken out the background noise of low grade depression. I did have to up from 20 mg to 40 mg to get the full effect.

Miss Chris

Hi all,

I'm on Prozac, too, 40 mg daily. I've been on it for about 7 years. Before starting the meds, I had countless hours of therapy but still was depressed. Finally my doctor said it was time to try drugs. Prozac worked for me the first time, and no side effects, but it does take 3-4 weeks to start noticing a difference.

Good luck, Jen. Getting help is the first step.

Cheers,
Angie

Just wondering, how many dr's first said try therapy and then drugs?

I know a lot of dr's a very happy to just hand out pills and actually I'm hoping that my dr will do that. I know talking to someone is a good thing but I'm not sure that it will really be effective in this case. I can talk about things until I am blue in the face but it isn't going to change anything. About the only thing that would change is if I decided to divorce my husband, quit my job and move to the other side of the country. Seeing as any of that is not likely to happen I think I need the meds.

Depends on the doc - a good doc will at least give you some sort of testing to make sure you get the right TYPE of drug. They might just send you for a psych work-up to get you profiled. That's what mine did.