Anti-depressants' 'little effect'

[Jenn! 918]

I'm too confused to decide.

There must be a pill to help with that!

[almaty 19]

A few years? I have been on it .....4 months and wanting off. I think. I don't know. I'm too confused to decide.

jJ

why do you want to quit taking it? has your life improved over the last 4 months, where you can function on daily tasks without it? affect ^? how about anxiety level? support system? or, you experiencing side effects?

[~Jackie~ 30]

hmmmmmmm why do I want to quit...I have never taken drugs on a regualar basis. For anything. No side effects, I take it at night to avoid the dizziness/drowsiness.

Life has improved dramatically but I want to be like the old me without pills. I have also been playing with my dosage and that probably isn't helping with my highs and lows. I was prescribed 10 mg and that was like..too happy...my cheeks were hurting from grinning. So I went down to 5 mg and that was comfortable. Then came some text messages from the ex---and I popped 10 mg. Stayed on 10 mg and now want to go down to 5mg again.

jJ

[Nessa 23]

hmmmmmmm why do I want to quit...I have never taken drugs on a regualar basis. For anything. No side effects, I take it at night to avoid the dizziness/drowsiness.

Life has improved dramatically but I want to be like the old me without pills. I have also been playing with my dosage and that probably isn't helping with my highs and lows. I was prescribed 10 mg and that was like..too happy...my cheeks were hurting from grinning. So I went down to 5 mg and that was comfortable. Then came some text messages from the ex---and I popped 10 mg. Stayed on 10 mg and now want to go down to 5mg again.

jJ

your pills are making you too happy? which pills are those? I want them!

[Chica Yeyé 41]

hmmmmmmm why do I want to quit...I have never taken drugs on a regualar basis. For anything. No side effects, I take it at night to avoid the dizziness/drowsiness.

Life has improved dramatically but I want to be like the old me without pills. I have also been playing with my dosage and that probably isn't helping with my highs and lows. I was prescribed 10 mg and that was like..too happy...my cheeks were hurting from grinning. So I went down to 5 mg and that was comfortable. Then came some text messages from the ex---and I popped 10 mg. Stayed on 10 mg and now want to go down to 5mg again.

jJ

Jackie,

I am not a physician; but let me ask you this: if you had -God forbid- diabetes; would you consider going off your insuline? If this medication is helping you live a better life sweetie, don't let go. Talk to your doc.

, L.

[Caladan 19]

Dude, jackie, don't take this the wrong way, but if you're on an anti-depressant, any dosage changes should be made by a doctor. If 10 is too much, she can move you down to 5, and if you want off of them, she can taper you down week by week until you just stop taking them. Easier on your mood.

No playing with your dosages!

[Nessa 23]

Jackie,

I am not a physician; but let me ask you this: if you had -God forbid- diabetes; would you consider going off your insuline? If this medication is helping you live a better life sweetie, don't let go. Talk to your doc.

, L.

I have to agree. Plus depression don't necessarily last forever. Maybe you will be able to get off the meds soon. It's not like bipolar that you have to take your entire life.

[~Jackie~ 30]

There are 2 good things that came of this craziness I call 2007............I now have a much slimmer bod and I didn't know this before taking it, but these drugs are prescribed for stopping smoking! I smoked like 1/2 a pack a day of Kools for many years. I started the pill and within 4 days, I was throwing them away. Tasted like ####### they did! I have tried to smoke and nope..tastes like #######.

jJ

[doodlebugg 10]

"Next time you have diarrhea, just tighten the sphincter and it will go away".

I struggled for YEARS....I am talking starting in my teens, with panic disorder. Because taking meds is highly frowned upon in my family I resisted for a long long time. Years of therapy later I was diving straight into full blown agoraphobia and it was either sh!t or get off the pot, to stick with the sphincter theme. lol. My husband at the time demanded I take something because now it wasn't just me and him that it was affecting it was my children. I could not even take them around the block for a walk, I could not go food shopping, I was missing days of work and was going to lose my job.

I started taking Paxil in 1997 and about a week later was able to go out to eat, take the kids to the park!!!, go food shopping, go to the mall and actually show up at work!!! I was a brand new me!

When I think of allllll those wasted years sitting at home frightened I could scream at everyone who told me to just pull myself up by the bootstraps. I worked sooo very hard at overcoming this naturally and after one freakin' week of taking Paxil I was able to do things that I couldn't do before.

Now I'm on Lexapro instead of Paxil only because I am preparing to conceive and it's less dangerous, but it's working just as well. In ten years I have had about 5 panic attacks. Ten years ago I was having about 5 panic attacks EVERY HOUR.

Take your meds and don't miss your update appointments. Your doctor will tell you what dosage to take based on how you are doing.

With depression you can eventually get off of it but with panic disorder, apparently that's not the case. It's not something that will ever get better for me so like a diabetic, I am going to be taking this everyday for the rest of my life.

ps. I know this was about depression but I also used to take Wellbutrin for depression, though now I'm able to just take a particular dosage of Lexapro that handles both my panic disorder and my depression. Hopefully I can lower it once my husband finally gets his ##$%@@ visa.

[Miranda&James 8]

Jackie,

I am not a physician; but let me ask you this: if you had -God forbid- diabetes; would you consider going off your insuline? If this medication is helping you live a better life sweetie, don't let go. Talk to your doc.

, L.

I have to agree. Plus depression don't necessarily last forever. Maybe you will be able to get off the meds soon. It's not like bipolar that you have to take your entire life.

Absolutely - be sure that your doctor is prescribing these dosage changes. If you do decide to go off of it be SURE you let your doctor know and never never never just stop taking the pills cold turkey. You have to go off of them slowly. Hopefully you already know this and your doctor has told you.

Like others have said, any psychiatric medicine should also be combined with therapy - there are no magic pills. They might treat the symptoms but regardless of where your depression originated (life problems or chemical imbalance or any combination of both), it will have affected your life and therapy is the best way to deal with those issues.

[franklie 0]

just_Jackie,

I was on meds for depression under the care of psychiatrist, a medical doctor for mental problems. At the same time I saw a therapist for talk therapy. There were 2 recommendations from my doctor to help me eliminar the need for pill therapy. His first recommendation was a change of diet. My diet at the time was mostly composed of carbohydrates such as beans, whole wheat bread, veggies and similar type foods. His recommendation was that I utilize either a "South Beach Diet" or a "Zone Diet". A diet of this nature would increase the amount of protein that I would intake which would enable my brain to function better. His second recommendation was that I exercise everyday.

Within a month of implenting the doc's recommendations we were able to lower the dosage and in the following month eliminate the pills. At the same time I worked with the therapist on developing coping strategies for when the "blue mood" hit me after I was off the meds.

If your doctor has NOT discussed these recommendations with you, I would suggest that you bring these ideas up with your doctor. This way YOU can be a partner in your own course of treatment.

To paraphrase an earlier poster, the analogy with diabetes is somewhat apropo. Some types of depression like some types of diabetes can be controlled through a judicious application of diet and exercise.

[Nessa 23]

There are 2 good things that came of this craziness I call 2007............I now have a much slimmer bod and I didn't know this before taking it, but these drugs are prescribed for stopping smoking! I smoked like 1/2 a pack a day of Kools for many years. I started the pill and within 4 days, I was throwing them away. Tasted like ####### they did! I have tried to smoke and nope..tastes like #######.

jJ

welbutrin?

[Chica Yeyé 41]

If your doctor has NOT discussed these recommendations with you, I would suggest that you bring these ideas up with your doctor. This way YOU can be a partner in your own course of treatment.

To paraphrase an earlier poster, the analogy with diabetes is somewhat apropo. Some types of depression like some types of diabetes can be controlled through a judicious application of diet and exercise.

BRAVO!!! This is something I always lecture on when I go on my rounds raising awareness with families of folks who suffer from mental illness. Participating in our own recovery and helping our loved ones is essential. Family involvement -correct me almaty if I am wrong- is always a plus for the person dealing with the disease.

[JenT 0]

My internist put me on a low dose of Wellbutrin to see if it would help with my migraines. It seems to have.... I also lost some weight with it. As I understand, it's one of the only anti-depressants that help with weight loss. Others make you gain weight. Wellbutrin also doesn't negatively impact sex drive I have to take it twice a day so I set my phone alarm to remind me. Once and a while, if I'm in a meeting, I dismiss my alarm and forget to take my 2nd dose. If I've done that a few days in a row, I now definitely notice a difference in my energy level.

I went to the ER on 1/5 with chest pain/palpitations and long story short, suspected that the Wellbutrin was contributing. My doc phoned me and when I mentioned that, he said, "Well, stop taking it." "Just like that? Everything I've read indicates that one SHOULDN'T stop cold turkey."

So (get this) he said, "Well, you don't sound depressed."

WHAT?!?!?!?

I reminded him that I wasn't taking it for depression.... and then I began to wonder whether I should switch doctors.

I didn't realize that it was possible to diagnose depression by the tone of one's voice on the phone.

[DeadPoolX 9]

My internist put me on a low dose of Wellbutrin to see if it would help with my migraines. It seems to have.... I also lost some weight with it. As I understand, it's one of the only anti-depressants that help with weight loss. Others make you gain weight. Wellbutrin also doesn't negatively impact sex drive I have to take it twice a day so I set my phone alarm to remind me. Once and a while, if I'm in a meeting, I dismiss my alarm and forget to take my 2nd dose. If I've done that a few days in a row, I now definitely notice a difference in my energy level.

I went to the ER on 1/5 with chest pain/palpitations and long story short, suspected that the Wellbutrin was contributing. My doc phoned me and when I mentioned that, he said, "Well, stop taking it." "Just like that? Everything I've read indicates that one SHOULDN'T stop cold turkey."

So (get this) he said, "Well, you don't sound depressed."

WHAT?!?!?!?

I reminded him that I wasn't taking it for depression.... and then I began to wonder whether I should switch doctors.

I didn't realize that it was possible to diagnose depression by the tone of one's voice on the phone.

Interestingly enough, Wellbutrin is one of the few psychotropic medications that can have a positive effect on your sex drive. Although how much of this is actually "positive" remains to be seen, since said sex drive may or may not coincide with your partner.