anti depressants

[criz]

hello

i was put on anti depressants for about a year and found they were no help at all i was prescribed 3 different kinds :
seroxat
citalopram
amitriptyline

in fact i would probably say they made me worse.
i couldn't stand the 'weird' feelings so became quite a heavy drinker - something i'm still trying to shake off now.
i view anti depresants as something the NHS (no hope system) can just throw at your problem and send you on your way with no kind of follow up check up or nothing.
i was just wandering if anybody has experienced the same as me ?

criz

[nomorepanic]

Criz

I took Dothiepin for about 6 months and Prozac for about a year.

Neither helped the panic attacks though Prozac helped with the depression I had.

I gave them all up 8 years ago.

I decided that lifestyle changes was what was going to help me and not any drugs so I went down that route instead.

Nicola

[kate]

Criz,

Have you actually got depression or anx/panic? When I had depression the anti d's sorted me out, no side effects going on or coming off the drugs. When I was prescribed them on numerous occasions for anxiety, I had awful symptoms when trying to go on them and gave up everytime after only a couple of doses.

I have never come across an NHS GP that has been at all clued up on anxiety or depression.

Kate

[criz]

i have both anxiety/PA's and depression.
neither me - every doctor i have seen has been more than willing to just throw tablets at me.
counselling helps alot though.

criz

[DagoGirl]

Reading this scared me. I started lustral 11 days ago and ive already been worried about it enough. I havent had any physical side effects yet so I am hoping that I dont have any. Seems like alot of people with anxiety dont "do well" on antidepressants and complain alot of side effects and dont follow through with it. While people with depression respond quite well to them. Does anyone with anxiety or panic have a positive story about antidepressants?

[nell1965]

I suffer from anxiety and i am now on prozac,just starting week four today and at present i would say i am at the worse before i get better stage which my gp did warn me may happen, i have had terrible indigestion and reflux and my bowels are full of gas, my sensible head is teling me it must be a side effect as i didnt have these problems before the prozac but my anxiety is telling me different,i too have read the reprts of people saying it didnt help their anxiety and at the moment it certainly hasnt helped me any but i have gone through nearly 3 weeks of hell since the side effects kicked in so i will persist for a while longer (back to gp on 4th) as i would hate to stop now and have gone through all that for nothing as i know it can take several weeks to help, i will keep you posted if anyone is interested


I just want my life back
nell
x

[LisaS]

I suffered acute anxiety with depressive symptoms and was put on prozac. This did not help me at all infact i really spirralled into extreme anxiety.
I was then put on Efexor/venlafaxine XL 75mg which has helped my anxiety enormously and I am now out and about much more relaxed.

you MUST remember that each AD affect different people differently. it is totally individual. what doesnt' help one may help another remember that.

stay strong,
lisa
xxx

"do not fear to hope...Each time we smell the autumn's dying scent, we know that primrose time will come again"

[DagoGirl]

Hi Neil I would love to keep up with you on your progress.

Thanks Lisa! Glad your doing better!
Did either of you have depersonalization as a symptom and has that improved with your meds?

[LottaLagg]

I just told my doctor these meds aren't working. We tried many kinds before I got on the right stuff.

Lotta

"One Oneness One"

[Yvonne]

Criz

When taking anti depressants you should be seen by youro GP at regular interviews, especially during the first few months.

Anxiety can get much worse - and depression as far as I'm concerned during the settling in period of the medication into your system.

In the long run I think that the medication can quieten down the anxiety. However, when you come off the meds the anxiety returns worse than it was before - that's my experience anyway.

It's a vicious circle, if you are really depressed and anxious you need medication to be able to take steps to begin getting on with your life. When you're on it and you still get panicky/depressed you think the meds could be actually causing it! When you are off meds and you feel that you just cant cope then you think you should go on them. Oh I do hope that makes some sense!!!

In hindsight (I have been on meds for a good few years) I wish I had dealt with the anxiety by other means than meds all those years ago. However, I didn't know then what I know now about anxiety and all the coping strategies.

I think medication is especially useful for depression, finding the right medication which suits may be another story and a psychiatrist told me that it can be a matter of trial and error with the meds until the right med and the right dosage of med is found.

I think mixing alcohol with anti depressants can cause worse depression and anxiety.

Criz, how are you feeling now without meds? Do you feel much better? Do you think you stayed on the meds long enough for them to be effective? I wonder if the side effects of the meds really put you off - but the side effects should only last a few weeks anyway.

Of course, there are people who simply can't take these medications. I have spoken to people who feel really rough whilst on meds. Maybe some people have a kind of allergy towards the drugs.

Take care everyone
Lots of love
Yvonne

Y Goble

[nell1965]

Hi
Just the last couple of days i am starting to feel a little better, not sure if its the prozac or the fact that i have moved on to the good stage in my cycle,lol but whatever i certainly feel a lot better, due at my gp tom so will hopefully continue to feel ok and can now start to tackle the root cause of my problems,i am hoping to use this time on medication to discover what causes my anxiety and to learn to deal with it so that when i stop the meds i will be able to remain well. Still dreading the enevitable bad days but with the great support i get from you folks on here hopefully i can get through it.
yours smilling for once

I just want my life back
nell
x

[Ma Larkin]

Hi Criz, I'm in exactly the same boat as you. I've been on prozac, dothiepan, amitriptyline (which I overdosed on!) and now been prescribed clomipramine. None of them have ever worked for me, but its probably my own fault. My GP reckons they would take at least a month, maybe more to properly get into my system, and after a couple of days I feel much worse so knock them on the head. I am currently relying on diazepam and lager! Not the most sensible of combinations, but its the only thing that seems to stop me having panic attacks, although I still feel anxious for most of the time. I don't drink much through the week, but on a Sunday I absolutely binge drink. I can't say it makes me feel any worse than I feel when I haven't had a drink, but its not an ideal solution. Everyone seems to have different opinions on anti-deps. What suits one person totally disagrees with another person so I don't think you'll ever get a true picture of any ant-dep until you give it a chance and see if it works for you. I've yet to try it, but at the moment I don't seem to be having too bad a time of it, apart from the odd anxious moments on a daily basis, but I've managed to cope so far. Have a look at the herbal remedies. I've heard some of those are good. Take care, Les, x

[criz]

cheers for the replies im glad im not alone.
at the moment yvonne i think im spiralling back into my panic attacks, i had a rough couple of months coming off of the amitryptiline, that maybe because i just suddenley stopped, something i know is not advised but they were making the depression alot worse and after i got rushed to a psychiatrist one day i realised that pills werent for me. after a few months i got better, got myself a job and things were looking good, but the past 5 weeks or so i have gotten worse again so much so i feel like i should quit my job as im scared to go back.
when i first started taken the anti depressants there was no support from my GP, i would go once a month and be handed a prescription and sent on my drug dazed way.
the first ever time i took an anti depressant i was not prepared for the consequences of what my body and mind would go through, so i know how you feel Lesley, i think the fact the doctor didnt sit me down and explain to me how i would feel was incompetant of him.
when i was on the tablets i also mixed with lager until one day when out in leicester and after a couple of shandies i had what the doctor refered to as a psychotic episode. and i was just told they could happen. if it wasnt for my friend being there i'm sure i would have ended in some sort of cell possibly of the padded variety.
i agree with you yvonne that some people cannot handle them, i am one of those people, i would like to hear from someone who has succes though so i can have my faith in the NHS restored a little
cheers

[Arclite]

Personally, I'm not feeling the effect of the Citalopram I'm taking (10mg a day), but what I will say is that for the first week I felt like crap. Anxiety and Panic levels were through the roof and I felt like I was going insane. But over three weeks on I don't feel any side effects from the medication.

[bluebottle]

I went to my GP yesterday after a week of being on Effexor thinking I was heading for a breakdown. I had also cut my lorazepam right back.

The doctor reassured me that what I was feeling was normal, it was just the drug's side effects which would only last for a week or so and that I shouldn't be cutting the lorazepam back but should increase them while I'm getting used to the Effexor, then cut the lorazepam back/out.

When the Effexor is working I'll start to address my testosterone again, but for now its just nice to know I'm normal and not going mad.

--
Blue -
"Your truth is better for you than someone else's. Just get to know what it is, so you can finally own it, and speak it."