Medication Forever?

[Meggles]

Hi Guys,

I dont know whether this is actually a query, or if I just feel like writing it, but it would be interesting to see your responses anyway.

Background: I've been on Prozac since I was 14 (23 now) for depression. (The panic came later). It's worked pretty well I think, because I haven't had any bad depressions in years - I guess coz my life is going well... I still fall apart when something goes wrong.


Now, I know that lots and lots of people hate medication, refuse to take it, or want to get off it as soon as they can.

But I've always thought "if I have to take a pill every day for the rest of my life, I don't care.. because it's helping."


Why are people so adament that they don't wanna be "Stuck" on medication for the rest of their lives?

Hell, if it's helping me, I'll do whatever I have to every day for the rest of my life

[Bill]

The main aim is to find a way to get on with living. Some people need medication because there's no other way but in other cases people find they can cope without them. It also depends what condition a person is suffering from.

There's no right or wrong. It's whatever works and if medication works for your depression then it has to be good!

[jo61]

I've been on medication on and off for 7 years. Finally I've got the regime right and will stay on it for as long as it takes. I came off it completely about 2 years ago and plunged into a horrendous episode so not risking that again. It suits some, not others, I know that.

[Yvonne]

If a medication works for someone to ease the dreadful symptoms of depression/anxiety then it has to be a good thing. I think you would be a fool to completely rule out medication for reasons like you don't want to be taking "that sort" of medication.

Loads of people have to take medication for physical illnesses every day of their lives and it may be keeping them alive/alleviating debilitating symptoms, so why would you not take an anti depressant to help your anxiety/depression?

The problem comes when the medication stops working for you. This is the case with me which I have been writing about on another thread.

I was on a medication (Seroxat) which worked pretty well for me for years and years - I remember telling my gp about 9 months into treatment with this medication "I'll never come off this med Doc". I said that to him because prior to the Seroxat I had suffered very bad panics and they were ruining my life - at that time the medication did give me my life back.

It was about 6 years later when my new gp told me that it was time I started thinking of getting off the medication. I was fine, happy, still had panics but managed them, so I guessed she must be right, after all I was well now - so I agreed.

Due to this gp's lack of experience with the medication she began to withdraw me from it far too quickly. I, at that time, did not know otherwise. This rapid withdrawal from a medication which MUST be tapered down mega slowly poleaxed me into a depression and anxiety state I had never experiened the like of.

The withdrawal was so bad that the gp had to refer me to a psychiatrist because she admitted that she was out of her depth here. The shrink was livid that I had been tapered down so quickly and wrote to the go giving her instructions on how to taper a patient from this medication.

After that, and after trying Seroxat again with chronic side effects - no matter what med I tried - and I did try a fair few, and not for just a few weeks at a time, for literally months - and none had what would be seen as a therapeutic effect. Also, the side effects I experienced when I tried the medications were literally disabling me at times. I still don't know if I was suffering prolonged withdrawal or whether it was the new meds.

I now have just come off another medication (Duloxetine) - and am going through some nasty withdrawal symptoms - but I am going to try to get through it and just hope I come out reasonably ok at the other end.

I came to the conclusion that I had no alternative but to try the no meds approach - I have decided that I must try to combat the panics without medication.

If I was given a medication today and assured that I would suffer only mild side effects and that the medication WOULD do the job it is meant to do then I promise you I would take it.

Yvonne

[Pink Panic]

Hi


If I thought I could be better by taking Meds for the rest of my life I would certainly try but unfortunately there are no guarantees and the side effects differ from person to person. Then there's the chance they may stop working and you have to up your dose or change pills.
I'm not on Medication main reason being bad experiences with it. I tried anti-deps and they really did not agree with me and made me worse, I also became hooked on painkillers (dihydrocodeine) after taking it for a back injury and the withdrawl was awful.
GP and the first Psychiartrist I saw said I would never get better without Meds but now this Psych says I don't need them as I have learnt how to cope with my anxiety without it. I hasten to add that he did provide me with Support Groups, CBT and a CPN which have all helped me greatly.
On a bad day I do think that maybe I should give Meds a go but on a good day when I am achieving things without it I realise that I have made the right decision for me at the mo.

I think the main thing is that it really doesn't matter if you do have to take a pill everyday if that's what helps you have a better quality of life but they aren't for everyone and recovery is possible both with and without them.

Pink
x

[sophieunderscore]

I don't think there's any problem with staying on meds for life, but I think people have a problem with it because they feel like they want to have overcome the problem themselves and not without the help of pills.

I think antidepressents are great because they give people the motivation to get better and it's brilliant you haven't been having bad depressions for a long time! If you did want to stop taking the tablets I'd really reccomend some kind of therapy... CBT for example... whilst still on them and then taper off slowly... However, you've said you're happy with the tablets, well done for finding something that's worked for you!

[Yvonne]

Hi Sophie

I don't think it is the fact that people want to overcome the problem themselves. I think most people who do opt for meds have tried most methods, (relaxation, cbt, etc etc) before they finally do take the step to start meds. Also, I don't think that the majority of doctors hand out anti depressants to anxiety sufferers that freely any more (they normally offer some counselling first).

I think it's when people get to the stage where they really cannot cope with their panics that they finally do give in to the fact that they must take something to help them get on with their life. Also, lots of people have not only themselves to think about when the panics are restricting their lives so much. When you have a family and you have to get children to school and have to run the home and make sure there is food in the cupboard (blah blah) you decide that you cannot ruin everyone else's lives as well and you feel you must do something to get you back to somewhere near normal functioning in your daily life.

Antidepressants can be great yes, when they work well for the patient. There is a huge down side to antidepressants though and that is why doctors don't like (as a rule) keeping the patient on them for too long. General rule is that antidepressant treatment should be administered until the patient is recovered and then keep the patient on the medication for about 6 months after (I think).

I am not against anti depressants - just wish I could have come across one during the last three years that actually worked.

Regards to all x
Yvonne

[Cassie]

I think this is a great poll!!

Personally, I am on medication (seroxat) and given the choice I'd never come off it. For me it was a remarkable med, I'd even say life changing. I went from a nervy unconfident person to running busy hospital wards and moving overseas on my own!

Unfortunately, its not a cure, as I found out when I stopped taking the meds. The old problems were still there just waiting to bite me on the bum and they did.

I'm now back on seroxat, after trying cipralex and velafaxine. Both of these helped, slightly but were never as good as seroxat. The seroxat is helping again but the effects are not as good as the first time on it.

I personally don't plan to come off them in a hurry. I've been told by a consultant that I may very well be on meds for a long time. If thats what it takes to be a functioning person then so be it. I have had psychotherapy and the therapist couldn't see anything wrong or any particular reason for my anxiety. I aim to have CBT - I get annoyed though at being pointed towards self help books as to me its all common sense.

Whatever feels right to the individual is my point of view, whether its therapy or meds or both, diet and exercise anything that helps.

Cass

[honeybee3939]

Hi

I have been taking Citalopram on and off for the last 10years, i also believe if taking a tablet a day gives you a better quality of life then so be it.
I actually came off citalopram last christmas the reason been i have made a good recovery with my Agorophobia and have learnt now through therapy etc how to cope with the panic etc if it should show its ugly head again.
Although i must add, if i ever feel i am going downhill again i wont hestiate to go back on them.

Love

Andrea
xxxxx

[Meggles]

Thanks for all of your replies so far guys, it's great to see how many of you have found a med that works for you - be it for anxiety or depression or PTSD etc

I'm also glad to see how many people say "if it works for you, then go for it." Because the reason I started this thread is that quite often I feel like alot of people on these forums are a bit "med-bashing" .. they say to people who are feeling down "you CAN recover! get off the meds!" etc

I don't think we should be made to feel bad because our choice is to use/stay on meds. As you've all said - if it works for you, then why not?

I realise there's a large majority of you who don't say or think these things, and that's great... but it's just that I've come across a few threads basically talking about meds like they're evil.