Todays News Report That Ssris Dont Work

[Ma Larkin]

I'm on Clomipramine. They have seemed to cure my panic attacks, but I still suffer from what I would describe as mild depression, probably due to the fact that I am a single mum of 3 working full-time with a newborn grandson as well (not sleeping very well at the moment).

Apart from the depression I feel pretty much ok and think I'm probably on a bit of a downer because sometimes I just crave adult conversation of an evening instead of doing all the homework and housework stuff. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't change the kids for the world, but I have been on anti-deps for years and they have really been a life saver for me at times. I have been on Prozac in the past and was fine with them, and if a placebo was on the market that didn't have some of the side effects I would definitely be a guinea pig!

Like a lot of people have said, it depends on the individual. I have tried many different anti-deps over the past 25 years and some didn't agree with me at all, yet others worked brilliantly. I have noticed that nowadays though, rather than my GP go straight for his prescription book, he advises counselling and exercise as the first step. He advised me for CBT but the assessor said it wasn't really for me as I was suffering temporarily from health anxiety, which I seem to have under control now.

Good luck to everyone anyway. If the anti-deps work for you, I say continue!

Les

[Big Bird]

I had panic and anxiety attacks which onset last July changing my whole world.
I have tried counselling, reading(as many of us do), various herbal treatments. I have engaged in healthy living, a new fitness regime and had to alter my own thoughts to help regain my health over the ensuing months.
I managed to conquer the anxiety and panic attacks to such an extent that I lost my own sense of purpose, lost my spirit of life and fell into a cyclical depressive state which would wash over me from absolutely knowhere............The feeling is the worst nightmare and despite trying everything apart from medication, I was suffering from crying for no appparant reason and hopelessness.!
I am not an unhappy person!
I took to my GP two weeks ago and laid my cards fully on the table. He suggested I had taken the correct and difficult route but it was time to give me the help/lift I required to enable me to collect my own thoughts and rebuild.
The side effects have been difficult, manageable but difficult and they are certainly no by-product of an over zealous mind but that of the tablets I was given. The great thing is that after 11 days there appears to be a definate improvement. If this is continued, I will be eternally thankfull to both my GP, myself and the medication which I believe in because at the end of the day..............one has to.

Personally I wouldn't care if the tablets were placebo....surely it is the fact that they appear to be working that is the most salient point. I would very much doubt however that I would have suffered all those initial side effects.

[clickaway]

This is just one report and I don't think we should read too much into it. Of course the government used it to remind everyone that they are going to employ some additional psychotherapists, but that had already been announced.

It is true that things like exercise and some CBT can help beat depression, but all too often people get beyond that point. I was reliant on therapy for three years with no meds and as my emotional scars were so deep I needed that long term approach. The therapy got too tough and I needed to start taking citalopram to help me along, so at present I'm on a twin track approach!

But even now, I get so tense, I find exercise difficult and avoid dedicated exercise, although I do go out every day.

It would be useful if people were told about the early signs of depression and then they could take action as early as possible. If you can, please get out there and swim, do some cycling or whatever - something that you can do safely to keep you fit. Not all of us can do that, so just go as far as you can. For some others, a daily walk in the fresh air may be your limit, or for those with agoraphobia, a trip to the front door and opening it is something.
In all of this we need to see our boundaries and then try and go an inch or two further.

cheers

[Phill2]

Just saw it on TV down here and they reckon it's all BS as they only tested people with mild depression.
Drs are warning people not to stop taking their meds abruptly.
They work for my anx so I'm not stopping
Phill

[Nel]

Just for clarity, the data came not from one but 47 clinical trials. I am not giving anything other than my own opinion here but the drug companies who produce these medications are billion pound industries, of course they’re not going to accept criticism - the NHS are sat on the fence because they’ve already prescribed SSRI’s to millions of people (in England alone they wrote 16 million prescriptions for SSRI’s in 2006, it’s estimated that Prozac for example is taken by more than 40 million people worldwide).

Not all of the data used by The University of Hull team is publicly available and the researchers had to use legislation to get access to some of the data. Apparently, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence who made the original assessments on whether or not SSRI’s should be widely available on the NHS didn’t have all of the data which the researchers used - it would seem that drug companies are not obliged to publish all of their trial data...