Can I ask about your experiences with antidepressants?

I started off on citalopram and moved to fluoxitene after a little while in 2009. I relapsed in 2013 and went back on fluoxitene. I have been off the drugs for a few years and my mental health is better now than it has been in years. It always gets worse before it gets better but you need to believe it will get better. Drugs can only do so much, the rest is on you. Make the effort to do things you enjoy and see people who are positive for you. I've been there, I know how hard it is just to get out of bed but it's important that you try. Make plans, give yourself a reason to get up. Do not give in to negativity but don't be ashamed to shut yourself away and cry if you need to. You can beat this. I believe in you.

Thanks x

Well done x

I take venlafaxine, it works for me taking 75mg twice a day, apparently when acts as a dual inhibitor, increasing both serotonin and norepinephrine. Anyway it has saved me, I sort of didn’t realise how much until I look back
awful insomnia for the first few weeks, but it’s settled now

Sertraline x

What medication do you take? If you don’t mind me asking x

I was once you, OP. I was prescribed literally everything over the years but could never get past the initial side effects and always quit after a few days. Until I got to the point when I knew I was going to be extremely unwell unless I started taking something, and then I pulled my big girl pants up and stuck with it.

Not everyone gets side effects but mine were pretty severe. Having said that, I still worked every day, still got up in the morning, etc. I have IBS and it didn’t affect that, it was more indigestion type gastro symptoms - gaviscon helped. You do feel a bit spaced out for a few weeks but it’s manageable. I remember my GP saying at one point “if you really need them, you’ll take them”. She was right. I knew I had no choice, I just wanted to get better.

Two years on and my life is completely transformed. No health anxiety, no constant ruminations, no paranoia, I’m just calm and happy and normal me again. So 2-3 weeks of discomfort and then 2 years of feeling normal. Definitely worth it!

Try them. They have saved my life many times. Yes, you might get some side effects at first but they level out. I don't buy that they numb you. That's rubbish. They make you see things at a normal level. Not spiralling into anxiety after a friend doesn't text back for example. Anti ds let me feel joy. They might not work for everyone but they worked for me. Therapy alongside will help too.

There's a lot of judgement around anti depressants. People saying they are a placebo, addictive, overprescribed but that's really unfair. Yes , in some cases this may be true but for others they make a huge difference .

Well done OP! This is a great start.
And yes you are probably extra anxious because you are anxious! Not because of the meds.
Do try and continue. Remind yourself of what you will be able to do if it is successful; think about proudly being able to take your daughter on a shopping trip soon!

Venlafaxine for anxiety. One week of feeling extremely nauseous, next week slightly queasy, by the third week everything settled and I just felt nothing. No anxiety, no panic, just flat. It enabled me to start functioning at a very basic level.

I was on Citalopram years ago.

I'm very wary typing this because I do know some people have their lives saved by SSRIs but for me, they were one of the worst decisions I've ever made. But I am not you.

I'll describe my situation and then you can take or leave it on if you think it applies to you or not. Mental, like physical health is incredibly personal. Trigger warning for some of this content.

I had severe anxiety from childhood which I now recognise was due to emotional abuse. That took a lot of therapy to recognise. That was then exacerbated by trauma at the age of 21 (and some instances since). Basically I was the victim of a stranger rape.

C. 10 years after I had what many used to call "a breakdown" and that's when Citalopram was prescribed. For me it made me numb but didn't numb me for the worst feelings and while on it I started self harming and attempted suicide.

So I cannot say it helped me. Depression for me always had good days or perhaps just hours. Citalopram took them away and made the world grey. Then when coming off it, it gave me these horrible "electric shock" type side effects. Only lasted a week or so but I was never warned.

What helped me was therapy. EMDR for the trauma and a combination of CBT and psychodynamic therapy for anxiety. Much of that I paid for myself but was worth every penny. I also read a lot of self help books. Look I know, much derided but I found "A Man's Search for Meaning" and "Lost Connections" both super helpful. They both changed my life in a way that what I was missing was my "why" to live. A purpose. Not necessarily a big hairy goal but the small things that give you connection and make life meaningful. I changed my work, my relationship (not suddenly, this all took years) and I'm happier for it. I also became a mental health first aider and in a small way started to assimilate my experiences into me. Accept my trauma and recognise that because of it, not despite it, it gave me something I could offer others.

There is a story in Lost Connections I like. It's all about a rice farmer injured in Vietnam due to an unexploded bomb. The doctor prescribed a cow. The reason being that the cow would give him a source of income and a purpose. The doctor described that as an "antidepressant" and to me that made total sense.

I'm not saying "don't" to antidepressants because especially if you cannot seek therapy or have no energy for it, it might be the right answer for you right now. But as you asked for honest opinions, this is mine, from my sample of one.

Just to update, I carried on taking sertraline but went to 50mg every day rather than every other as was suggested on here.
I’m 6 days in now…. feel a bit groggy in the mornings and have mild nausea which wears off after a couple of hours. Strange teeth chattering at times but this is getting less, bit of a headache. Nothing too bad…
I’m going to continue as have got this far and would rather this than how I felt before in the hope that better days lie ahead.

I had depression years ago after getting breast cancer quite young. The depression was bad enough that I couldn’t work. I was on anti depressants for a while and they helped me. I came off them quite quickly (a year I think) and started using St John’s Wort, and then came off that and have been fine ever since.

I recently started taking antidepressants for the first time while postpartum. My biggest fear was feeling worse then I already feel but I already felt dreadful and the hope of feeling better made me take them. I felt just as bad as I did maybe slightly worse for a week and then I felt so much better. I thought I would only take them for a while but I’ve seen such an improvement in myself and people around me have noticed how much more happier and chilled out I am. The only negative for me is that my appetite has increased and I have put on weight but the mental health benefits outweigh the weight gain which I now have motivation to do something about.

You stomach issues might be caused by anxiety.

Would you consider trying it for a month. You can come off them if it doesn’t suit you. I know that sounds easy but it is. Get all the support you need in place and plough ahead for a month. It’s worth a shot.

I really feel for you OP and you sound desperate to feel better.

Honestly, all the side effects you mention here are very short term. And are unpleasant but not in anyway life threatening. It’s not like you are worried about long term risks which might not reveal themselves for years. If you try the medicine and you get side effects and you feel the benefit doesn’t outweigh the risk, you can stop and the side effects will stop.

On the other hand, perhaps you will find that your gut issues and migraines improve if the ADs help your state of mind. In all honesty I think this is more likely than that you will suffer from bad side effects.

eta Please don’t take this as me minimising how awful migraines in particular can be. I’m really not, but the effect of your mental state of mind on your life sounds awful too, and as I say, perhaps you will see an improvement rather than a worsening.

They say that ADs have the most noticeable effect on people with severe symptoms.

I think it does matter, they do change your brain, so it’s hard to come off them when you’ve been on them for years.

Ive tried for years to come off them as I can’t orgasm on them sorry to be blunt.

But I mean... does that matter?
Is it a problem to stay on them long term?

I'm not bothered at all about mine being long term, I just take the tablet every day, same as I take my statin and blood pressure tablets.

OP what side effects are you particularly worried about?