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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to talk about antidepressants?

276 replies

Neednewjeans · 06/10/2012 14:34

Who's on them then? Have they been a help or do you regret taking them? After a bad bout of PND most health professionals kind of 'gave up' with me as I wasn't willing to try them (mostly due to my GP saying my symptoms could become worse before getting any better which, at my worst, I couldn't get my head around).

So...I'd just like honest answers. Did they help? Do you regret it? Would you like to come off them? Or not?

OP posts:
PeggyCarter · 06/10/2012 22:08

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

BeyondLimitsOfTheLivingDead · 06/10/2012 22:12

My libido is fucked (ha!) but then that could easily be the toddler, newborn, piles, arthritis, and prolapse, rather than the ADs...

Bluestocking · 06/10/2012 22:14

Good luck, back2 - don't let the GP fob you off. This is important to you and a good psych will do everything they can to get your meds right.

Shaky · 06/10/2012 22:15

beyond at least something's fucked! Grin

Back2Two · 06/10/2012 22:24

This reply has been withdrawn

This has been withdrawn due to privacy concerns

Busyoldfool · 06/10/2012 22:24

I took Fluoxetine twice. The menopause hit me like a train and I was suicidal - couldn't see a way forward at all. I couldn't function and wd find myself in the supermarket with no idea what I was doing there. The drug helped me do my job and run the house. After six months I came off them but was soon back to the same state so had another six months. I was fine when I came off them and have been fine in the three years since. Mild side effects - loss of sex drive, a slight slowing down, - but so much better than being ill.

FreudiansGoldSlipper · 06/10/2012 22:25

no not quite yet :)

CBT therapist i am surprised that a CBT therapist who is fully qualified compares the heart to the brain and would tell you they work in the same way because they do not (quite basic knowledge how the our body works will inform you they work very differently)

Please research yourself if you are taking ad?s long term and especially if your dose has increased and stayed at an increased level. in america there is a huge backlash within the mental health care against the over use of ad's and the long term use. the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual Five that is due to be published next year) is now suggesting that grieving for over 2 weeks and pmt are both mental illnesses. drugs are being sold to help women with normal pmt symptoms that are actually fluoxetine, which is more commonly known as prozac. many professionals are arguing against these being included many others (including those of helped write previous manuals). we often in mental health follow suit because it is so often driven by money or lack of funds

And cbt as good as a therapy as it is it is not about getting to the root of the problem. If you are still feeling the need for extra support from ad?s after CBT then i would be by asking why and if there was any other therapy than may help. the nhs funds are are very restricted this is why the combination of cbt and ad?s is very popular

BupCakes for yourself maybe you are someone that needs to be on them long term but many are not, all i can say again is do your research

BupcakesAndCunting · 06/10/2012 22:32

No, I am not saying that the heart and brain work the same and nor did my CBTherapist. She drew the comparison with taking meds for other illnesses. After my 8th session of CBT combined with councelling and seeing that I was making zero progress, she asked if I'd been offered AD's.

I did do my research, plenty in fact. I had the ADs in my house for two months before I took them, agonizing over them. TBH, I don't care if I'm being duped by my GP, pharmaceutical companies and Uncle Tom Cobleigh. They work for me. I could research further into ADs and discover that actually, prolonged use could make me sprout a third tit and I still wouldn't stop them.

monkeysbignuts · 06/10/2012 22:34

there is correlation between pnd and bi polar. Some women's hormone balance never returns to normal levels after having a baby.
My sex drive was through the roof when on prozac, before hand I hated sex and admittedly my husband made me feel physically sick :(
I loved him still but the thought of having sex made me want to throw up.

londone17 · 06/10/2012 22:37

I'm supposed to take ad's but can't because feel too ashamed. Anybody else feel like this please?

BeyondLimitsOfTheLivingDead · 06/10/2012 22:38

now thats interesting, monkeys...

FreudiansGoldSlipper · 06/10/2012 22:39

oops took that they wrong way was getting a little carried away bumps you did not say they compared heart/brain but said brain may need medical intervention the same way as heart etc may need it

i have never said ad's use is bad i have just said they are way over prescribed ino. maybe i am wrong then many many people who really understand mental health (i do not) have written about this too and with the evidence i have read that from their work i would be inclined to agree

and no i shall not trot along i have i have researched (powerful drugs you should research not jsut take your gps' word for it the effect can be very different to what you expect) and have taken them myself so i shall share my opinion. i was addicted if i felt i could not manage without them then that is worrying

monkeysbignuts · 06/10/2012 22:41

i know a couple of women who got diagnosed with bi polar after having pnd.
I hope its not the case for you beyond but its not uncommon either

Shaky · 06/10/2012 22:42

monkey my dh would love that!

helpineedajob · 06/10/2012 22:44

neednewjeans no DS2 is 8m now and no sign of PND this time

BupcakesAndCunting · 06/10/2012 22:47

Ummm, I didn't tell you to trot along, either...

monkeysbignuts · 06/10/2012 22:47

lolshaky we had a very tough 13 months but it all turned out good in the end Smile

MorrisZapp · 06/10/2012 22:47

I'm a bit of a pro-meds zealot. I had brutal pnd and went on sertraline, which gave me my life back.

I also had cbt, which was interesting and a very positive experience, but which didn't so much as tickle the surface of my illness.

I wouldn't try to make a broken leg better by talking about it. I know that makes me sound old fashioned, closed minded etc. But I can only draw on what I know. The pills worked for me.

Sure, lots of people think that pills are a cop out, or 'happy pills', or an indulgence. That's fine by me, that's what I thought too before I actually experienced mental illness. I couldn't care less what other people think, though luckily for me my DP, family and friends have been really supportive of my decision to get the help I needed.

BupcakesAndCunting · 06/10/2012 22:49

And I hate this "You're addicted if you cannot manage without them" way of thinking wrt ADs.

Would you say to my MIL with blood clotting problems that if she cannot stop taking her warfarin then she is addicted and it is worrying, although she will become very ill without them? If no, why not? Why is depression any less of an illness than other "real" illnesses?

FreudiansGoldSlipper · 06/10/2012 22:53

you had combined counselling with CBT i hope it was complementary to CBT as other therapies work very differently with could interfere with CBT or your other therapy. And the 8th session. 50min x 8 is not really a long time to get to understand someone is it. it takes time and money this is what the nhs does nto have and this is not what many people can not and often do nto want to give

i am not saying you are not someone who ad's are not good for but far far too many people end up being zombies or are so drugged up the real problems are not dealt with and often surface in other ways. just please be aware

whathasthecatdonenow · 06/10/2012 22:55

I'm told I have a problem with the chemistry in my brain. I think I'm just a shit person who is being punished by feeling like this. In my more rational moments I can accept that medication to regulate my brain chemistry is a sensible idea. In my less rational moments I come off the ADs because I believe people like Freudian and think that I just have to either put up with being this shit evil person or die.

I've had CBT, mindfulness, psychotherapy, counselling and EMDR. The only thing that even blunts the screaming need to top myself are ADs.

FreudiansGoldSlipper · 06/10/2012 22:56

who says it is not a real illness depression is and it is not those who are working within mental health, quite the opposite, they are askign how these medications help and who are they really benefiting in the long term

BupcakesAndCunting · 06/10/2012 23:01

I'm certainly not numbed, or zombie-like. I just feel... normal. Like how I'm supposed to feel. I can still feel the full gamut of human emotion. I am just no longer a quivering wreck, lashing out at my DH because I feel so angry and lonely, or getting back from the school run and hiding under my duvet until it's time to go back out again.

GoldShip · 06/10/2012 23:02

freudian some people upthread have insinuated it isn't a real illness.

dottyspotty2 · 06/10/2012 23:03

Bupcakes first month or 2 on my present dosage I did feel numb but at the time it was needed and did me good.