Did anti-depressants work for you?

[Feelinglow27]

Hi,
For many different reasons life has not turned out how I wanted it to and I suspect I have been depressed for several years. When I am busy I can cope fine, but if I occasionally have some time alone I can feel myself on a downwards spiral, worrying, feeling anxious and sad.

I want to get some kind of help as its either I am too busy and feel like it is a relief just getting to the end of the day, or I am feeling depressed, and I would like to enjoy life again.

I don't really have time to undertake any counselling etc. TBH I just want to try anti-depressants, but I worry that they won't work or that they will have other side effects.

If you have been through similar and were prescribed ADs, did they work for you?

They did, but only because a specific thing was causing my depression, and the tablets allowed me to reach a state of mind where I was able to not really care about what had been getting me down any more. If the cause of yours is unknown to yourself, I can’t tell you if they work or not…

Thanks everyone for sharing

They made me feel better temporarily. As the years passed, I needed higher and higher doses. Then they stopped working entirely, I had a breakdown, and I got slammed with some bad side effects, including memory loss so bad I had to quit me career. So I stopped taking the ADs, not easy as contrary to what I had been told the withdrawal was terrible. Ultimately found EMDR and it knocked the depression into remission. I wish I'd never touched those pills.

I'm technically on them for migraine management, but I'm definitely less anxious on them. I also sleep better!

The first ones I was on gave me rage. I was mad at everything and spent my whole day spoiling for an argument. Didn’t matter with who either. Got taken off those and the next ones made me sleep hours of the day and I whacked on the weight. I used to take the kids to school, come home and set an alarm for pick up time, then as soon as they were in bed in the evening I was off too.

I’ll never take antidepressants again. I know I should be on them now.

I posted last week about venlaflaxine , I'm struggling terribly with fatigue , I feel constantly drained , no motivation and flat as a pancake , my sleep is awful
It most certainly keeps me crying less and other things I was prescribed them for
I been on it for a good three years now , Prozac and sertraline gave me real awful headaches so don't want to try new ones
I wish I'd never started to be honest

@Dogsarebetterthanhumans they are safe but my psychiatrist asked me to monitor heart as they can have an impact.

@TheGoogleMum i hope you don't mind me asking which antidepressants you're taking. Despite taking escitalopram, I still get migraines

Thanks for your comment; no it sure it was for me however glad you are well monitored!

I'm on antidepressants for my anxiety and will admit I was ashamed to say that for a long time but with the support from my family and friends I'm not bothered now saying I'm on them. I definitely would recommend them. Sertaline is the one I'm on and the first few weeks I did get headaches and nausea but that settled down and I'm on top of the world now, out of my comfort zone and doing things this year I never dreamed I'd do ticking off my bucket list lol but seriously try antidepressants and see how it goes!

Short version - No, the various types I tried didn't help me at all, the opposite in fact thanks to uncomfortable side-effects. I didn't find talking therapies worthwhile either. The only thing that eventually resolved my Depressive episodes were the changes to lifestyle and environmental circumstances I made off my own back, but I'd still suggest anyone tries medication and therapy as a first recourse.