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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To wonder if people are too reliant upon anti-depressants??

40 replies

imaynotbeperfectbutimokmummy · 25/07/2009 20:30

Bit of an inflammatory title, but someone said something to me on another thread (unrelated) and it has made me think. I am on ADs, i genuinely think i do need them, i take them for anxiety. However i have been on them for too long, want to come off but still struggling with anxiety and starting to think that they might not have been such a good idea.

Thing is: I got the ADs really easily, didn't really have to do much more than ask, doctor offered, at first i said no, then i decided to take them.

Really the thread title should be "are ADs over presribed" because i found it very easy to get a prescription for the drugs, but boy did i have to stamp my feet and pretty much beg for counselling.

OP posts:
GoldenSnitch · 25/07/2009 20:39

Then you have a rubbish doctor.

In my opinion and my experience, AD's can make the difference between councelling working and not working. If I hadn't have been on AD's when I started any of the endless bouts of councelling I had, then I'm not sure I would have been in a position to take any of it in enough for it to help.

I was on them for 7 years and truely believe I needed every last week of that

paranoidpiggy · 25/07/2009 20:44

Nope. Not unless you subscribe to the Tom Cruise school of weirdness thinking

LaurieFairyCake · 25/07/2009 20:49

I think the problem is that sometimes they are not given out in conjunction with therapy. I can understand it as the drugs are cheaper than therapy.

Most of my clients are taking them to make themselves more emotionally available for therapy.

LaurieFairyCake · 25/07/2009 20:49

I think the problem is that sometimes they are not given out in conjunction with therapy. I can understand it as the drugs are cheaper than therapy.

Most of my clients are taking them to make themselves more emotionally available for therapy.

LaurieFairyCake · 25/07/2009 20:49

sorry for double post

pointydog · 25/07/2009 20:50

Over-subscribed - very possibly

TrillianAstra · 25/07/2009 20:50

As far as I know, if you don't need them then they don't do anything (except perhaps give you side-effects). It's not as if they are 'happy pills'.

Sadly I think there's not as much counselling available as there should be, whereas the supply of pills is plentiful. You shouldn't have to beg and stamp your feet to get it. But neither should you have to beg for pills if they will help you.

Original poster
imaynotbeperfectbutimokmummy · 25/07/2009 20:53

what does tom cruise have to do with it?

I totally agree golden, they absolutely are useful, I just wondered if they are oversubscribed judging by the fact that sooo many people who i know are taking them - i mean, its not like i attract nutters

OP posts:
Original poster
imaynotbeperfectbutimokmummy · 25/07/2009 20:56

oversubscribed d'oh - of course i menat over prescribed.

OP posts:
pointydog · 25/07/2009 20:57

I wrote over subscribed, didn't I?

onepieceoflollipop · 25/07/2009 21:03

I feel strongly about this (sometimes) - I am a mental health nurse with many years experience.

There are many common misconceptions about ads, the main ones being that they are oversubscribed and that they are physically addictive.

When I hear this (from patients usually) it generally transpires that their sil/neighbour/lollipop man etc have given them advice re ads. Often/usually the person giving such fab advice has no experience of depression/ads and no medical training whatsoever.

I imagine there are perhaps a few GPs that do readily prescribe them (without considering other more appropriate options) but on the whole they are not (ime) oversubscribed.

Tbh unless a person is clinically depressed they aren't going to be massively beneficial anyway.

onepieceoflollipop · 25/07/2009 21:03

Oh poo I wrote oversubscribed as well.

pointydog · 25/07/2009 21:04

lol

dilemma456 · 25/07/2009 21:05

Message withdrawn

Original poster
imaynotbeperfectbutimokmummy · 25/07/2009 21:05

lol yes, pointy you did and i thought, hmmm, i could be really pedantic here and point it out but i wont, then i re read my post and slapped my head a la homer simpson d'oh!

OP posts:
onepieceoflollipop · 25/07/2009 21:13

dilemma456, (don't answer this if it's too personal btw). Is your statement that they are too easily prescribed based on your own personal experience or do you have other experience wrt depression/ads?

Prozac (fluoxetine) imo is a drug that I probably would avoid. Many people do find it makes them more agitated and doesn't "suit" them/

chegirl · 25/07/2009 21:42

I asked to go on a low dose when DD was dx with cancer. I knew I would need something to help me through. I was on the anxiety dose rather than the depression one IYSWIM.

This was given willingly and I think appropriately. My GP was very understanding and it was something I had thought through.

But later on when my DD was diagnosed as terminal it was assumed that I should go on a much larger dose. This was awful and I felt sort of pushed into it. I saw a pychiatrist who asked me if I wanted to go into hospital. I declined and was very shocked she had mentioned it. My DD was terminally ill and she thought I might want to spend her last days in a hospital . She told me she wanted me to go on a higher dose and 'if I didnt cooperate I would end up in hospital and very ill'. Stupid bitch.

I couldnt function on such a high dose and I didnt want them. It was assumed they were what I needed. I wonder if there was a bit of projection (or is it transferance?) going on there. People were so horrified at the thought of losing a child that they felt they would not want to face it themselves and would need to be drugged up. Truth is it doesnt go like that.

Anyway I am digressing. Once on ADs it does seem easy to get stuck on them and for the doses to be upped and upped. Ironically my other GP wanted me to change to a newer, cheaper brand and I refused because I didnt have the time to readjust to new medication. I was caring for DD and couldnt take a week out to sleep and wobble about till I got used to them. I had to fight to stay on the originals. More stress I didnt need.

Personally I dont like them. i dont like a drug being in my system 24/7 whether I need it or not. I much prefer something like valium which can be taken when things get too much. But we all know that valium is the work of the devil and you might as well ask for crack on prescription

johnthepong · 25/07/2009 21:47

Prozac has helped me survive the last year. I recently stopped taking them as I thought I was ok... and after a couple of weeks... boy the depression came back with a vengance.

They do make you feel worse at first though-mabe they was what you experienced dilemma. I found I had to persevere through this and then I started to feel better.

one piece of lollipop- why do you say avoid prozac? on what info are you basing this on- or are you just quoting what your next door neighbours best friends husband said??

onepieceoflollipop · 25/07/2009 21:51

johnthepong I did say imo

also earlier on the thread I mentioned that I am a mental health nurse.

I haven't got loads of statistics to quote. However ime most of the psychiatrists I work with tend to prescribe the new ads such as Mirtazapine and Venlafaxine.

Some patients (but obviously not all) present with more agitation on fluoxetine (prozac). That's not to say it doesn't suit some people, it's just not so widely used now that there are (again imo) alternatives with (generally) less side effects.

onepieceoflollipop · 25/07/2009 21:52

Sorry, that should have read "newer" rather than "new". The drugs I mentioned aren't particularly new, just released since fluoxetine came onto the market.

flatcapandpearls · 25/07/2009 21:53

I agree to some degree as I have found it easy to get Anti depressants on the Nhs but have had to pay privately for counselling and quality effective hospital admissions.

But I don't think many people would stay on anti depressants if they did not need them. I hate being on mine and only stay on them because without them I doubt I would be alive, I certainly could not work and would struggle to parent dd. But the side effects are horrendous, I have awful nightmares, I constantly feel sick, I get dizzy, my sex drive is all over the place, bad headaches and the weight gain gets me down. I often feel as if I have a hangover and I get slurred speech. If I am not meticulous about taking them Every day at the right time.I also have no short term memory, to the extent that in my classroom I make a joke of appointing a monitor to look after my boatdpen and keys, but in reality this is because I forget where I put things. I also rarely get very happy, part of the price I pat for losing the lows is also losing many of the highs. I get very I'll. I certainly would not take them unless I needed to.

onepieceoflollipop · 25/07/2009 21:58

That's a good point flatcap re people staying on them, i.e. only staying on them if they need them.

chegirl · 25/07/2009 22:00

I have a loft full (literally) of things I bought whilst on medication. I am clearing it out now and I dont remember buying 80% of it. I find that very upsetting.

What the hell else did I do that I dont remember?

Original poster
imaynotbeperfectbutimokmummy · 25/07/2009 22:04

I know what you mean about not getting happy flatcap - i don' have the awful dips, although im struggling since lowering my dose - i don't get happy much either. Fuck, that makes me feel shit.

OP posts:
IDreamOfJeannie · 25/07/2009 22:14

See this link about anti-depressants in the news this week:

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8138893.stm

I thought it was interesting.

I think they are overprescribed TBH.

I would also like to say that although, as onepieceloppipop says, they are not physically addictive, coming off them can be incredibly hard due to withdrawal effects. I know this from by own experience and also evidence ffrom the number of people who post on here alone about this.

And I've found GPs can be VERY unhelpful about withdrawal effects and how to manage / deal with them if you go to them for help. THey almost deny they exist.