to be scared of taking anti-depressants?

[qo]

Recently started on 20mg of prozac daily for a bout of crippling depression - unable to get out of bed, sleep problems, anxiety, onset of agoraphobia,severe lack of motivation, unwillingness to communicate. I could go on but you get the gist.

I've always been wary of taking AD's and in previous bouts of depression I've managed to help myself with positive thinking, excercise, forward planning etc.

This time has been different though, and I found myself unable to pull myself out of it, as it was affecting my kids lives I decided I had no option but to try AD's, at least for their sake.

I've been on them about 2 weeks and I think they might be starting to help just a little, but I'm starting to become anxious & worried about taking them.

My main concerns are -

1. am I going to damage my body's ability to produce it's own serotonin? I'm unsure of long-term effects and have read conflicting reports.
2. am I doing more harm than good by suppressing my feelings rather than working them through? (I start face to face counselling on the 11th July) 3)anti-depressants will not remove the root causes of my depression
3. I'm not sure of my anxiety about taking them is real or symptomatic of the depression.

I've thought about taking one every other day, would that work? Anybody else feel like this about AD's and what did you do to overcome it?

I would take as prescribed, but go back to your GP to discuss your concerns.

My experience was that ADs helped me to function while I resolved the issues that triggered the depression. After about 9 months the tablets started to make me feel physically ill, so I stopped them (with the doctor's support) and I got better. 10 years or so later, I've been pretty much fine. I have bad days every now and again, but nothing significant.

they will work but should be accompanies by some couselling. are you not automatically referred when you are prescribed anti ds? thats how it is in ireland anyways. best of luck on your journey i hope you feel better soon but please seek counselling of some sort. you need to address these issues.

Yes, I was referred at the same time as I got my prescription, not sure about automatically - I asked.

I've had my first telephone counselling appointment and start face to face on the 11th July

You have to discuss this with your GP. Please don't start messing about with your dosage so soon . I take sertraline and have done on and off for ten years. I have done the fiddling with the dosage and have finally found what works for me but i made it all much harder than it had to be by trial and error.Hoping that counselling works for you. Well done for acknowledging that you couldn't do it on your own.

I have to take antidepressants daily & have done for years. I don't see it as any different from having to take medication for high blood pressure or any other sort of medication. They help me function normally which I would be unable to do if I wasn't taking them.

Other people take them short term as a crutch whilst they work out the deeper problems & I don't think there is anything wrong with that either. I know it's difficult to be rational when you're depressed but I think you should take the meds, have the counselling & see how you feel in a few months. And please don't come off them cold turkey.

From what little I know, they take about 3 weeks to kick in, so I definitely wouldn't cut down or out the ADs at this early stage. Take them as prescribed for now, let them help you build yourself up before you try other strategies again.

ADs don't have to be a long-term coping mechanism for you, but when you need them - and you do this time as you say your normal methods aren't helping - they are a valuable tool in managing depression and getting you out of the rut.

Set yourself a target - say until the 11th July when your counselling appointment is, or until your next scheduled appointment with your GP to review your medication - and until that point, take your ADs as prescribed. Remember, it's not a crutch, it's a stepping stone, and it's to get you AND your family to a better place before you make any decisions.

MrsHels do you ever worry (or wonder if) anti-depressants have damaged or inhibited your body's ability to produce it's own serotonin? Do you feel dependent on them?

You need to talk all that over with your GP.

Give anti d's at least 8 weeks to really fell the benefit.

IIRC it's drugs like Valium that inhibit production of serotonin not these new anti d's.

Don't change your dose yourself as you might just end up back where you started or on them for longer.

I had two runs of ADs (both 6 months as I didn't want to take them for longer). No side affects and no long term side affects. I did the right thing going on them and the right thing coming off them when I did despite the doctor wanting me to stick with them for longer due to moving house and starting a new job as I stopped them.

I was fine and I'm still fine. I have the odd low day but lots of people have them.

Stick with your ADs and the counselling and talk to your docs about the long term concerns.

rather than supress or inhibit your bodies ability to produce serotin, I am sure they are meant to regulate it so that you will at some point cut down and then stop the tablets..

And when your GP decides that you no longer need them, come off them very slowly by reducing the dosage a small amount at a time.

My Psych said the longer someone stays on Anti d's the less likely they are to have a relapse at a later date.

Counselling alongside taking them is a very good idea.

qo, possibly they have affected my body's own biochemistry but I have tried to come off them many, many times all with the end result of my depression coming back do to be honest I'd rather take them & partake in a normal life than live without them. I see it that I do have a biochemical imbalance & there's no point in me worrying about whether it was caused by medication or not, as it doesn't change the end result. That's just my personal opinion though & I'm not trying to tell anyone else what to think.

squeaky is right, it regulates it.

Thanks MrsHels people's opinions are exactly what I'm after :)

I like to take the view that even if ad's do inhibit the brains natural serotonin production, depression is usually an indication that it's not doing a brilliant job anyway and ad's as part of a package including counselling, lifestyle changes and generally looking after your own needs all under the supervision of your gp all goes towards helping your brain heal and sort itself out.

Of course that doesn't mean to ignore any side effects, different people react in different ways and exacerbation of symptoms may indicate you might need to try a different formula, but honestly two weeks in is far to early to tell.

If you had (for example) diabetes, you wouldn't "try to manage" without insulin, would you? No different, it's a chemical inbalance that needs redressing.

The way i understand it is that ads don't produce serotonin for you. But rather they slow down the rate that your body/brain uses up serotonin.

They are selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors. So the inhibit the rate your brain uses up its store of serotonin, ie the amount it leaches it away.

Maybe I shouldn't google, my inherent mis-trust of AD's led me to research them I suppose and I'm not sure I can blindly accept what a GP tells me after reading reports like this...

"Although the patient is up and moving, what should we expect to be the long term effect from using the SSRI method?
We should expect the SSRI medications to produce even greater depression, if not while using the drug, certainly after a period of use. While taking the drug, the constant adrenalin rush postpones the inevitable "crash." If Prozac doubles cortisol levels with just one dose, and elevated nonsuppressible cortisol levels are a marker for depression, it should follow that the end result of using Prozac should be a drastic increase in depression. This also helps us to understand why many patients who have never experienced depression before using Prozac report suffering depression after using Prozac and why so many SSRI users report a worsening of depression."

and this one, written by a doctor

"No-one can typify me as an anti-drug lobbyist with a fringe anti-medicine agenda. However, the situation that I see, as I teeter on the brink of ?retirement?, is that doctors have been hoodwinked into using drugs that just do not work, and that doctors and medical science itself have been corrupted with some very serious problems that will require radical intervention to remedy"

www.psychotropical.com/index.php/why-most-new-antidepressants-are-ineffective

There are many more.

Anyway I'm sure if it wasn't going to be helpful many more people would feel the same way as I do. Which is why I started this thread - to find out how people feel, I don't exactly trust my own judgement at the moment.

As I seem to be in the minority I've decided I'm probably over-thinking this way too much. Thanks for the input everybody :)

I've also just started taking 20mg of Prozac.

It won't take away my son's recent ASD dx or my disabling condition.

I'm hoping that it will help to make everything not be so bleak.

I never ever wanted to take tablets for anything. Now I'm on anti-convulsants and anti-d's for pain, laxatives to deal with side effects from pain meds, anti-d's for depression plus breakthrough meds. I am the same as the PP as seeing them as what I need to get on with my life the same as I take tablets to stop the pain in my hands.

All the best x

Thanks ben10 all the best to you too.

I'm glad I started this thread, I feel more confident about taking the AD's now and feel sure my anxiety about taking them is just a symptom of my general anxiety.

I can't really give you much advice, but I can tell you what I've been through myself.

Women in my family have suffered from depression since year dot. I'm not sure if it's an hereditary thing but it seems like it for us. When I was 17 my mum found me one night looking up on the Internet how many paracetamols it would take to kill myself. (luckily she'd come round as i lived on my own at this point) She marched me straight to the doctors. Thing was, I didn't think I was depressed. I was so wrapped up in my own misery that I thought it was normal.

The doctor put me on 40mg of Prozac. It didn't work at first, but I gave it more time and my god I'm so glad I did. I couldn't believe the change.
I felt so happy, I wanted to go out, I wanted to do things. I didn't want to hide myself away anymore.

The thing is the tablets weren't making me happy, they were just making me feel how I was supposed to feel in the first place.

In my own time (2 years) I came to the point were I felt strong enough to be weaned off them and now 3 years on I'm fine. I have ups and downs but every normal person does. I can now recognise the warning signs, which is handy.

All I can say to you is personally, I would give them a go. Don't worry about dependencies and all that, if that happens you will face it at that point. Right now concentrate on getting yourself better. And good luck, I mean that with all my heart.

Sorry that's awfully long and self indulgent

I would say take them. They work best in conjunction with therapy ofc but are both important. It's not masking the problem it's helping you have the strength to deal with issues without being overwhelmed. If it were true they would work completely on their own which they don't. A lot of people have a lot of bad things to say about anti depressants who havnt actually suffered themselves, ppl are quick to judge and say 'pull yourself together' when they know nothing about mental illness.
Speak about the best type of tabs, research it for your problems because gps will fob you off with the cheapest like they often do with other meds. I take escitalopram for anxiety and it has helped me control my anxiety better but I'm having cbt to actually help with my anxiety issues. Mental illness is hell and helping to control it is the best thing for everyone, you wouldn't say this about any other kind of illness, don't just bare it.

It isn't self-indulgent from where I'm sitting whitewidow :)

I'm grateful for all input

Hi there
We are going to move this to our mental health topic
All best to you, OP
MNHQ