I'm fed up of ADs - I think I'm going to do cold turkey

[mumsnutty]

I've namechanged as I seem to be constantly asking questions on here, I'm so grateful for everyone's advice but I'm now feeling at my wit's end.

After months in denial, after what has not been a good year (family bereavements, marriage, kid and work problems) that I should go and see my GP. I was diagnosed with severe depression and put on citalpram. I was on it for 4 weeks and just felt it wasn't working for me. The GP has now put me on Sertaline and I've been on it a week.

I feel this last 5/6 weeks have made me worse, I can't see light at the end of the tunnel... the side effects with both ADs - very sweaty face, nausea, anxiety are crippling me. I was out for a family do last night and had to keep going outside as I felt so hot and sweaty, plus paranoia and anxiety seems to have crept, I'm convinced everyone knows I'm on ADs. I hate feeling like this, making my family worried (I heard my mum crying on the phone when she came to look after the DC, that was agonising and I felt helpless), I think the ADs have increased my issues rather than help them.

I've decided to give them up, not sure what else is out there but I can't cope with these side effects, I'd rather give up than suffer anymore.

Anyone else done cold turkey?

Do not go cold turkey! You need to give the sertraline at least 2 to 4 weeks to work, the side effects will fade

thanks gingerchick,but I just don't feel they are working, I've tried with citalapram for a month and seemed to be getting worse. This hot, sweaty feeling is just too much, not to mention the now paranoia and anxiety.

I can't face another 4 weeks of this, plus looking at other threads, the sweatiness doesn't go. It's making me not want to go out the house.

Is cold turkey really so bad as the emotions and physical effects I'm feeling now, I can't feel any worse.

Try to carry on taking them. I'm on fluoxetine and it took at least 6 weeks before I was past the side effects. You probably need to give it longer than you have.

If you go cold turkey you might end up with bad headaches and other possible side effects (I know cause I tried to go a week without mine but went back on them because of the headaches I got).

You also should come off them gradually and make sure your doc knows about it.

Hope that helps.

Good luck!

Thanks Cats, I know there is a HUGE risk with side effects I'm willing to take.

I feel so helpless and out of control at the moment, the ADs seem to have increased my problems. I just want the old me back and it feels like she is slowly disappearing in a black cloud of sadness and medication.

Sorry for the ramble

Hi,

I feel your frustration....I have been on Citalopram and now coming off as not working. I just want to feel better.....

I'm not going cold turkey as such (I'm on 30mg, have been for 5 weeks) but have to come off them quickly ie take 20mg for a week, 10mg for a week and then nothing......which i'm dreding.

I respect your decision to go cold turkey but think your body will not be happy. Ideally I would like longer to wean myself off, perhaps you coul just try taking less and less over coming weeks.

No one is trying to tell you what to do but I guess research suggests you need to try new meds for at least 6 weeks befor you notice a difference.

Good luck with what ever you decide.

Coming off tablets quickly can cause mania, quichdal thoughts and many many horrible symptoms. I have been on ADs for 15 years and have been on various ones during that time I have been on both the ones you mention. Please go back to your GP, you night not think things can get worse but believe me they can, I understand that the side effects can be debilitating but they will fade, the sweating is common but does fade I promise

• suicidal

Mumsnutty - I have just started on sertraline as well and you do feel worse before you feel better.

Am just trying to get through an hour at a time at the moment.

I would honestly persevere if you can. I have done this before and know that when they kick in life seems so much better. Your GP has prescribed them for a reason.

Happy to hold your hand as we get through this together.

Hi. Are you having talking therapy as well? NICE guidelines are that talking therapy should be offered alongside anti-depressants. Please discuss with your GP how best to come off them but you do not need to stay on them if they are not working, most people find side effects subside after a month, some people get very bad side effects on them that do not go away and cannot tolerate them, just like some people out there can't tolerate antibiotics or aspirin. There's good advice in this leaflet antidepressantsteps.com/_uploads/booklet_full/2.pdf

It's normal to experience distress with all you have been through recently. Mental pain can be a way of your body telling you that you need a rest, you need to reflect, you need to slow down - not so different from the physical pain you feel when you sprained your ankle means no way you could walk on it for a while. So please don't blame yourself for not continuing "as normal" and needing to face life a little differently.

Thanks all, I really appreciate your comments. I'm just feeling at the end of my tether. I can't explain to family, friends and work colleagues how I'm feeling, as I don't know how I'm feeling, I just can't seem to do anything right or be positive at the moment.

I thought the ADs would help, what I wasn't expecting was the adverse side effects, last night's sweaty episode was awful I just felt like everyone thought I was odd.

I'm seeing my GP later this week but I don't want to go on again about this AD giving me side effects too, she'll think I'm a nightmare patient! If she says to persevere, I'm happy to hold your hand Sharpkat!

gingerchick/ anyone - did you find your periods were affected by ADs? My period is late by 3 days.

Mine would jump around, sometimes week early, sometimes a bit late. Not the best feeling worrying if your pregnant or not... Life can be so confusing......

Maybe ask to change to fluoxetine? I had horrible side effects with citalopram, to the point where I literally could not tolerate them and I was going to just stop as I couldn't take on more! In desperation I called the ooh dr and she was so lovely, told me she had suffered depression herself and had found that the side effects were much better with fluoxetine, and would I just give them a try? I'm not sure how professional it is to share personal experiences like that, but I'm glad she did as I really felt she understood. So I switched to fluoxetine, and whilst I still felt a bit buzzy, the effects were much milder and after a while they went completely. Ssri side effects do die out once you get used to them, but if they are so intolerable that you are considering stopping them, then I think you need to change. And give them enough time for the side effects to wear off and for them to start working. If you had mild or even moderate depression then that's different, but anti ds are absolutely essential in severe depression, as you just won't even be receptive to talking therapies etc without them. I hope you start to feel more yourself soon. X

And fwiw once the fluoxetine kicked in, I really started feeling like "me" again. My problems were still there, granted, but I was able to see things with more clarity, I felt stronger and could forgive myself a bit.

Please do not be embarrassed to tell your GP about all your side effects and how you feel! All GPs know that ADs are not a simple medication that agree with everyone. They are there to help you and can't help you unless they know how you are getting on. It is not your fault you are feeling this way.

Thanks winksclub, I know I'm not pregnant (that would be a miracle!) but seem to be experiencing cramps like pregnancy.

Thanks hungover, your GP sounds so supportive and very honest! Mine is sunderstanding too but I'm paranoid she'll think I'm a PITA if I ask for another change but I will suggest this AD. As you can see on my previous posts I'm hating the side effects currently.

I'm grateful for the advice here all, i don't think I'll go cold turkey now but try and stick the ADs out. I should have said I'm going for weekly counselling sessions but we focus on particular parts of my life and although they seem to help me at the time (not to mention exhaust me!) I still seem to fall back into this dark, black hole of despair and now anxiety/paranoia.

Thanks everyone, I hope I can still post on here without feeling like a PITA in MN!

Thanks Eurostar, I hope I can find the right medication, I will also have a look at that leaflet you posted.

Well I am here to hold your hand and support you on the way.

I totally understand what you mean about not ring able to say how you feel and articulate it.

The weekly counselling will be exhausting but it may really help.

Let's get through one day at a time.

Look not advocating necessarily but had similar nasty side effects with them all, then read lots of evidence that they're placebo at best do yes, had enough. And went cold turkey!
It was a few yrs ago now but I remember I got thro it ok, not easy but not awful- was exercising a lot and eating well which helped. Good luck! .

How are you doing Mumsnutty?

Hi there, sorry for the slow reply.

Feeling very low and unmotivated this last week. I was supposed to see friends today but I couldn't face going out.

I just feel so miserable, nothing is making me happy. I've just read the Marian K article that someone posted on another thread and I could relate to her experiences, it's great knowing that people share your illness ( I still feel a fraud saying that, dunno why) but still it doesn't relieve the pain and dissatisfaction with my life at the moment.

Thanks for the advice about not doing cold turkey. I saw my GP and she is speaking to other GPs in the surgery about taking another AD from a different family of ADs, I'm now terrified that I will become a zombie on another one so may ask to stick with this one.

I just want the old happy me back or at least part of her, sertraline is making me feel worse - a depressive, sweaty mess who is getting uglier and fatter day by day.

Sorry for the ramble, not what anyone wants to hear on a Saturday night!

If anyone out there can give me some comforting words or to lift my spirits, it would be greatly appreciated.

It may be that a different anti depressant will be more effective and have less side effects, so it might help you to take your doctors advice about switching drugs. If you have only been on the sertraline for a couple of weeks it may not have kicked in yet, and I think the side effects should settle down.

It's hard when you can't face seeing anyone or talk to your friends about how you are feeling. I hope the counselling is helping. Hang in there and you won't always feel this bad.

I read the Marian Keyes article too, and she is able to describe the experience of depression so well. I'm sure it will help others that she can be so open about it.

Hi Op, sorry you are going through this.

I've heard anecdotally that sertraline can make you feel utterly shit before it makes you feel better. 5-6 weeks seems a long time though.

I'm in a position where I have struggled with depression on and off all my life, been pressured to take ADs several times by a psychiatrist - but that was years ago, he realised I wouldn't, and stopped trying and I stopped seeing him and ended up having some psychotherapy, and then some CBT. Both were excellent and have helped me.

I am still depressed on and off, still have problems with certain things but I am generally coping. I mean, I haven't got worse. And I may have got better a bit.

I am heartily with you on not wanting to take these things. You don't have to. Ask them to help you stop entirely, if that is what you want - they don't cure you, they only buy some time if they do anything - so you end up just the same after as before you started.

Talking therapies have been shown to be far more effective I think but they cost the NHS a lot more, so that's why people are given pills instead. Short term measures aren't always the best.

please stick up for yourself if you don't want to take them - they can't make you. I ended up being given some fluoxetine once, just to try, and the first one jammed in my throat and I refused to take any more (I knew I didn't want to). So I didn't. I just didn't trust the things.

I think you will be fine as long as you stop gradually and be prepared to feel shitty for a while, and wait it out without acting on it iyswim...things will improve. Good luck xxx

Look at ADs as a short term medicine and once you feel better slowly cut back as the trouble with ADs is that people expect their life to suddenly feel better and for them to recover- yr problems are still there they dont go away just your mind can calm down and you feel normal. Once your feeling better you can concentrate on improving your life, working through the issues and accept the issues that are not going to change and you have no control over.

Whatever you do, do not increase doseage its the long road. I have done ADs in the past for similar issues and I will not take them again they made me suffer terrible anxiety and I thnk the initial benefit boosted me but I have to accept I am not a jolly relaxed person. I still have highs and lows but ADs are thrown by GPs with little knowledge.

The best thing I did was get cognative therepy I learnt a lot better than ADs. I paid for the sessions but worth the money I couldnt wait for NHS and I did once have NHS help and it was awful.

Just have a goal that the ADs are only temporary.