How many ADs have you tried?

[Loupee]

I have been on various ADs over the years, apologies if I can't remember them all.
I was on Fluoxetine while pregnant, have been on mirtazipine and one other since then. For the last few months I have been on Amitriptyline. We really thought I was making progress on the Amitriptyline, but in the past couple of weeks I've developed hand tremors, as the psychiatrist thinks it may be due to the Amitriptyline, my dose has been reduced from 150mg to 100mg daily. Since dropping the dose I feel my mood has worsened, although my tremors are less they are still there at times.
I'm starting to wonder that as nothing seems to be working, that maybe there is nothing wrong with me. Maybe I am a just crap person that needs to buck up and get on with life.
Can you tell me how many you have tried? And if possible what they were? Also how did you know the right one was the right one?
I'm starting to feel a bit pessimistic about it all, wondering if its worth keeping on trying different meds?

I have been on quite a few. Citalopram, clomipramine, mirtazipine, trazodone, sertraline and currently fluoxetine. I know that frustrated feeling, sometimes I read on here about people taking citalopram for six weeks and feeling better and I think WHY ME!

Honestly, I think the difference for me has been augmenting the fluoxetine with an anti-psychotic, it certainly seems to have helped my thinking to be a bit clearer and less negative. I was on a very low dose of quetiapine for a short while which helped and it didn't have any of the typical anti-psychotic side effects because it was such a low dose.

I hope you find what is right for you.

Thanks you fluffy
I do also get a bit jealous of successful citalopram stories, if I remember rightly that was the first AD I was on a few years ago. But back then I had no real motivation to get better, and the ADs were just doled out with no other support.
Now I have DS I really really want to get better, but always feeling I'm going round in circles!
Luckily I have a good support system, I see my CPN once a week (twice this week as DH is away) and a community support worker usually but she is off sick just now.
And a psychologist, he wants me to do this course thing so I'm waiting for a start date with that.

Sertraline, started age 14. Awful side effects (heartburn?!)
Venlaflaxine, age 14-15, overdosed on it... Had a really bad effect on my heart too.
Something beginning with M when I was 18. Can't for the life of me remember but the sedation was awful.
Lofepramine age 20 when I had PND as it was supposedly safe for BFing.
Back to Sertraline age 23 after having DC2 as BFing long term (no side effects this time)

Nothing worked. I do have a lot of past issues (abuse etc) so ADs couldn't really ever be more than a 'prop' for me IYSWIM.

Weird thing is though, I developed ME in the last couple of years and was put on amitryptiline as a painkiller NOT an AD (a low dose - commonly used for migraine etc) and it is actually helping my mood a bit.

I found out before this that I am very likely to be on the autistic spectrum (HFA/Aspergers) and that may go some way to explain why newer types of AD (SSRI/SSNRI) don't work on me. Apparently older types like tricyclics can be better for people with ASCs.

I guess the point of my waffling is that there's no magic bullet with ADs, if one type worked for everyone there wouldn't be such a wide range!

I am waiting for (more) CBT but I am really finding Mindfulness helpful, I'm not doing a course on it but touched on it a little in a course I did for my ME. It really is helping just to accept/observe my thoughts rather than always fighting them and trying to distract myself - I've been doing that my whole life and it is tough to unlearn this, but it is helping. If there's one thing that getting physically disabled has thought me, it's that it's ok to just 'be', and that accepting this is NOT the same as giving up. :)

I tried citalopram, Paxil, fluoxetine, sertraline and a couple of others. SSRIs don't cut it for me. On Dosulepin, a tricyclic, and much better than I was. And consultant happy for me to take my current dose through this pregnancy and through breast feeding.

I knew this was right for me after a couple of months and realising I'd not had a real black day. Charcoal grey at times, but no real black days. And I was more able to do day to day things without losing it.

Fluoxetine, lofeprramine and citalopram and then escitalopram here.