I am too scared to take my anti-depressants

[huffpuff]

GP prescribed them to me on Monday and i am too scared to take them.

I have PND and finally plucked up the courage to ask for anti d's (have been seeing my dr for months about pnd but we both agreed to try and cope without medication).

I am scared of the side effects and how they're going to make me feel.

Im on 20mg of Fluoxetine (sp?)

Am frightened! Please help

Custardo, my (very good) gp advised me to take St Johns Wort and exercise when I was feeling very very low a couple of months back.

should also add that i am booked in to see the surgery counsellor next week.

huffpuff, I was very reluctant to take any form of medication before I was diagnosed with depression. With great support from my GP I have really turned a corner. Please don't dismiss ADs, they really can be a fantastic way to put your life back on track.

Huffpuff - do you have a good realationship with your doctor?

Is he/she someone you feel you can trust?

or even relationship...

oh yes i have a very good relationship with my dr and can talk about anything. I think may be my main "issue" with anti d's is that i see them as "giving up" which i know is stupid but thats how i feel

agree with all you should listen to gp

if you really dont want to take the pills, and you think you can manage to excercise a bit, eat healthily and take some supplements, try it for the week before you see the counsellor

Got to say I agree with Custardo's post of 11.13am (not the first one though!)

PND is horrible and it is difficult to see a way out of it. Your GP has made a professional judgement that this medication will help you. You should follow his advice.

Soome people do have side effects and find they need to change the type of medication, but many women simply start to feel better. That's what you want isn;t it? To feel happy again?

Think exercise and talking therapies also have their place. Taking AD's does not preclude this.

I took fluoxetine - I was apprehensive about taking medication, but I was much more apprehensive about my state of mind, relationship with ds and dh. Within 2 weeks the crippling anxiety that I had felt since the birth had gone.

Give them a go - what have you got to lose?

Huff

I have never in my whole life liked taking any medication for anything. Hate it.

But what I hated more was feeling the way I did.
I couldnt function without anyone being with me. I couldnt let my dh go to work and I was scared all the time.
I can manage better now and my dh can go to work.

you wouldn't tell someone who had broken their arm to eat healthily & take some supplements but leave the setting/plaster for a week. depression is an illness and should be taken seriously.

Lovely one!

No it's so not stupid if that's how you feel

I can see why you'd think that ('giving up') - but actually, by going for counselling and taking the ADs, you are making a positive step towards recovery.

Although it feels like giving in (because you are acknowledging that you can't make it better without the pills), you still need to make that effort and the pills will (hopefully) just help you get to a place where your efforts will actually work.

yes agree katy

but if they had sprained their arm rather than broken it you might

depends how depressed you actually are

I am not anti - anti-depressants - in fact if my gp had prescribed thenm to me 6 weeks ago I wuold have chugged them down - but some people get very good results from st johns wort, diet and excercise changes. Tis proven.

You are not 'giving up'. That is PND talking. I can understand why you would feel like that, but you are wrong.

The first stage in geeting better is accepting that you have PND and that you need help to overcome it.

only for mild depression is it proven though enid (I think) - not for other sorts.

I also saw taking prescribed medication as a sign I had failed, so I totally get where you are coming from

My doctor understood this completely and said he wished that more people would have this attitude and not be so eager to look for a quick fix

I totally accept that ADs work for some people but not for others

Huffpuff has quite clearly said that she isn't happy taking chemical ADs

here's a review of some of the data on st john's wort - says more research needed, though promising

sea salty - your one stand alone experience is harldy a benchmark for intervening in the giving of medical advice

i too have my own opinions about depression and the drugs one takes

i haven't expressed them - although you are inferring i have

no she hasn't - she asked for them at the doctors

sorry, that was to Sea salty

Yes Enid, but she has been seeing her GP for months re PND so s/he is not taking prescibing lightly.

I'm here giving friendly advice to Huffpuff Custardo

Not to argue with you or to bore you with all my experiences of ADs. I just used one example

However I wasn't too keen on being referred to as a hippy

it was a generic term rather than a personal one if you read it again.

huffpuff, I am sure the drugs will help

I know four people who have taken anti ds in RL (that I konw of) and all of them have found them very helpful

yes it was generic

she meant me as well