Please tell me about various antidepressants

[Aheraldangel]

I'm struggling again with depression. I've taken a few different antidepressants over the past 18 years, but find the side effects counteract the benefits.

Sertraline gave me terrible restless legs. Duloxetine took away all libido - as did sertraline tbh - and made sleeping difficult, but helped with pain. Mirtazapine caused weight gain. Fluoxetine gave me shocking headaches. Duloxetine was also very scary to come off, I don't want to take it again. I have health anxiety, so any side effects make me extremely anxious.

I'm considering asking to go back on mirtazapine, as apart from weight gain it seems to have the least side effects.

I've no motivation, barely leave the house and wish I'd just not wake up in the morning, I've had enough. Everything is difficult and I accomplish nothing. I can't relax, am permanently worrying about something and stressed.

The menopause isn't helping. I have hrt patches and sleep is better and the sweating stopped, but otherwise feel awful.

I eat junk, can't be bothered to cook most of the time, vape constantly, can't concentrate on anything, tv or reading or other hobbies. I don't shower or wash my hair or clean my teeth or even get dressed most of the time. I'm worried I'm just basically lazy.

I don't want to waste my gp's time and know that in ten minutes he can't do much. I've a mental health assessment coming up in February, maybe I should wait til then, but I'm not sure I can.

I'm having online CBT but struggling to commit to doing anything in between sessions due to lethargy. I've not admitted to anyone that I stopped taking my antidepressants in the summer as they'll accuse me of self sabotage.

I'm just fed up of the side effects, I felt a bit numb and wanted to feel like myself again, also hoped I would be able to enjoy a sexual relationship again, but it hasn't helped my libido. My partner's trying to be understanding, but unless you're in that situation you can't understand how it feels, can you? So I go through the motions, but that makes me feel rubbish.

Thanks for reading this far

Does amitriptyline affect your sex drive? Also does it cause nausea? I suffer with Emetophobia, so nausea would make me extremely anxious. How difficult is it to come off it?

Sorry for all the questions.

amitriptyline Only gives me one side effect and that trouble peeing when I get up in the morning. I’m a emetophobe too and it’s one of the reasons I don’t like antidepressants (they make me feel sick) but I don’t have that issue with amitriptyline. It’s also easy to come off.

If you suffer from anxiety you could look at taking a beta blocker? I have taken these when I have been really anxious and took them after I split with exh.

I've been on pretty much all of them at some dtsge, although I'm currently medication free.

My only piece of advice would be to avoid SNRIs. They're notoriously difficult to come off. It took me eighteen months to get from maximum dose to nothing a few years ago and it was hell.

Thanks. I have beta blockers bit they don't stop my mind whirring all the time or the anxiety.

I'm worried my gp will dismiss my worries about side effects. In the past they haven't seemed particularly interested in whether antidepressants affect libido or make me feel sick or give me headaches or make me gain weight, saying you have to accept the side effects. But surely it's counterproductive if the side effects contribute to the anxiety and depression? So I maybe feel slightly better about one thing but gain a new problem?

I don't know how to broach the subject or what to ask for. I've barely slept, going through what to say to the gp - and this will go on until my appointment in a weeks time!

No, it's never affected my sex drive and I've never been nauseous on it. I've not tried to come off the dose I'm currently on but I came off 75mg after about 9 months and was fine. Just did it really slowly. A couple of times I've run out and had to drop from 100 to 50 for a few days until I could get to a chemist and not had a problem.

Thanks, that's good to know.