Is it worth taking AD's? Or are they just a big confusing hassle?

[flightattendant]

I've been 'threatened' with them by my GP, only because the stupid health visitor insisted on that PND test, which I and all my RL friends always do very well in

I don't know anything about them except someone said you have to muck about with different types, doses, etc. and then after you get one you're Ok with, your body gets accustomed to it and you have to start all over again after a few months.

Not willing to risk my sanity doing this as I hate taking pills, am a bit non-compliant (just forget usually or get tense at the idea of swallowing them, never eat regulrly so difficult to plan etc. - I used to have an eating disorder so linked to that) and I am scared of side effects, particularly as things are hard enough already...and I'm exclusively breastfeeding.

However, I am depressed...not helped by being very tired, on my own with 4yr old and 11 week old.

I am afraid DS1 is picking up my depression and is acting up because some days I'm just a zombie. I try hard but he sometimes seems very lonely and then gets angry etc. and naughty in shops, yesterday he ran off in Wooly's because I wouldn't let him take sweets from the pick and mix. He found a nice lad who worked there and of course we found each other, but he seems to like doing this as then he gets me to pay him attention. Stuff like that. I didn't shout. Sometimes I do but I understand it, just he's very strong and rather unhappy so can't always restrain him very well and off he goes.

Anyway to the point, I am wondering if it would be better for him if I went on the pills i've been resisting for years - (I manage with Ds2 fine, he's just a bub) or if it is just not worth the hassle?

Ds1 starts school in 2 weeks too. I so want to give him the best start but just feel so weak and inadequate at the moment. No strength!

Please can anyone advise me? Am I being selfish not taking them?

Sorry being rude about the HV but she's not very nice in other ways, have now stopped seeing her. (Intrusive, judgmental and...usually wrong about all sorts of stuff - sure they're not all like that)

there are lots of ways of treating depression that do not involve pills - did your GP discuss any of these with you?

ADs have been wonderful for many people and the dose and type is important to get right but improvement does not take uears to achieve.

As your son is starting school soon things are going to change anyway with regards to your time and sjtructure of your day - plus you will be out and seing more people - could this be enough to bring about a change in itself? IMO you might be best (given your resistance to the whole idea of taking pills) of holding off until then and see if these change bring about a difference mood.

How do you feel yourself? (regards of questionnaires and HV)

I've taken ADs on a few occasions - most recently I took them from when I was 12 weeks pregnant with DD until she was about 19 months.

Throughout that time I took the same ones - just increased the dose once near the beginning. I used to take them just before I went to bed and did manage to remember to take them. I breastfed DD until she was 10.5 months, so took the ADs before, during and after breasfeeding. I took Sertraline, also known as Lustral.

Personally, I found that taking ADs gave me the space I needed to be able to sort things out a bit. I was on them longer than maybe I'd have liked, but without them things would not have been at all good.

From my experience, I would suggest trying them, but it is obviously up to you . But I wanted to let you know that you don't necessarily have to keep taking different ones, and breastfeeding doesn't mean you can't take them.

I think it is too deeply personal to say...but I am sure that many people take them when they need not, not because they aren't depressed but because it is not always the best way.

For myself ads do more harm than good, personal experience only

Thankyou BBBee, well, after Ds2 was born I felt really good for a few weeks - on a wave of hormones perhaps - I still feel great regarding him, even if he grumbles at night or won't be put down - I love him to bits and it always seems reasonable behaviour iyswim - with Ds1 I used to feel very angry at how much he'd taken from me, changed my life etc. despite loving him. So that part is fine, loving having a baby around etc.

But I worry about Ds1. He just gets the raw side of me too often, and I realised it's all baout me being tired/depressed...I find it hard to enjoy a four year old in the same way as a baby. I sometimes feel I don't 'like' him much. He picks all these negative things up. It's not his fault, I think I project my own bad feelings onto him.
Don't know how to find a way to enjoy him.

He doesn't see his dad at all, so I'm all he's got - very close to Grandma and Grandad but no daddy. I don't have many friends either so he doesn't socialise much. I am scared school will be very hard for him, preschool was...

Just feel I'm failing. Some days I'm Ok but others I sit and stare at the computer and can't seem to move. No energy at all. Maybe it's just the sleep? I've had depression for years but it comes and goes...had psychotherapy before but it was NHS so only 6 months then felt worse than before. It just wasn't enough though it made a huge difference while it was happening, just they stopped it.

X-posts, thanks Idris and Zippiti this is all useful and what I wanted to know. Helps me make a decision.

Worked wonders for me but you shouldn't have to take them, GP can't make you. S/he should really offer you counselling options too. COgnitive behavioural theray is meant to be v good. Sounds like you have quite a lot to deal with at mo, so you;re doing well. GO easy on yourself. LIke I say AD's great for me but they're not for everyone

I have heard that CBT is great and would like to try but haven't been offered it at all. Might be worth asking though.

Hi,
I took them for 6 months and they made such a difference. But my GP made sure that i had a whole treatment plan, CBT, exercise and healthy eating. She made it clear that you couldnt just depend on the Ads. But without taking them, i wouldnt have been able to start the counselling, too distressed, the Ads gave me some calm and some space.
Good luck
Annie

Hi, like yourself I am completely undecided on the AD front (even though I've been taking them). Took seroxat for 4 weeks after being diagnosed with PND and they did seem to work, saw me through a very hard time, but never bothered to renew the prescription, (long story) made me feel very detached though. Went back to Docs after a time, was prescribed Prozac, kinda hmmm on that front, took them for 6 weeks, found them very speedy, made me anxious in the extreme and could not sleep for love nor money. Theeen took dosulepin, great although made me feel very dozy and even more detached.

I think wether you take Ad in the first place depends on how desperate you are, I needed something, anything that would make me feel better. Who knows how I would have felt without them, wether I would have recovered in time anyway, or it was a placebo effect from just swallowing the damn things.

Sorry I am making myself as clear as mud, basically my doctor is useless, he moved through the AD's too fast without I think listening to the reasons I gave for giving them up or switching. Anyway he is pants and I will never go back to him.

I am still depressed I think but coping off AD, my motivation and energy is crap, but I am in no way as bad as I was. My sister who has been depressed for years is on the maximum dose of venlafaxine and has sampled every AD known to man, but is still depressed, has no motivation etc. This tells me that for some people they are not a magic bean, maybe counselling etc will bring better results. If you don't absolutely have to have them then IMO don't.

I am in no way anti AD, if I start feeling as bad as I was with PND (Extreme anxiety, wanting to harm myself,feeling like I am in somebody elses nightmare)I will be the first beating a path to my doctors door.

But IMO they are fine in acute situations, but long term you have to deal with the core reasons for being depressed.

Sorry for waffling
Jo

Sorry I don't know anything about AD's, but just a last minute handy hint re you and your son. There are times when I've been through bad phases with my DDs, these phases come and go and depend on a lot of things. One thing that always helped was to get into bed with them, turn out the lights and just chat and be close to them. Give them time and show them that you have time for them. It's really easy to get disconnected from your child when everything they do just winds you up.

Take care.

Sorry I sound like I am encouraging you not to take them, I didn't mean my message to come across like that.

If you feel that you need them then have a go, give them time to work and see if you are different, have many side effects etc.

You may react well to the AD but you will never know unless you try.

They do provide a boost, let you get things in perspective, but I really don't think they are a long term solution.

Sorry for my confusingness

I am confused in general lol

Jo