Antidepressants

[Cats345]

Hey everyone,

I am potentially going to be going on antidepressants for my anxiety. I am currently a student nurse and my anxiety has got so bad that I cannot cope anymore. I've also had personal things happen.

I was just wondering what everyone experience is like on them?
Do they work?
What side effects do people experience?
Can it affect things like fertility?

I can't comment on anti depressants. So please disregard this is it's totally irrelevant.

But I suffered terribly with my anxiety. Being diagnosed with ADHD and starting medication for it has made a huge difference.

(In women a lot of the "H" part of ADHD is non stop thinking/worry rather than non stop movement)

So if you've not considered ADHD then have a quick read of the symptoms in women as you could find anxiety isn't necessarily depression related. X

I've tried most of them
Was taken off them due to various side effects
Now on highest dose of mirtazapine and an anti psychotic
Thankfully I can tolerate the mirtazapine

I take 20mg citalopram for ocd/ post natal anxiety and the difference they have made to my life is unreal! Only downside for me personally is that they make me SO sleepy but I will take that a million times over rather than the anxiety I was experiencing.

Hope they work for you OP, its made a huge difference to my life and I wasn't expecting much to be honest.

Starlive23 my doctor has just prescribed Citalopram for me.
How long did it take for them to make a positive difference for you?

@funinthesun19

Starlive23 my doctor has just prescribed Citalopram for me. How long did it take for them to make a positive difference for you?

I've just been prescribed as citalopram, let me know how you get on xx

My experience of them hasn't been that they've made a huge impact on my anxiety or depression, but they've helped. I feel like I have a path back to feeling more like myself, more in control and better placed to handle stress.

Ideally, combine them with "talking therapy/CBT' if you are able to get something like this. If not or as well, exercise, fresh air or something you find relaxing and/or distracting from worrying thoughts like mindfulness, doing a jigsaw etc. There are some good threads on here.

Also look up NHS Every Mind Matters for ideas.

Side effects: everyone's different but you might have to try more than one medication to see what's best for you. With different drugs I've had weight gain, sexual dysfunction, a spaced out feeling and grogginess/tiredness. Haven't personally found one with none of them but have stuck with the 1 I found least problematic. It might be that adjusting the dose and time of day will improve things a bit. Often side effects might wear off after a few weeks if you are lucky (and the drug will start working hopefully) so give it time. Good luck!

I have been on and off different antidepressants for 2/2 and a half years, I started off on sertraline which really didn't agree with me, then followed on to citalopram which worked really well (especially with my anxiety) at the start after about a year of being on them I just kind of didn't really feel like they was working anymore for my depression, and I was on the highest dose so they definitely should've been, they was also causing me insomnia. I'm on 20mg fluoxetine now and been on them for about 4 weeks so not sure about them yet but not had any really bad side affects yet, appart from the first week they made me feel really sick. Unfortunately with antidepressants it is trial and error everyone is different, it's just finding the right ones for you, it's definitely worth it when you do!