Positive Experiences of AD's & Therapy?

[ladybird30]

My MH is in the gutter and looking to start AD'S again alongside therapy.

I haven't used AD'S for 12 years and feeling sceptical and a bit nervous... I had a bad experience with Citalopram where I just felt nothing, no sex drive and suicidal thoughts so took myself off it.

Things have come to a head in my relationship and it feels make or break. It's entirely my fault and my MH is to blame for how I've been but the thought of being a single parent is scarier than going back on AD's and I feel I owe it to my DS and partner to try and turn myself around.

Anyone have any positive stories or experiences to share? Or managed to turn their life around after seeking help?

Just wanted to reply to your post. It can sometimes be hard to find positive stories on here as I suspect many others are the same as me and post here when they are struggling and then when they are feeling better tend to come on this boars less often. I am having a little wobble at the moment, but having struggled off and on for a while after having children I have found ADs and therapy to be helpful in getting me well again and in keeping me well.

@Pineappledancer Thank you for your reply, I'm much the same and tend to only use MN when struggling with things also but it's nice when someone reaches out who is going through similar or understands.

Do you mind me asking what AD you take/have taken and your experience? I'm trying to work out my best option and don't want to feel dreadful again

I've used St John's wort for the lost horrendous of situations and came out the other end fighting fit

Therapy any medication has saved my life - quite literally in one case. My mental health will never be the best but a combination of the two means that I function pretty well most of the time and have a safety net for the times when things get worse.

I have been on various doses of Sertraline and then same for Fluoxetine over the last 10 years. Both did make me feel worse for a few weeks before things started to improve and I have had relapses on both which meant increasing the dose. I am currently on 40mg of Fluoxetine having come back down from 60mg as I felt uneasy that I was on the highest dose. All changes/ increases did make me feel worse in the short term.

Now when I have a wobble I try and use what I have learned in CBT etc to get me through the other side as I don't want to increase meds and face the initial side effects. So far this seems to be working, I will have to see what happens with this current wobble.

Even though that might not sound very positive, I have had points where I was desperate and felt I couldn't go on the way I was, and it was going on the meds or increasing the meds that got me through as even though I knew I was having to face the side effects I felt I was actively doing something to help myself. Each tablet I took was a step towards getting better. I needed that at the time, it gave me hope and something to aim for / look forward to.

Now I am less keen to adjust meds as I have enough hope and some coping strategies that I can ride it out in the short term.

Not sure how helpful this is for you, sorry, but it is my honest experience. I first started ADs 11 years ago.

I think therapy saved me from my husbands brainwashing.

However it had the opposite effect to the one my husband was hoping for. My therapist validated my feelings of unhappiness with his behaviour (it was very poor), and helped me see that I had begun to blame myself instead of him.

She was an experienced chartered clinical psychologist who had worked for the NHS.

He is now an ex.

Thank you all for you replies :)

Turned up 8 minutes late for my appointment today and was turned away. Had a wobble in the toilets about it as I'd psyched myself up and felt at least half ready to face it, gutted with myself! But going to try and move past the hiccup and try again later in the week