How did you know you needed antidepressants?

[LondonLady1980]

If it’s not too personal, can I ask what symptoms or behaviours you started exhibiting that led to you going on antidepressants?

And was it yourself that felt you needed them or was it other people around you who suggested you try them?

Or what type of feelings/emotions were you experiencing that made you realise that you needed help?

Thank you.

It was the oddest thing.

My child was 2, extremely high needs, didn’t sleep at all. Ever.
I was a walking corpse, no other description suits.
Extremely low, numb, barely functioning, withdrawn, stopped speaking.

Looking back I had suffered multiple miscarriages prior to my child’s birth, torrential blood loss with each, no follow up, no suggestion of anaemia or iron deficiency, so the bone drenching utter utter exhaustion, brain fog, eating multiple family bags of ice each day was put down to a new baby/toddler trials & tribulations. (Horrific periods with torrential blood loss each month)

I was given antidepressants and told by the (male) Dr to go swimming 3-4 times a week….
I had no childcare or support so everywhere I went, my child came with me.

I took the antidepressants but they made little difference, stoped them after a year.

Did some research and started iron tablets, that’s what helped and eventually after a few more years my child started to sleep more than 3 hours a night.

I was probably very depressed but also had a very fixable condition along side exasperating the whole situation .

I didn’t have anything left in me to be able to advocate for myself so it was decided for me.
As I said, the oddest thing.

For many people, starting antidepressants comes from recognising they deserve to feel better. It’s usually after noticing ongoing sadness, anxiety, or emotional exhaustion that doesn’t go away. Sometimes they realise it themselves, sometimes loved ones gently suggest getting help.

1. I was testing out things at home trying to work out how to use them to kill myself
2. I have to make decisions at work that sometimes affect whether people recover or die, and I was thinking that everyone was going to die so what did it matter.

Both were short term reactive needs immediately improved by ADs which also allowed me to get back to work (not that I was off for long in either case). The second episode was truly amazing, the desolate windy gaps in my thinking were immediately filled with pretty pink clouds on day one.

I had PND. I knew I was unwell.
I used to think about how i would kill myself every day. I thought i was being followed and terribly paranoid.

One night a had a few glasses of wine, which was very unusual. Ds was about 7 months old.
It altered my thinking and I realised I was very ill due to the paranoia and delusional thoughts I was having.

I went to the GP the next day. Spent 3 years on Prozac. No other help or care offered.

I’m wondering this too
I think I need to go back on them
wondering when do I make the call to make an appointment
something I’ve been wondering for a while since around last autumn I just began feeling different
I feel anxious, low, sad, feel like I’ve ’lost’ myself
i have high stress in my life at the moment and health worries, 2 children which are hard work, money issues, do very little for me previously which got to me but now I have no energy to even think about doing anything for me, endless viruses mean I can’t even do the easy normal things for me anymore.
I feel I probably will end up making the call but I’m giving it time to try and calm my nervous system and cope with the stresses I’m already dealing with

I went on them around 5 months after the birth of my youngest - I actually felt like it wasn’t PND and wanted to wait it out but I was desperate and as soon as I went on them it was week 5 I felt ‘lifted’ count really explain it but wasn’t even convinced it was them, life was good, hard stressful at times but bearable. Now not bearable. I was on fluoxetine and I decided for some reason Jan 25 I didn’t need them it took me a long few months to come off them ( my choice ) then by sept/oct I was feeling low

how about you?

Going back a long time ago here. I was bulimic, and a friend on a school trip suggested that Prozac might help (she was on a lower dose for depression). I then got a high dose from my GP. I forget who instigated this - maybe me or my Mum or the GP? I remember my father being cautious and somewhat opposed.

Many years later I don't regret getting off those meds in short order - I was on them sporadically for less than.a year. What we really needed was an effective form of therapy for me as an individual or us as a family. I was prescribed Zoloft when I was pregnant. I remember looking at the jar and thinking that I did'n't trust the midwife's advice. I didn't take it.

Doctors usually caveat that antidepressants can save lives, and try to leave some room for instances in which they should be used because they do more good than harm. They also note how incredibly important it is to taper off carefully and with support,

I sometimes look back and wonder what my life would have been like if I'd taken them systematically - what the impact might have been on my emotional life and sexuality.

2 friends and my sister said in the same week I needed help. None of them knew each other so that really hit home that I needed help.
In terms of how I was feeling. I felt completely worthless, like a waste of space. I was permanently anxious about everything- from my health (severely obese), work, lack of relationships, seeing my family. Nothing brought me joy anymore- everything either made me sad or anxious. I would get so upset about things that I would vomit- this would happen 2-3 times per week.
I wasn't actively suicidal, but things like "i could walk in front of that train" would pop into my head almost daily. I was never going to do it, but the dark thoughts were there.
I was stuck in this rut and couldn't get out of it.

I went to the doctors and was prescribed citalopram. Denial is a strange thing as even then I didnt think I needed them, and it took another 2 months for me to start them. Once I started, I felt a bit like myself again. After 2 years on them, the negative thoughts were back, but I went on Mounjaro and that improved my mental health. I haven't looked back, and came off my antidepressants 3 months ago. I belive the combination of Citalopram, counselling and mounjaro have saved my life. Without one of these, I would not be in the happier mindset that I am now.

I wish you all the best. My advice would be that you deserve happiness and contentment, and if a prescribed medication helps you to achieve that, there's no shame in it.

A doctor gives you a medical assessment and then diagnoses you with depression.