Alibubbles are you there - anti depressants (again)

[kizzie]

Hi Alibubbles - How are you managing without the Seroxat?
Unfortunately I went completely down hill over christmas and am now back up to 30mg again. Can't believe this has happened when I was 100% well for over a year. I'm now sure it was due to withdrawel symptons so I'm trying to get back to an even keel and then try again to come off (v slowly).
Still finding everything a real struggle though and just need a bit of support. Hope you don't mind me asking but I don't know anyone else on seroxat.

• Did you find that it actually workedfor you?
• How long did it take before you staretd to feel better? -Did you go back on it a second time and if so did you find it worked any less the second time?

Don't worry if you don't want to answer these questions - I understand.
Hope you're well.

Hi Kizzie, of course I don't mind you asking questions, Yes Seroxat did work for me very well, they say it takes about 3/4 weeks to take effect, but I found it started to work straight away. I did have some pretty hairy nightmares for a week, but they soon stopped.
I was on them for 2 and a bit years. I decided to start coming of last September, I took Prozac when I got down to half a tablet, I only took Prozac for two months and stopped it just like that. They say you shouldn't, but I kept forgetting to take it, it became harder to remember to take it, and I seemed to be coping Okay.

So from Dec1, I have not taken anything at all, I was fine over Christmas, no panic attacks and am still sleeping well. I saw my GP yesterday and told him I had come off both completely and he said"Why"? I said I just felt ready to come off them. He said Remember it is early days yet.

I feel as if I could lose it sometimes, my 14 yr old son drives me insane! but have told myself he is going thru hormone city at the moment, he is a child's brain in a man's body. he is 5ft 10 and size 12 shoe, the hairiest legs you have ever seen outside a zoo! So I say to myself inside, calm down,
think, take a deep breath, walk away, go in another room, it helps. I don't really want to go back on them, the upside is I started the Atkins diet on Jan 1st and I have lost 12lbs, only another 40 to go! I feel great, lots more energy and my DH has noticed the remarkable change in my libido!! I was aware Seroxt suppressed your sexual feelings so did make a concious effort to make sure it wasn't too obvious when I wasn't in the mood! I found that I was happy to make love if approached and aroused, but I would not initiate it myself. Fortunately I am marriedto a very caring, loving, understanding man who is also a skilful lover! I hope this helps, send me a message anytime, I hope you too, are on the mend soon, Take care.

Alibubbles... what a lovely story...way to go !!! I hope it keeps going better for you !
Kizzie..... hope you find some relief as well. Unfortunately I don't have any advice to offer just sympathy !

Thank you Pupuce. Incidentally I read an interesting article yesterday about the link between depression/panic attacks and high blood sugar. So it would seem that The atkins Diet is probably going to more of a help than I thoughT!

www.hastings-web.co.uk/hypo/mystory.htm

This is an interesting site about the possible link between low blood sugar and panic attacks.

I've also been recommended anti depressants recently (for weight loss, broken sleep, general anxiety - the usual stuff) but have so far resisted. In fact I was rather taken aback that my GP was ready to prescribe them for me after what effectively amounted to a 20-minute chat.

One of the main reasons I'm not keen to take them is because of the various horror stories you hear about trying to wean yourself off them again. I realise this is a somewhat simplistic view, and I'm equally aware that I'm afriad of being stigmatised as a 'depressive' if I actually admit to taking a prescription drug to deal with the problem, but I also think each situation has to be dealt with individually i.e. anti depressants aren't the only way.

My own depression is a result, I think, of a combination of factors that have effected my life over the past eighteen months. First off, I had a complicated second pregnancy (naturally conceived triplets, which I opted to have reduced to one - and I've lived with the guilt ever since), followed by a complicated birth which resulted in me being made incontinent. I had a quite major operation when my daughter was nine weeks old to resolve the problem, but let's just say that although I'm fixed for the minute, I'll never quite be the same again. (Vaginal prolapse and uterine prolapse just to make things even more fun). This hasn't actually done much for my own sense of self worth or for my body image.

As such, I think there's a fairly specific cause for my depression, so I'm trying to tackle it through counselling instead. That in itself I'm finding difficult, and it's forcing me to face up to a lot of things about myself that I really didn't ever want to have to deal with, but I feel it'll be a more whole and long-term cure (if you can call it that) in the end, rather than a short-term anti depressant fix. I think anti ds may just serve to put me into a false state of equilibrium in which I never really stand to get to grips with the real issues that are bothering me.

Anyway, that's my take to it, but each to their own.

Alibubbles =- thanks for your message. I'll let know how I get on.
Grizzler - I think you're right re. depression and having a specific cause. In my own case it came out of the blue and as I result I think it is due to a chemical imbalance. Have you thought of trying some counselling?

Yeah, Kizzie, I'm in the throws of a twelve-week session, which I'm finding traumatic and difficult, but which will hopefully yield some longer term benefits. It's actually 'Womens' Health Counselling, provided by my local hospital (St Georges in SW London), which throws up its own problems in that it's where I had the reduction of my triplets, it's where both my children were born (and where I sustained the damage to my own body) plus I have to pass through the antenatal department each time I visit, and that of course stirs up memories. But I guess it's one way of making me confront things. The other inevitability is that you go there intending to talk about what you see as your specific probelems and end up talking about a whole lot of other stuff as well - stuff maybe from the past that you didn't even necessarily realise was still bothering you. Anyway, I'm on session nine this week, and my counsellor reckons I should then go into psychotherapy for a year - which is a fairly daunting prospect. God knows how long it's going to take me to start to feel better about things. Some mornings I feel I just can't be bothered to face the day, and then the antidepressants seem like quite an attractive prospect.