Depression

[Hammy]

My GP warned me not to take St John's Wort if you are breastfeeding, as there haven't been any studies to assess if there is any effect on the baby

Hi Alibubbles
I felt exactly the same yesterday - dizzy, sick, weepy, frightened, unable to drive - I'd missed 2 days in a row.
If anyone reading this has actually managed to come off Seroxat it would be really useful to hear from you:

• Is it best just to live through the side effects of coming off the tablets or if you get them do you need to up the dose again.

My Gp is very nice but doesn't know the answer.

Apart from trying to finally come off the tablets I've been absolutely fine for months and months.

Star - late response to your post of 28/8 - I'm also new to computers (or had you guessed!) Assumed instant message was in response to my Mumsnet post until I figured out how they actually worked. Haven't been on any other boards or chatrooms and still haven't found out who sent message.

kizzie & alibubbles - hope you're feeling better - driving is always something that is impossible when you feel like that but i've never heard anyone else say that before!

i just wanted to say that i've come off seroxat - but i did it when pregnant and the dr. said hormonal changes would help me. i don't know about that. it's so hard to remember accurately. i was a nightmare emotionally but i put that down mainly to being pregnant - probably wrongly. i reduced the dose by half every couple of weeks and so went from 30mg-10mg quite quickly and then off. it wasn't nice tho'. however, i think the side effects lifted after some weeks (perhaps 3 or 4) and then i just had the emotional stuff to deal with. i've been prescribed seroxat again but haven't taken it and it's going ok.

i must say i think i felt better physically for coming off it and had lost sight of what was the side effects and what was illness. without the physical effects i felt more in control of the illness - but that tells me that by that time i must have been recovering. i think you have to be really ready and you need to contiune taking it everyday. if you don't take it everyday i felt it was worse than not taking it at all. maybe you need to look at other things to help the withdrawal - nutrition, exercise, rest, homeopathy etc. mainly i think it's quite a mystery.

lastly, my dr. said that if i go back on it now (3rd time) i should stay on for life. now obviously you don't have to take it but the fact that she advised me of that really terified me.

Gumsy, thank you or the invaluble information, the more I hear from other people the better it makes me feel. I just like to hear about other people's experrience of seroxat and know that there is light at the end of the tunnel. Day 3 of prozac, no seroxat since the 31st. I feel a bit woozy today, but I'll drink lots of water to flush me out! Hopefully if the head dosen't develop I will be able to cope without taking anymore. I was wrong, prozac half life is 16-21 DAYS, Seroxat 21 HOURS, thats why Seroxat withdrawal is so chronic.

P.S. I have also lost 7 lbs!!

Gumsy thanks for adding your info. It really helps to hear about other people's experience. My doctor advised me to start taking one every other day (10 mg) but I don't think thats working so I'm going to try chopping the 20 mg in half again and take 5mg per day. It's so frustrating because apart from the problems of trying to come off the blooming things I've felt absolutely fine for so long. My doctor says there's no reason for me to keep taking them (He knew me before I was ill ,saw me when I was at rock bottom - says he can see that I'm back to myself now.)
Any way I'll keep you posted.
Alibubbles - thats really useful to know re. the half lifes. No wonder it has such an immediate effect!

I've been following this thread because of problems my mum has been having and I thought you might be interested in this from today's Guardian email news summary:

DRUG GIANT IN LEGAL BATTLE

GlaxoSmithKline, Britain's biggest pharmaceutical company, is facing a potentially crippling legal battle, reports the Guardian. The case is being prepared for a group of patients who say they became chronically addicted to an antidepressant drug in the same class as Prozac.

The case, filed in California, is the first to claim damages against the makers of this type of drug, known as Seroxat in Britain and Paxil in the US. There are 35 people in the class action to date, but many more are expected to join in. Lawyers say the action could be as big as tobacco litigation.

The lawyers claim that the company failed to warn doctors and patients that using its drug, and then giving it up, could cause severe withdrawal symptoms.

Twink - thankyou for posting this, really useful. I'm not at all suprised. To be honest it just makes me feel so much better to know that I'm not the only one. i was starting to feel a bit of failure. Managed to beat the PND - couldn't manage to get off the tablets.....
Is it seroxat your mum is having problems with?

Kizzie, no it's not seroxat but that is something that has been suggested for her in the past, fortunately that time she decided to persevere with her St John's Wort - incidently, she can't make up her mind whether it's a placebo or not, do any of you have any views ? She felt it wasn't working for her earlier in the year, but it was the depths of winter and she'd lost both her parents in under a fortnight which, frankly, I suspect would send anyone under, whether or not they were prone to depression

Twink. The Guardian did a comprehensive review of St John's Wort last week. Here's the website: www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4251331,00.html

Hope it's useful.

Thanks Nao, the article answers my question !

Twink - I did take St Johns Wort when I was first ill (trying anything to avoid anti-depressants). I think it did do some good but to be honest by that stage I needed something stronger. If a friend was suffering mild to moderate depression I would certainly recommend they give it a try.

Can you check with the doctor before taking St Johns Wort? My doctor told me it can counter-act the Pill, so your contraceptive stops working. Does anyone know of any other herbal rememdy that doesn't have this side-effect?

I'm off Seroxat!! As i said earlier none taken since the 31st Aug, that will be two weeks tomorrow! NOTHING is going to make me go back on it, no matter how bad I may feel, I will not take any more. I am coping well, the withdrawal effects are almost nil, so I think I am finally there. I don't feel too bad, probably a little flat, and ajust a little bit easily razzled!
I could put it down to the children starting back at school (the 8th) and starting my new job. I am nanny to a 22month and 3.10 year old (boys) three days a week. The parents teach at the High School where my daughter goes, it will be term time only!

I'm looking forward to more free time, but having just started my degree course in Early Childhood Studies, I've got lots of reading to do!

It has certainly helped me having an outlet like Mumsnet, even if nobody reads it! It's great to be able to express one's feelings, good luck to everyone else.

Alibubbles - are you still reading this site?
Did you manage to stop taking the Seroxat permanently?
I stopped for 6 weeks and felt really great. BUT then had a massive panic attack - felt dreadful for days. Decided to go back to 10mg of seroxat 12 days ago. The panic has subsided but I now feel very very down. I'm wondering whether the seroxat itself is actually causing this. Has anyone else experienced this? I was really desperate to come off them - don't know what to do now.

Hi Kizzie, sorry to hear that you are down.
Yes I managed to comeoff the seroxat, it wasn't that easy, but I didn't suffer too much. I started by cutting it down as you know from earlier posts.
I also went to the GP and got some Prozac, he was happy for me to take it as I explained I wanted to get off Seroxat. I took the Prozac for twio months and whilst it didn't have the same uplifting effect as Sx I felt reasonably in control. As long as I am sleeping through the night I am happy. I took it for two months and was getting a headache that was constantly there in the back of my head, so asked my GP to give me a script for Prozac rather than Fluoxetine (generic) This made a great difference.

I haven't actually taaken anything for two weeks now, and whilst I feel the tiniest bit little flat, I can cope very well. I know that you aren't supposed to stop it suddenly, but I kept forgetting to take it, then it was two days, then three before I realised I hadn't taken it, so I thought Okay, let's see what happens.

The crucial time will be from this week onwards when the Prozac is out of my system, but I am going skiing on Thursday for 10 days, so hopefully that is enoughto give me a thrill!!

I think that I wouldn't hesitate to go back on Prozac if I felt wobbly or emotional, or started to have panic attacks again. It certainly does help me with my day to day life. Prozac isn't as good as Seroxat, (IMO) but I wouldn't want to go back on it, I'm so glad I managed to come off. For some reason Prozac doesn't seem a threator as scary to me, if you understand what I mean, I think because I have found it easier to give it up.
I'm looking forward to shifting som of the weight I put on with Seroxat, now that I'm off serotonin type medication I want to try Reductil (Meridia) to see if that helps me lose the weight, any one tried it and what's it like?

Good luck Kizzie, I know how you feel, keep your chin up, Have a good festive season and take one day at a time. I think the only reason I cope with Christmas is because we go away every year from the 20th to 30th skiing. Lots of love to you!

Alibubbles. Thankyou for your kind note. Saw GP this morning and on her advice I'm going to stop Seroxat (again) and see if I can manage without it. I've only been taking it for a week so hopefully won't be too difficult to stop.
I'm going to go to chemist later and get something like Bach flower remedy in case of any panic attacks.
I feel v nervous about it but I dont feel well on the seroxat and I think I'd rather try and tackle it on my own. (As I'm sure you know it's not a very nice thought taking it anyway.)
I'll let you know how I get on.
Hope you have a lovely christmas.

Kizzie, just to say I hope it goes okay for you, I'll be in touch when I get back. Have a good holiday too.