Medication induced depression

[Dottyt1990]

Has anyone suffered depression caused by medication or medication withdrawal?

I took a stimulant medication and since coming off it 6 weeks ago, I’ve suffered what I think is a mental breakdown. I’ve never suffered with any MH condition before, and I’m usually a very happy, calm person so this has been pretty traumatic.

Has anyone experienced this or know anybody that has?

Mini pill. Went on it and ended up at the Dr with depression symptoms. DH pointed out it was a known side effect. Came off it and all symptoms vanished in about three days. It was awful whilst it lasted.

Could it be the effects of the illness? I found when I had cancer, I was reasonably okay during it. Not saying it was easy, but you went with the flow. Afterwards, it hit me what happened, what could have been etc.

Yes, I went through dopamine agonist medication withdrawal as my medication was temporarily unavailable. I was suddenly very depressed, anxious and couldn't function. My thoughts were very dark. As far as I know the withdrawal from stimulants can be similar so the depression could well be down to stopping the stimulant medication.

I don’t know technically whether technically it would be described as clinical depression, but the short term use of acetazolamide did this to me. I believe it is a well-known side-effect and so they try not to keep you on it for too long.

Naproxen. Made me suicidal.

Can I ask how long it took to feel better after? Did you have to get on meds?

How long did that last for you? Did you have to take meds to help?

I was on pregabalin for nerve pain but it made me very low, I'm off it now and still feel shaky and strange and not quite myself.

I stopped taking it after 3 weeks

Did the symptoms stop when you stopped it? Or did they last a while?

They stopped after l stopped taking it. About 2 days or so after.

How long have you been off it?

It was years ago.

About 8 months, I am also going through menopause though so not sure if that is joining in

It took a couple of weeks after discontinuation for that drug to be clear of my system but then I really did start to better. I hadn’t got as far as asking for or taking anti-depressants for it and I
was only on it for about three months (with the dosage gradually increasing). I had extremely high eye pressure and I needed to take the drug to help lower the eye pressure whilst I was waiting for an eye operation called a trabeculectomy. The drug, acetazolamide, is effectively a depressant and short term that was what I needed.
The effect was that I felt very low in myself about prospectively losing my eyesight if I didn’t get the operation in time and I even felt life wouldn’t be worth living if that happened. But that wasn’t me - that was the effect of the drug.
Once I had had the operation and stopped taking the drug, the prospect of life without sight (a prospect many people with glaucoma have to live with) began to feel better.

The thing that really helped me whilst I was taking it was talking to my brother about how I felt. But I guess it could have been anyone close who was bothered to listen.

The other piece of advice I would proffer is to eat well and go for walks, and try to keep your routine going, even if you don’t feel like it 💐

Thankyou so much. I’m sorry you went through that, but I’m really glad you’re feeling better. I’m trying to keep busy and will definitely be trying to get out walking more next week.