can someone talk to me about anti depressants please??

[SpandexIsMyEnemy]

following on from my prev thread in LP, i've rung the dr's today, got an apt for next thurs but also need to try & book something sooner in the open clinic on monday.

anyhow I have a few questions -

which ones am I likely to be put on? (I don't want to be addicted and only want it for a few months no more)

will I put weight on with them

how soon will the hopelessness fade?

can I still drink with them (only cos it's xmas not typically iycwim)

they won't turn me into a zombie will they?

thanks. (oh n can I say I deffo don't want prozac?)

Why don't they ever call it prozac anymore? I think it is pretty poor of your GP to give you them if you specifically asked not to have prozac.

I have been on lots of different Ad's.

None of them are addictive at all. Are you muddling this up with withdrawal symptoms? You need to come off them slowly,but they aren't addictive.

Prozac was the best one of all for me. Worked within 3 days...........

oh no pig I didn't ask him not to give me that fwiw my dr is fantastic - knows the whole family and has done for some 25 years of more (him/my nan are on first name terms! lol).

I didn't realise that it's been renamed as it were- the leaflet with it doesn't say it's prozac.

yes fizz - are they not one of the same withdrawl symptoms and addiction - ie you're addicted as you can't come off due to the withdrawl symptoms?

2 weeks will not make much difference but i suspect they want to check you are not having any adverse reactions. you might have a really dry throat and disturbed sleep (i take in teh morning which helps) it takes 4 months to kick in.

good luck

not addictive but hard to come off ime

i've been on citalopram for 3 months.
they've made a big difference and given me my motivation back (as well as stopping me crying all the time and worrying so much that i couldn't function or sleep) and now i'm off back to work next week.
i don't feel depressed at the moment and tbh the biggest problem i have is tiredness which i think is a side effect from the meds as when i forget to take them i actually feel like i have more energy.
i think it's common to stop taking them at this point as you feel better. but i'm going to follow the docs advice and stay on them another 3 months to be sure i don't slip back to how i was.

But you can come off them with no symptoms, just gradually lower the dose.

By addictive I was thinking stuff like valium, that takes bigger and bigger doese to have any effect, and causes a lot od side effects when comong off.

I stopped Pozac, Lustral, and Trazodone all without weaning off, or reducing the dose, with no symptoms, although this was against advice of doc, but no ill effects from it.

I wonder if part of this addiction fear, is actually part of the whole thing, ie anxiety? Is that possible.

They are very very safe, and will make you feel much better.

5 weeks ago, I was really struggling, awful anxiety, wouldn't talk to anyone, wanted to just float away from my own mind... started on ad's again , feel absoultely transformed now. Raring to go, full of life and energy, could tackle anything.

Thats the trouble with a lot of medication...they have 2 names!

Prozac was the 1st ever Anti D I took (11yrs ago) after loosing my baby & ex partner in a matter of 2 weeks. I was desperate!
TBH I found them amazing & worked within a couple of days...the high was great! They really really helped me.

The only thing I can suggest with them is find the right time of day to take them that suits you as I found they altered my sleep pattern alot. Also....take them with plenty of water.
When you want/feel you want to come off them, then ask the dr for a plan to wean yourself off them.

Good Luck, hope all goes well

fluoxitine, did anyone take them and did they give you a bit of anxiety just after taking the tablet within the first week?

yes fizz that's totally possibly - tbh it's more a case of I don't want to be dependant on them ie have it out of my control and for them to control over me iycwim.

the goat - have you had exp coming off of them?

I think a part of the reason I haven't had them thus far is because of the weaning off them - I am assuming 20mg is the lowest dose already as he said previously I was 'boarderline' for PND.

are they the same now a days thou music lover?? I know meds often change - and i'm thinking the prozac of old ie when you were on them 11 years ago.

I took prozac 12yrs ago and they were fab. I felt amazing within about 2 weeks. I had no trouble coming off them at all. I think I just stopped in the end because my mood had changed my whole situation/life and I had the tools to cope, BUT not everybody should do this without medical advise.

You can find out all about drugs using the British National Formulary online - google it. It is the manual all drs use for prescribing. Does list all potential side effects though so can be a bit scary but if you want to be fully informed... Good luck

SpandexIsMyEnemy
TBH I have taken several differnt AD's, & all being different.
When I 1st was prescribed them yeah they were brilliant, because after a few months I began to feel ok I came off them myself without advise or telling the Dr. Although I didnt feel any side affects it wasnt long before I came back down to reality & felt the depression symptoms again (Im not telling you this to fear you) but when I went back on the prozac again I didnt feel the high like I did when I was 1st on them.
The trouble I found with prozac was the disturbed sleep, also felt that my feelings were numbed too, which I didnt feel was normal, but I can honestly say that I did benefit from being on them & they obviously did help me.
But because I had a baby at the time & was been woken in the night with her & not being able to get back to sleep was when I ended up on citilopram (sp) but I had suicidal thoughts on them so ended up on Lustral aka Sertraline.
I found that I was on an even with the lustral & weaned myself off them over a period of 8 wks as advised by my dr with a plan of reducing by just half a tablet in the 1st week & so on.
Last winter I went to the drs again as my depression had returned & I actually felt like a failure which didnt help the way I felt. To which the Dr put me back on the lustral.....but I was like a zombie for days with horrendous headaches so decided not to take them anymore! The depression didnt last & thought maybe I just needed the little boost.

But at the moment I am suffering really bad with PMT, low moods, & the Dr wanted me to go back on Ad's again, but this time I refused & have decided to take St johns wort instead to see how that goes.

SO TBH I do have mixed views on AD's & also each ones are different for different people & there affects are different too, so sometimes its hard to tell how how they are going to work for each individual so its trial & error with them.

Loss of Libido was the MAIN reason I decided to wean off them though, I found that so frustrating as did DH!

But it depends on the ad

All the ones you've mentioned ML are SRRI's, which are notorious for sleep problems

I'm on trazodone, which is one on it's own a bit. Sort of a cross between tricyclics, and SRRI's. It makes me sleep really well, but feel great without being dopey

Thats interesting fizzbuzz, do you know the difference between the both?

I am not depressed but am suffering with the bad moods for around 2 wks out of the month which is afecting the family too as Im a nightmare to live with, but I really didnt want to go on Ad's again.

Dr also told me to have a think about the Mirena coil but after reading about others having bad side affects here on MN today I am now wondering whether to just stick to St Johns Wort & see how I go on them.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tricyclic_antidepressantTricyclics

Well, I think Srri's are the newer ones, and rev you up a bit: These would be ones like, prozac, lustral, seroxat, venlafaxine, citaloprim (sp)

The tricylics are ones like amitriptiline, lofepramine.

These were invented earlier than the other ones, but were dangerous in overdose, which is why the newer ones came along. They were all quite sedating though, which is why they are good for sleep

Mine is one on it's own, invented between the two. I like it. I suit the older ones better, as they give me less side effects.

The new ones were hailed as wonderdrugs with the advent of prozac, so the older oes dropped out of fashion, but I believe they are back in fashion again.

I also didn't like lustral, made me v bad tempered.

These ones make me feel sort of nice towards people, good tempered and sort of sparkly inside.

They took some adjusting to at first though. About 4 weeks of feeling very very emotionally wobbly

Prozac made me bounce of the walls, horrible.

I took Lustral for 9 months and they were a life saver. I felt so dreadful before I didn't even think about side affects and don't really remember if there were any. I did go cold turkey at the end which was a bit scary and not advisable

god there's so many of them isn't there =- sleep disturbed. - tbh that's a prob for me as I don't sleep too well anyhow so don't wan tit to be more disturbed as i'm a right moo when I don't have my full 8 hours of undisturbed sleep!

spoken to my folks this avo who are not so keen on them esp after telling them it was basically prozac, they'd rather I talk to them more about things etc and fully utalize them as I don't think they've realised how bad things have got (I've become v good at hiding/covering up a lot of things, mostly thanks to my XH!)

ho hum, also met with my solicitor for the first time today - it would appear XH can be as abusive as he likes to me when we're together, then tell me he wants a divorce, then I basically have to sort it all out after n he gets to walk away with everything while I get sweet FA! the injustice of it has really pissed me off - ho hum off for a rant elsewhere! lol.

Message withdrawn

thanks dior. can you tell jarm i've succumbed to them as well when you talk/see her next! lol.

I think it's to check tbh and also to make sure I still want them as he knows how much I didn't want them to begin with but tbh i'm resigned to them now.