Antidepressants

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Have antidepressants helped any of you at all? I'm seriously considering going on an antidepressant. I've been depressed for I figured out the last 3 or 4 years. I don't feel like there is a light at the end of the tunnel. I don't see anything really positive happening anytime in the future.

can only describe my own dysthymic experience- norpramine perked me up but had serious side effects- liver dysfunction, extreme heat sensitivity/profuse perspiration, volatile emotions/temper. i avoided the other antidepressants due to their side fx also. i tried concerta, which also perked me up without making me overheat, but it also made me cross and also turned off my hydraulics, if ya catch my drift- this was a nasty one-two punch. then i tried strattera, which was very good, i felt almost "normal" on this drug but it gave me horrible GERD- otherwise i woulda stuck with this expensive drug, it was well worth the $$$. so now i just take fish oil supplements and vigorous daily exercise, which lifts my spirit above depression but does nothing about my scatterbrain. i guess nothing is perfect.

when i was in the military, i found vigorous exercise to be an effective tonic- running 4 miles per day, then swimming a mile's worth of laps at the pool, kept me too tired afterwards to think about much of anything else- plus it kept the cobwebs cleared from my cognitive functioning, or at least as clear as is possible for my addled brain. there have been a few studies whose results echoed my experience, at least in terms of alleviation of mild to moderate depression.

I never had much luck with antidepressants but I only tried a couple. It's worth a try though, talk to you doctor.

I agree with auntblabby that exercise definitely helps, and I've noticed a change since I started taking fish oil supplements and multivitamins. I also feel better on days when I eat well and drink lots of water. Sounds like pretty basic knowledge but when I was deeply depressed there was no way I was buying into all this stuff as being a reasonable solution.

My S.O swears by fish oil supplements, and I have started taking them as well. I do notice a very slight reduction in depression and anxiety, but not as much as he does. Still, it can't hurt to try it. I also tried many anti-depressants, but then they seemed to trigger mania, after which I was diagnosed with Bipolar. I haven't had a manic episode in three years, and have gone off everything except my GERD meds.

I've been on a low dose of a tricyclic lately, and while it's no 'cure' at all, it does provide a foothold to get to doing other things that help. Otherwise, it's like trying to climb a greased pole.

I had a hard time determining if the Celexa really was helping me. It felt as though I wasnt getting worse or better. I hated that I had to take this in college when people were drinking and stuff. Alot of people say it makes you more messed up if you take meds with alcohol. But to me I didnt see the difference. I was still as miserable and violent and stuff when I wasn't taking the meds.

The annoying part was that the doctors weren't helping squat. Seriously a doctor asks you "how are you doing?" and they're supposed to use that to determine if the meds are helping me? They dont know the kind of person I was or how my depression was BEFORE I started taking meds and they dont know how I am when I'm not at an appointment with them.

I'm not saying that antidepressants are pointless. That was the same gripe I got from friends and family when I was taking this. No one gave a sh*t how I felt and they had no problem getting in my face and telling me I'm an idiot for falling for a doctor's scam.

So I got a question for society: If you think that antidepressants are pointless, and a complete money wasting medical scam, then how about providing a REAL medical option out there for treating depression that doesnt involve telling me to get over my sh*t? I agreed to take antidepressants because there didnt seem to be any other good treatment options out there and counseling doesnt really do a whole lot when they're university counselors who are only trained to give you condoms when you need them!

I thought anti-depressants were great for me a couple years ago when I took them for the first time. The doctor put me on Effexor and Risperdal (anti-psychotic). I didn't stay on the Risperdal because I don't like taking drugs known to cause weight gain and diabetes. The Effexor seemed like a dream come true. I was cured, it seemed. But after a couple of months my dose had to be increased, and again it was increased a couple months after that. They finally had me taking 300 mg a day. If I didn't take it in the morning I would have withdrawal by noon. The electrical shock sensations on my head, or "brain zaps" were often unbearable. I started to go downhill, and to keep this short I had a breakdown, left my job, and lost my insurance, thus losing my medicine. So I had sudden withdrawal that almost killed me. I wanted to die, and I was sure I would kill myself. I don't think I was ever this despondent and psychotically depressed before the Effexor. It took 2 years, but I finally have medical care again. I still have the brain zaps and chronic depression. I read recently that Effexor does have a rare side effect of permanent withdrawal syndrome. The fact that I still have the withdrawal symptoms two years after stopping the medicine indicates that I have this rare side effect. I go to the shrink tomorrow, so hopefully I can get something that will lessen these brain shocks. I have trouble just moving around sometimes as movement will trigger them.

So be more on point here, I think you have to be very careful with medicines like this. You have to consider that you may need to take them for the rest of your life. That isn't so bad though, and it may be a good trade-off. People have to take medicines for all sorts of health problems all their lives. It is doable. Even after my problems, I still think I need something. I cant function on my own. The VA sent me some Wellbutrin already, but it doesn't take care of all my issues. I may be back on the Effexor tomorrow *sigh. But I can honestly say that while taking it I had no ill effects. I just had the terrible things after stopping.

I've been on Paxil and Risperidone, for 12 years, and they still work, for me.

I'm currently taking them and they have been a life saver for me. I haven't felt this good in about three years which was before the depression set in.

What are you on?

I'm on Wellbutrin and it's really helped me. I was on it for almost two years before they tried to switch me to Zoloft because they thought that would be a better choice but I couldn't tolerate the Zoloft so for a few months I was on nothing, and I wound up very depressed again so they put me back on the Wellbutrin and it helped a lot. It's really like night and day. On the Wellbutrin I'm functional.

I got the head zap withdrawal from the Zoloft. I don't notice any withdrawal or side effects from the Wellbutrin.

I'm on 20 mg of geodon which is a mood stabilizer and 10 mg of nortiltrypline.

Prozac made me suicidal, Citalopram cut off my libido permanently (I don't really mind as much now though) and Effexor made me start gaining weight.

On 20mgs of Seroxat at the moment and so far I like it. The side-effects weren't too bad. It stops me from getting suicidal.