The Dispensory

[sarah_ab]

If you feel like a zombie and are not happy on the medication than IT IS NOT HTE RIGHT MEDICATION FOR YOU!

i take two different SSRI's each day, one to manager IBS symptoms which i take at a sub therpeutic level, and one to manage OCD symptoms, I also have a prescription for a benzodiazapine which is a muscle relaxant, which i take as needed.

I have had no changes, and am still the alert, funny, charismatic person i was befor i went on the medications, just now i don't have to work so hard at not showing my ocd symptoms and don't have to stop to use the bathroom every 10 minutes.

So if you are on a medication which is affecting your alertness, your abilty to be express your personality etc... than it is not right for you. Medications are like shoes, sometimes you have to try on quite a few pairs before you find the one that is just right for you.

Talk to your doctor about your feelings, if your doctor does not listen, then switch doctors. you are never just stuck with one doctor.

[DailyDi]

I'd be dead by now (no exaggeration) if it weren't for prescription intervention. I got lucky and my Doc found the right drug the first time. (Lexapro, now downgraded to Citalopram for financial reasons) I don't feel drugged and I still have normal emotions. If your meds aren't working right, get them changed! Crazy or Zombie is not your only options. You just have to find the right drug(s) that will work for your body.

[Bettypooh]

If you feel like a zombie and are not happy on the medication than IT IS NOT THE RIGHT MEDICATION FOR YOU!,,,,

....Talk to your doctor about your feelings, if your doctor does not listen, then switch doctors. you are never just stuck with one doctor.

AMEN Sarah I had similar probs with Prozac/fluoxatine I was better then I got worse and the med switch helped immensely CD meds may or may not slightly alter you when they're right and at the right dosage but mostly they "keep the edge off" so you can learn to cope better through other means. Sometimes you still need them anyway. It's a better solution than stressing out and causing yourself other problems which add to your depression I've just gotten through the worst episode of CD I've had in 7 years. I'm still down but not out and there's hope that the events which triggered this may not be as bad as they seem. That's one of the weird parts of this disease- what you think and feel aren't always the way things really are but untreated you just can't see this Like any other problem depression isn't going to go away all on it's own and there's no shame in having someone help you do things which you can't do alone

Bettypooh

[curiositykilledthecat]

I am not saying that others shouldn't take drugs. the only I'd ever consider taking is a mood stabilizer. It would be nice to experience what being even keeled is like on a consistent basis. I just don't want meds, I rather not be crazy by recognizing that I am crazy than be crazy and not even see it., Okay, did that make any sense? As far as other people, it's all what you're comfortable with and what you really need. Just don't accept all the side effects as the standard norm and keep fighting till you get the correct cocktail of chemicals.

[pampywamp]

my doctor has just told me to stop using FLUOXETINE been on it 4 years so now i take one everyother day for a fortnight then one every 3rd day. says i souldnt have been on them that long lucky i live in the uk and get free prescript ions

[bignappybo]

Well i need to take a total of 25 differant drugs everyday, and thankfully we ave the NHS ovr here as it is long term health prblems that i have, i am just glad that because of the NHS, i dont need to pay for them, the NHS might not be perfect but it is a life saver.

[curiositykilledthecat]

Speaking of medications, could someone with a bit more background in posychiatry please explain to me how a medication can cause invasive thoughts? My friend/co-worker was talking about how he was pulled off an anxiety medication because of this side effect?

[Dill_Pickle]

Speaking of medications, could someone with a bit more background in posychiatry please explain to me how a medication can cause invasive thoughts? My friend/co-worker was talking about how he was pulled off an anxiety medication because of this side effect?

It's a control theory thing...the drugs alter the neurotransmitters, that alter the strength of various things going on in your head....

so lets say, you have a really bad association with some cues...say, a naked woman waking you up (mine, abuse was coming next when it got imprinted as an adult)....

Now, part of the strength of that recall, which *can* relate to survival (that's why you are susceptible to such things), and your ability to control it and not get stuck in the thought and the emergency responses once required, is chemically mediated. At a dead simple, overly general level, just do a general tranquilizer. Now, a given, selective inhibitor might be much more selective in what it allows to be suppressed, and in what area of the brain it operates. A selective chemical might also raise the susceptibility to such thoughts, too.

Dill Pickle

P.S. Expect to be doing Calcium and Vitamin D for a very long time; the effect has been quite salutary, eliminating a muscle relaxant (dicyclomine) for my gut most times.

[curiositykilledthecat]

ahh, thank you.

[BabyTara]

I take Cymbalta and Seroquel XR. They work very well for me, and I'm so thankful they exist. They are name brand and the retail price for the both is around $700 a month, but I have good insurance and pay a $2 copay for each- $4 a month. I've tried MANY meds, and these 2 seem to be the best combination for me.

By the way, I'm bipolar (rapid cycle) with underlying depression, and have anxiety issues. Chemical imbalances. Icky.

[curiositykilledthecat]

If the pills work and make ya stable, go for it.

[babykeiff]

To those people on long term medication:-

1: Drug companies produce drugs to MAKE MONEY. Health benefits is NOT their concern. If they can produce a drug (and they do) that they can sell to keep a problem at bay that requires a patient to continue taking said drug for life, yet never cure the original problem, they will.

2: "At what point in history did a doctor become more than a trusted and learned friend who visited and treated the ill?" Quote from Patch Adams

If you spend a time fully researching your diagnosed problem, and discover what your specific chemical imbalance is, then you may be able to find a drug / alteration in diet etc. that will cure you of the problem completely. If you doubt that this is possible, I remind you of Lorenzo Odone, and the work by Augusto and Michela Odone in finding a solution.

[Guest munchkitten]

I'm on:

for bipolar:

Seroquel (400mg)

Abilify (7.5mg)

Lamictal (200mg)

Propranolol (100mg 3x daily)

Trazodone (for sleep)

Hormone related:

Estrogen (6mg)

spironolactone (100mg)

Progestrone: 100mg.

All in all... 1500 a month. and I have no insurance. Guess which I don't take?

[curiositykilledthecat]

if you're honestly on all the anti-depressants and have no insurance, you would qualify for state aid in a heartbeat and have the meds avaialble. If you live in Chicago they're a big leftist city, you should have all sorts of social welfare programs and things along those lines. I use androgel which is made by Solvay Pharmaceuticals who makes some of the hormone meds you take and they're extreme scumbags as a company. don't bother with their assistance program as they will dick you over and over and over until you quit.

[sarah_ab]

most states are cutting their state aid programs, and who qualifies and who doesn't. In washington state, for some of their state aid programs, they use the same rules that SSI does to determine if you qualify or not...

in this economy and with all the budget cuts to state funded social welfare programs, many people who would normally qualify are finding suddenly they no longer do.

[BabyChris121675]

Well, I was on Strattera for a few years, from Nov '04, to Feb '07 to help me cope with Asperger's and to get a better grip on myself for a while. It did help but I got sick of feeling like I was going to throw up half the day. Some days I couldn't eat as soon as I got up and I had just started working at the time.

However, the drug did help for a while. There is another reason I stopped taking it, I had a falling-out with the mental wellness center where I live; all personal and not willing to discuss here- I feel better now but I am on a blood pressure med due to high blood pressure from drinking a ton of energy drinks when I was first on the night shfits.

Well, I am feeling better, working on getting things in order.

BabyChris121675

[DiaperPony]

I have been on and off various antidepressants for many years. I've never really felt a lasting benefit from them (I think my brain adapts and reverts to its desired state of being screwed up, lol). I made a decision to stop with the pills because they weren't doing what they claimed, and had a bunch of negative side effects (insomnia, nonexistent sex drive, etc). I do realize that I am not 100% normal and healthy in my brain. However, I've accepted that at least for now a pill won't solve my brain problems for me. Obviously the pills work for others, and that's great for them, but everyone is different. The brain is an extremely complex organ, and I believe it is just as vulnerable to defects as other parts of the body, if not more so due to its complexity. However, the defects are not visible, and the brain is masterful as self-deception.

I would say in some ways I am depressed, or at least easily upset and vulnerable. People can say or do things which I know rationally I shouldn't give a crap about. But, I do anyways. Another is anxiety, which might be tied to the former, but what I mean is I get easily nervous around people. The pills were actually amazing with helping on that one in some ways, if it weren't for the other bad effects (I could feel my nervousness and self-consciousness return as I got off the pills). So I have developed various coping strategies to deal with my triggers and anxieties. They are not always effective. However, they seem more effective than the pills, because I think for me it really does help to know, yes I'm damaged, so that means I cannot let my guard down. I must continue to pay attention to my emotions and work to overcome the illogical ones. Off the pills on the negative I might get upset.. but on the positive I can also be happy.

However, this is just me. Like I said, everyone is different. If you're on pills and are happy and aren't having bad side effects, then by all means stay on them!

[WetDad]

I had been on Flouxetine (depression) for a year when the side effects kicked in. I could no longer "rise to the occasion" for my wife, and when I did, I could maintain. Very frustrating and embarrassing. Switched to Effexor and now doing much better. When I get depressed, I get angry and nobody can take my sudden outbursts of temper. I will be on this the rest of my life, and I'm OK with that. I take a minimal dose, which varies according to the season- more in winter, less in summer. Recently I upped my dose (back to winter levels) because of the pressures of being unemployed for 6 months. I have one odd side effect from Effexor- whenever I change dose I become incontinent for a few months. I feel it is a small price to pay for the sanity and safety of my family. I recently switched from brand name ($166.00 per month) to generic form ($24.86) and I have not seen any difference in my mood. Although the sudden bouts of diarrhea that often accompanied my switching dosage is almost non-existent this time.