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Going on to anti-depressants sucks...


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Seriously...

My digestive system was a mess and my anxiety running wild before I called the doctor for some help. I had been on Fluoxetine (Prozac) for 18 months before stopping them a few months ago, my doctor gave me a prescription for the same drug and dosage to help me since they worked well before.

I've been nauseous since Saturday, with a lack of appetite that is causing even more anxiety. I feel tired a lot though I don't think I'm sleeping well at all...

The first week or so on anti-depressants is just the worst and it feels like my entire body and brain are all screwed up. It's hard to distract myself when I'm home alone and then trying to work is a nightmare.

This is day three of the pills and it feels like a mountain I have to climb just to start feeling OK again.

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Although i have both Anxiety  and Bipolar disorder (new name fore depression disorder  ), and dont get me started  on my digestive system (side diagnoses to my MBD (Minimal Brain damage  ) ad to that Severe  ADHD  /Mild ASD. I  haven't   accepted  any meds for any of this as i feel im alredy broke  what it can so to say  so whats the use of  meds  ?    Nothing more to destroy in my life    BUT  if it has  helped  you before  id say HANG in there dear  as i understood this  as you say youre self  the first days/ week  is the worst   with this darn meds  before youre body  starts to  get used to this again.     

If you whant to talk im only a Pm away dear         

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I think the worst part about anti-depressants is the weight gain. I gained more than 50 pounds before I was switched to another medication. Its so easy to gain weight, so difficult to shed it.

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I had a similar experience with Fluoxitine, though my tummy was less affected. SSRI meds act slowly and may take as much as two weeks to become really effective. Reaching that point, as often as not, makes you feel worse instead of better for the initial period of use. I was warned of this ahead of time very clearly and my first week was mostly a living Hell before things began to turn around. All you can do is tough it out and wait knowing that it will get a lot better soon. During this time just maintain life as you usually do; no major changes with anything unless that helps, and stepping back from everything which adds even the smallest amount of stress to your life as best you can. That stuff can wait- it will still be there in a couple weeks and then you'll be in better shape to deal with it all.

I do have to wonder why they took you off of this before. Especially whether they slowly reduced the dosage or just dropped it. It's never a good idea to stop SSRI Meds 'cold turkey' because that usually puts you through something similar to the initial 'week of Hell' and often brings a recurrence of the problems they were meant to help with. Any stopping is best done slowly with close monitoring of any adverse indications which should be addressed by either maintaining the current dosage or slightly increasing it. I did a huge amount of research on this but lost all the info and links in a hard drive crash long ago so I can't point you to any help like that directly but I'm sure you can find it. 

Regardless that, if you do stop SSRI Meds you must continuously monitor your condition thereafter as it's easy to slowly slide back into needing them so subtly that you don't notice until you're in full-blown depression all over again. Then you have to go through the whole process all over. If on stopping you see any decline, you should discuss re-starting with your Medical team and suggest using a smaller dosage first to avoid the other problems the Meds cause you. A lower than usual dosage can sometimes be effective enough to take the 'edge' off of things without risking a worsening.

I don't recommend this but I stopped my meds covertly by weaning myself off of them over a period of about two months. First I 'halved' my pills, then went to skipping every other dose at the halved amount, then to taking none. Once I was certain that I was not having any problems with this I told my Doctor and Therapist, who of course blew up on me and wanted me to start back. BTW this was the only thing I ever hid with my Therapist, who after an hours discussion reluctantly agreed to let me continue this if I promised to re-start with full dosages should anything indicate depression was coming back. My Doctor wasn't so kind, but knew I was going to do it anyway so he kind of washed his hands of me regards depression Meds, telling me that if needed he'd renew my prescription but only if I first promised to follow his instructions exactly with that. I was able to cope without Meds because my Therapist was the greatest in giving me the tools I needed to handle my problems on my own without outside help from anyone. Those coping techniques have allowed me to get by without Meds but it can be really rough at times, and more than a few times I almost went back on them- I keep that option open because I may need it to stay alive someday.

I hope things get better for you soon for nobody deserves the misery of a life with Clinical Depression, and every day I'm hoping to see news of a cure being found instead of just treating the symptoms as we have to do now because we still lack that cure.

Bettypooh

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I remember that stage, they do take awhile to work, and the side effects are generally worse during that time as well, it is worth persevering, as everything will settle down after awhile.

I had very similar on a different SSRI, and it was also quite noticable when I accidently missed about a weeks worth as well, and then going back on.

I'm coming up to 10 years on SSRI/SSNRIs, as much as they can be a complete pain sometimes, when I get low points, I am normally quite thankful that their not as bad as they used to be because of the medication!

Hope things start getting better for you, and if you ever want to chat just drop me a message

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20 hours ago, Dathin said:

I think the worst part about anti-depressants is the weight gain. I gained more than 50 pounds before I was switched to another medication. Its so easy to gain weight, so difficult to shed it.

Yep, I'm up 30 pounds between depression eating when my meds were off, and new med weight changes. Trying to start loosing weight again now.

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Thanks for the posts. Taken four of the pills now and they are kicking my ass mostly through nausea and a lack of appetite (the two are almost certainly linked!)

The choice to stop was my own and so was the decision to start them again. I had been on Fluoxetine for 18 months and the doctor asked for an appointment to review the medication. I was feeling a lot better and he said it was basically up to me to stop taking them or continue, I chose to stop which in hindsight was a mistake!

I've been quite lucky in general with side effects in the past. I never get any of the weight gain or sexual dysfunction or any other major thing so I'm hoping I'm the same this time around and the nausea goes away.

I was experiencing a lot of digestive issues which I believe I have mentioned elsewhere on here. Mainly tenesmus and the constant feeling I needed to poop, I also noticed things with the poop that worried me but some at home tests have eased that concern. It really set my anxiety and stuff off though and that was making the physical symptoms worse. Called the doctor and he suggested my old prescription to get things back under control.

Having gone on and then come off anti-depressants at least half a dozen times in the last decade or so it might become a much longer term thing.

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Well you need to eat something even if you're not feeling hungry so grab a bit of something which shouldn't make your digestive issues worse. That's part of the 'maintaining your routine' I spoke of. Your body needs food to make energy to keep you going until things get smoothed out again. Don't make an issue of it, just grab something to stuff in your mouth and get it over with then move on to whatever else you need to deal with.

It seems to me that what you need is to not stop the meds completely, but to get them down to as minimal a level as you can once you get past this rough patch. You should have a good idea from experience whether half-doses or skipping doses is likely to give you the best results. But I'd be sure that you've reached full effectiveness with the current dosage rate before attempting changes; in other words that's something to worry about and work on later. Maybe next month or the month after, no need to hurry that.

What's most important right now IS now, and that you get through now so that you can have the chance for a better tomorrow. Everything else can wait till you're past the now part. Stay active physically and mentally and avoid anything problematic. I'm naturally a lazy sort but I discovered that for me anyway, there is a lot of good in me being physically active when I'm at or nearing the bottom. Doing something simple and easy works best for me, like sweeping the walk, raking the yard, cleaning the car- things which I like having done but don't often do that well with. That gives me an achievement I like and the physical activity I need without felling strain. I used to take walks but that hurts a bit now so I've stopped that, but it was really good 'therapy' for me back in the day. There's something about being outdoors which seems to help all by itself so give that a try but do so gently and look for anything which might bring a smile or some happiness while you're out, no matter how small or insignificant it may be. I never feel like doing these kinds of things but I know it helps so I do them knowing that it can't be bad for me.

Hang on for the now, deal with the rest later, and soon better will be there for you. We're all out here pulling for you!

Bettypooh

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It's day 6 and I think I might be through the worst of it.

*Touch wood*

Still feeling nauseous but it's been much improved over the previous days. Hopefully this means that I'm over the worst of it but we'll see.

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Day 10: I spoke too soon...

The weekend just passed was hell and I couldn't do anything for most of it.

I'm still very nauseas and still struggling to eat anything as well as having major issues with anxiety and things. Called the doctor today because the side effects are still persisting and was told to take the Propranolol I was previously prescribed as well as the anti-depressant to see if it helps. I'm not sure it is helping at the moment, I felt briefly better but I can feel the anxiety coming back.

I was told to try this until Wednesday and then call the doctors back if I'm still having problems.

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Im sorry to read about the side effects  getting worse dear  ,  lets just hope this new    idea from the doc  helps   hon. Reg the anxiety    may i suggest you try what i do when getting those  (in one   MILD    right now actually and it SUCKS  )   Anyway    what i do  is trying to  get my inner self to  understand  that  this is  just another      hit from this crap   and il be DAM   if i will let this   win over me    ,Then try to breath DEEP    breath    OVER and OVER again     and  try to RELAX  dear  and think of something  you like   and try to put this  BS   feelings aside   (thats what i am doing right now and have done  for the past  2 hoers  actually ) ,     reg the  lack of appetite  believe me i understand  been there done that (incl  bulimia as well as  the other way   called  Stress eating )  you must try to force youre self  to get something  be it just half a sandwich  and something to drink or maybe some  Yogurt , And if it comes  up  let it dear  then after a while you have ad it again  , its VITAL  that you get something  in you dear.   

YOU CAN do this Elfy   and we will be here RIGHT with  until you have done it                     

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I thought I would post an update.

The last few weeks have been awful and the last one was the worst of the lot. Things reached their peak on Thursday when I was walking home from the shop and saw a bus. My mind immediately thought about how everything would be over and the torment would stop if I jumped in front of it. I didn't seriously consider doing it right there and then but the fact that it seemed like an option scared me.

When Alice, my fiancée, came home that evening we had a very emotional talk and fortunately she was able to take the next day off to stay with me.

We knew the pills were giving me trouble but it was clear at this point they were giving me more trouble than the original problem. We called Alice's mother who happens to be a very qualified psychiatrist and talked to her about things. She made a recommendation that I stop any and all medication and essentially give myself some "time off" or, in other words, to let myself rest from the pills.

What I didn't realise and what no doctor told me when prescribing the medication is that Fluoxetine (Prozac) actually stays in the system for 4-6 days. No one told me when prescribing Sertraline that I would still have quite a bit of Fluoxetine in my body, in fact I was told to only give it one day's break. This very likely made things worse since I was essentially going through the withdrawal period whilst also starting a new type of drug that works in the same category.

I followed the advice of my future mother-in-law and haven't taken any of the pills in a few days. The Fluoxetine should be out of my system now and the Sertraline, with a much shorter half-life, is likely out as well. I am medication free at the moment.

Am I better? I'm anxious, that much is for certain and when I'm home alone I find myself feeling tense and unsure what to do with myself. It's not a good place to be but it is a thousand miles from where I was when battling the pills.

I don't know what the next step will be... I may try the Sertraline which apparently works well for a lot of people but never really got a chance with me. For now I want to give it a day or two more to see how I feel.

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Based  on the problems  you had  from this  and also the advice  from youre  future  mother in law id say i agree  you did the right thing. And also  you should change  doc  as they SHOULD know this and should also  have  informed you about the  possible  side effects  as well as risks.   

Elfy dear  being alone with nothing to do is one of the WORST enemy's  for this by far  so what you need to try is to occupy youre thoughts with something (ie  if you ave hobby ,call someone  of youre friends , get out of the house etc... )  And reg youre  thoughts  when they occur of  ending it al  and it ´l be over  in  second (as i have had suicidal tendencies since i was  little ) DONT listen to these  thoughts dear   its NOT WILL NOT EVER   be the right /Nor  easy or quick and most defenetly NOT painless/peaceful   dear. NUMEROUS   statements  from those that actually  manged to fail there   suicide attempts  points out the  TREMENDOUS  pain /Anxiety /  when they actually started  knocking on the  door  upstairs. Not to mention the price they had to pay  after . And the  most  important  one  THINK of the ones  you leave  left alone  in life  Youre future wife for example  , (and in the throwing youre self in front of the buss the poor driver that has to live with this for the rest  of his /hers  life. 

I agree  try to take this day by day dear  and DONT give up dear  were AL here with you                                            

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Hoping things are better now. And indeed it seems you need different meds than you were using. I know it isn't easy to change your healthcare provider but if you can't convince them that they need to take a different approach here I just don't see that they can do you any good. It's my guess that if you can find the right Meds, you'll only need a small dosage to keep the worst of Depression at bay without having excessive side-effects, or perhaps any side-effects at all. That's what were all hoping for with you and we're always here for you no matter what.

Bettypooh

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