Medication

I have an appointment with my doctor this Wednesday. Going to talk to her about getting some new medication, yet again. Right now I'm on Prozac and it doesn't seem to be doing much. Anyway, I am looking for reliable antidepressants and anxiolytics that can be used long-term and have a tolerable side-effect profile. I have had very negative experiences with these, and I really want to avoid repeating that if possible. I don't remember all of names, I've taken Paxil when I was underage and it was horrible. Besides the depression, suicidal thoughts, and mood swings (for example, spontaneously deciding to lay in the mud at night), I believe it also gave me severe anxiety (or was it a different med?) Anyway, it made me terrified constantly, riding in cars was esp. bad. When I had to go in a car, I would huddle in the corner, close my eyes, and grip the seat like my life depended on it. Because for some reason, the meds gave me severe phobia of the sky and open places. Even inside the world felt incredibly unsteady and flimsy. Like the ground could collapse at any moment, and every object was made of air. More recently, I took Wellbutrin and it made me pretty much bedridden for several weeks, usually my mood swings around more (well, I was already bedridden for a couple of weeks before, but it just seemed to be making it worse).

So, I want to try some new medication, but I am scared of it backfiring like before. What do you think? Should I not, and is there anything I should specifically seek or avoid if I should?

Why not try it. You can just change your mind later.Hopefully.

When I was younger I was on Zyprexa and Buspar for anxiety. the main side effect, other than sleepiness (which got me back on ritalin) was a bizarre love of carbs, oh and apathy (some say that never really wore off).

This is really the kind of thing you have to answer for yourself. You're the only one who knows how severe your own depression is, how bad it makes you feel and to what extent it interferes with what you want to do in life.

If you haven't tried solving your depression in other ways, I would suggest giving alternative methods first. Do you have support and loving friends? Fulfilling hobbies? A mentally engaging and reasonable profitable career path? A relaxing and safe home environment? As you've discovered, the field of medicines re: psychology is still rather... experimental, so you could be in for quite a few more experiments before you find the one that's 'right' for you, if it exists in the first place. But if you've already acquired all of the above, or your mental state is preventing you from acquiring them, then it's probably worth it to keep on trying medical solutions, assuming it puts no undue strain on your finances.

As scary as it might seem, it might be time for you to see a psychiatrist. I know it's a really big step, but they are the experts on psychiatric medication. Not only that, but they also run tests and check out for other underlying health conditions such as thyroid problems that could also be affecting your moods. Even so, it took my psychiatrist two years of trial and error before we found a medication regimen that has made me okay. Not bouncing off the walls delirious, but enough to just help me deal with life. If you had already gone past two drugs, you might have refractory depression which is really hard to treat, but not impossible. Many people have had good stories about being on the Effexor/Remeron combo called California Rocket Fuel. I am currently on Effexor and it's saved my life. No joke. HOWEVER, Effexor has some really nasty NASTY side effects such as the notorious "brain shivers" which I have experienced. It only happens when you go off of them, but you start to go into withdrawal around ~30 hours of your last pill. For me, the possibly of being on this the rest of my life and having the occasional bad trip greatly GREATLY outweighs what the depression I had. It was really worse than death. I really hope you find something, anything, that helps you manage.

Glad you're not on Paxil anymore. That shit killed my dad, no joke.

If you're in the US, the doctors will try to "cure" you with medication. That's because it's cheaper to write an Rx than to put you in therapy.

Trouble is, there's no way to know what works until it works. Maybe meds won't do it alone.

Not exactly. Psychiatrists are the ones that do medicine, psychologists are the ones that do therapy. The problem is the regular M Ds that will put you on medication without consulting a mental health specialist.

edited 10th Apr '11 4:29:38 PM by DrunkGirlfriend

Not only that, but a good psych will recommend you get therapy before you start taking any drugs.

Yeah, anybody in the psych field will put you through at least a rudimentary therapy session before they start medicating.

Er, not always. For mild to moderate depression, CBT (Cognitive Behavorial Therapy) as a first course of action is accepted. However, for severe depression it's recommended that you are on a stable drug regimen before CBT as the CBT just won't stick.

Not without the first session, which is usually all the basic tests and a short chat.

Unless you're talking about depression so severe that you're in a mental hospital, then yeah, they're going to medicate the crap out of you.

I've been through this 'CBT' stuff for over a year now. Or I was supposed to be, it doesn't really feel therapeutic. We're either having casual chats or 'planning my treatment', the latter sucks up a lot of time (why does she need to stare at the computer so much? ). Eh. Feels kind of distant and scientistic.

edited 11th Apr '11 6:28:55 PM by LoveHappiness

Maybe you need to look for a different therapist? I know that I went to three or four different psychologists before I found one that helped.

This sounds like it might be a combination of a bad therapist fit/your depression affecting your motivation to work through the CBT. It's important to remember it's not your fault that it didn't work out the first time. CBT is a hard thing to do, but please keep at it! Just like the medication it may take a lot of trial and error before you get it right.