After trying meds, did you decide it's not for you?

[amys35]

I'm wondering how many of you have tried to start antidepressants and then changed your mind and stopped taking them because you could not tolerate the side effects. Are there people out there who just really can't take antidepressants? I think I might one of them!

It's been 3 weeks for me on the lowest dose of prozac, 10mg and I still am feeling so funky, medicated, much worse than before I started. I am at the point where I do not want to take it tomorrow. I'm due to see the doctor on Tuesday and I know she'll just go down the list and try the next drug. I'm just so torn and frustrated.

[lil_miss_understood]

Yes. I believe there are people for whom the treatment is worse than the disease/disorder. I was one.
Meditation, exercise and aggressive nutrition therapy are what finally helped me, fwiw, though I still have bad days when I've been messing up on my vitamins.
Have to ask, did they test your thyroid prior to antidepressant treatment? (They didn't with me.) There are some medications which shouldn't be used by those w/ thyroid disorders AND thyroid disease can be an underlying cause for depression.
Just some points to ponder.

[punkrockmomma]

I hope your seeing a psychiatrist and not your GP. A GP is the type of doc to just go down the list of whatever drugs are being promoted to them at the moment my the drug reps. A psychiatrist is specifically trained in treating people with these meds and has A LOT more experience with them, and because of their experience they'll be able to find a better fit for you, and it takes some trial and error sometimes to find the right one. Also, anti depressants can take 6-8 weeks to start feeling the positive affects of them, and while you are waiting for them to start working you will feel the negative side affects of them, which usually start to go away once they start to work. I know from experience that those first 6-8 weeks can really suck, but if you really feel you need to be on these meds don't give up quite yet, and see psychiatrist.

[Starflower]

I think both the previous posters made excellent points. I do think it's important to have a physical exam and routine tests to see if there are any underlying medical issues to be addressed. I also think that if you are on psych meds, you should be seeing a psychiatrist for them because these doctors are trained so much better than the average GP in this arena. (My brother is bipolar and his meds were completely messed up by his GP. About a year ago, he ended up in the hospital because everything was out of balance. After that experience, he finally switched to a psychiatrist and he is doing the best he ever has been.) Even though the psychiatrists are experts, it is trial and error, which can be frustrating.

I have been on a couple of different types of meds, some with success, some not. (One anxiety med I was on had side effects that the doctor said were too bad, but it was the first time I'd ever felt "normal" in certain situations. I went off this drug but it did help me to see that I could feel normal.)

I did take antidepressants for several years after this. Currently, I do not take meds, but I got off them with the guidance of a psych doc. (I went off them because the Zoloft was no longer working for me.) Now I am using amino acids and vitamins as prescribed by my naturopath. I am also being treated for thyroid and for a hormonal imbalance. It's still trial and error, however, because everyone's body reacts to things differently.

Good luck. I hope you get some relief soon.

[VisionaryMom]

I'm bipolar, so I've tried many times to go off meds. We all do it. I do believe that for some people, certain psych meds cause too many problems. I've never taken Prozac, but I know there are tons of people who cannot take it. I would suggest looking into other medications before giving up.

I actually see my GP, but it's because I have so many years of this under my belt that *I* keep up on the research better than any of the doctors I've seen. My GP is great as far as working with me on what I want to take. While I've seen some good pdocs in the past, the system in the state where I live now is almost wholly state-run, which means the doctors are far too overworked. The pdocs in the system don't have the time to keep up, so in my case, they're not any better than GPs, but they do prescribe sleep & pain meds FAR more frequently.

[Proxi]

I have been on A LOT of different types of medication for my depression and anxiety. They just didn't work with my system as they were intended to... they would alleviate some symptoms and make others worse. After about ten years of that, it has been overall better than I am just not on them. The only exception is Effexor... it worked GREAT, but I had to be on a super high and potentially unsafe dosage. So there went that plan too lol.

However, three weeks is not near enough time to tell whether the side effects will go away or not.