I want to stop the meds!

[Kaleo40]

I really really want to stop taking anti-depressants. I have been on Celexa for over a year and my doctor just recently switched me to Effexor because I was complaining of being too tired to do anything while on the Celexa. I've only been on the Effexor for 5 days and only half the dose. I've been having problems with the side effects since the day I started it. My biggest concern and worry though, is my 2 year old who I still breastfeed, has started acting really tired and irritable, and just plain not acting herself. I don't know if it's the Effexor doing this to her, or the fact that I just weaned off the Celexa, but I don't want to continue taking anything that will have a possible side effect on my daughter! On top of this, my DH will be home from Iraq in a few months and we are going to TTC after he gets home. I would like to get a handle on my depression without the use of meds before I have to deal with pregnancy hormones on top of it. I'm finally going to bite the bullet and call a psychologist on monday to set up an appointment, so hopefully I can find some help there. I guess what this really long post is coming down to, is I wanted to find out how many have been able to come off the meds and get help otherwise. I'm interested in trying supplements that I see mentioned here and there on this board, but I don't really know where to find information about how much and how to use them. Any help is appreciated!

[Lissacamille]

I understand about wanting to stop meds. I had a nervous breakdown with reactive psychosis three years ago and am still in the process of coming off meds, one at a time. At one time I was on 8-9 medications at once. Now I am down to four, thank God!
If your baby is irritable I would shelve the meds and talk to my dr. NOW. BF is more important. BTW, I took Lexapro and it is a lot gentler on your system and really works! Maybe you could switch to that.
But be easy on yourself. Depression is hard to come out of and you need to cut yourself bunches of slack. Get the depression under control before you even think of conceiving again.
I'm so glad your DH is coming home! Hooray! (I'm a military wife too.) Tell him "THANK YOU" for serving our country!

[Lissacamille]

I forgot to mention that if you are looking for a healthy supplement for depression, there is always vitamin B complex. It works wonders!

[JanB]

Get exercise. Take B complex vitamins and fish oil. (I don't know if either of those actually help, but they can't hurt.)

And consider cognitive-behavioral therapy (as opposed to "talk therapy"). It is helping me immensely, as I am getting concrete exercises to help change my thought patterns. I hope to wean from the meds sometime in the next several months, after I get a handle on the CBT techniques.

Also, don't quit your meds without talking to your doctor. I tried doing this a month or so again, and it was a complete and total nightmare, please learn from my mistake and do not do this yourself.

[MoonWillow]

Weaning from Effexor can be rough so be careful there. A psychiatrist is probably going to adjust your meds/perscribe something different though. If you want to go med free and start with supplements, I would seek out a Naturopath. This book helped me a lot with figuring out supplements. But it can get overwhelming which is where a Naturopath can help you fine tune things.

[Kaleo40]

I recently weaned off Celexa so that I could start the Effexor. I had only been taking 37.5mg for 5 days, and because of it affecting my daughter through breastfeeding, I just quit taking it, hoping that it was a low enough dose and that I hadn't been taking it long enough to make withdrawl too bad. I've only gone 2 days without it now and I go back to see my doc tomorrow, so we'll see what she has to say.

Thank you MotherWren for the book reccomendation, but your link isn't working for me.

[MoonWillow]

Sorry about that!
http://www.moodcure.com/

[granola_mom]

Originally Posted by Lissacamille

I forgot to mention that if you are looking for a healthy supplement for depression, there is always vitamin B complex. It works wonders!

: FYI, I was put on effexor and really think it's an evil drug. I didn't read anything about it at the time, because I was just far too depressed and didn't care. I started taking it, got massive migranes and started reading about it. Everything I've read about it is that it is THE worst drug to get off of. What I read scared me so much, I quit cold turkey after about a month taking it. It was also partially the realization that I didn't want to be going that route... maybe the drugs helped me realize that. After that I started on vitamin b complex and it helped a lot.

[leewd]

My DH takes Effexor with good results - he's on 75mg.

37.5 is the intro-dose. So, you can stop it if that's all you are taking, but please don't stop without talking to your DR first!

I totally understand you wanting to be med-free to TTC. Your DR should understand that and be wiling to work with you. If you can be med-free from TTC to 14 weeks PG (second trimester), you're good to go back on meds. That covers the "danger" period. Is your DR a specialist in PPD and Prenatal Depression? If not, I'd go find one. S/He would be much better suited to work with you during a transition like this.


--LEE