Share your experiences of antidepressants

[Verres]

Recent thinking suggests that some people simply produce less seratonin - an heriditary type thing.

I honestly don't know how common it is, and I suppose it may often be triggered by a particualar event.....but certain people are apparently genetically predisposed to suffer depression, because of hormonal stuff.

[yaroslav]

thanks for the info, although it's sad info, indeed

[Dis]

Originally posted by Ted Striker
Lack of sunlight will definitley cause depression.

Some people are immune to it, but most people need sunlight to function properly.

this seems to affect me. though I'm not sure how or why.

Lately I've been getting really depressed in the winter. Yet even in winter, we still get plenty of sunlight (though we've had many, many rainy days this winter). But just less hours of sunlight.

[Ted Striker]

Originally posted by Dissident


this seems to affect me. though I'm not sure how or why.

Lately I've been getting really depressed in the winter. Yet even in winter, we still get plenty of sunlight (though we've had many, many rainy days this winter). But just less hours of sunlight.

There is alot of stuff out there about it if you are interested in reading.

http://www.nmha.org/infoctr/factsheets/27.cfm

Basically sunlight triggers the hormones in your brain on when it should send out messages to sleep or be awake, when to eat, etc.

When it's dark outside you aren't getting those messages.

I think there are alot of other things going on besides that at a non hormonal level that we don't know about. Sunlight simulates Vitamin-D production for example.

[Provost Harrison]

Prozac (Fluoxetine HCl) in combination with propranalol for anxiety and depression. I was a sufferer of depression in some way or other throughout the duration of my adult life. I've been to counselling and god knows what and it can't cure the problem. Eventually with my 'love life' problems and the leaving of my PhD coupled with the following long period of unemployment I was at the bottom. So I tried the antidepressant route. Fortunately it was the first thing I tried and was well tolerated by my system with no side effects but definitely lifted my mood considerably. With things since having much improved in many respects I have been able to come off the antidepressants.

I have been off them for about a year now - the career situation has picked up considerably since then so I am not worried about that. Plus it has given me a long term ability to cope with all that love life crap, something which I feel I have had to 'write off' if that makes sense. I don't know what is going to happen in that respect, or how other career stuff is going to go. It worries me in a far milder way than it used to, but at least I don't sh*t myself at the thought of where my life is going.

[Bugs ****ing Bunny]

I've got a promotional pen from Prozac. It's a cheerful orange colour. I'd love to stab someone in the neck with it simply for ironic comedy value.

[Provost Harrison]

[Footie Mad]

Originally posted by Sava


Effexor... dangerous medication... physically addictive, probably lead to my first suicide attempt

How could it lead to a suicide attempt?

[Dis]

because that's the new way for lawyers to make money. blame antidepressents for suicide attempts.

[Provost Harrison]

Don't be surprised by that, some antidepressants act in wildly different ways in different people...in fact it is the subject of great controversy that in some subjects that antidepressants can actually exacerbate the problem, hence the need for careful monitoring. There is one hell of a lot of controversy surrounding Seroxat/Paxil (Paroxetine HCl) at the moment...

[Dauphin]

I blame the QA departments for not ensuring the quality of their products.

[Footie Mad]

Yeah one doctor told me that Risperdal might actually be making things worse, great to know when you've been taking it for months.

[Provost Harrison]

Originally posted by Dauphin
I blame the QA departments for not ensuring the quality of their products.

[Mrs. Tuberski]

Depression is a coping mechanism for most people. It is as somebody asked caused by chemical imbalances in the body. However the mind is a very powerful thing. There are other methods to battle this Medication is just faster and quicker with what docs claim a higher sucess rate. For me a classic case of a person that should need them dont take them. I say this because of a rape i experienced and loss of a few jobs because of that rape try to stay strong in mind and faith. So far and after at least 10 years of counseling i havent taken the pills. That and the fact that i have a wonderful husband and sometimes kids help.

[Provost Harrison]

Originally posted by Footie Mad
Yeah one doctor told me that Risperdal might actually be making things worse, great to know when you've been taking it for months.

The problem is that when you are starting on this stuff you should be monitored very highly for a first month or so. If you do get any problems and you think you are feeling worse [b]tell them immediately[b] before it spirals. Doctors cannot magically tell the nature of how your system is going to handle it. At the present moment that technology does not exist to tell that in advance.