Antidepressant round-up

[DanaC]

I tried a few anti-depressants years ago; but didn't like them, and didn;t really treat them with enough respect (note to self: Seroxat is not a recreational drug! )

I am quite wary of anti-depressants on the whole. I think they are often prescribed to people who are not actually suffering from the kinds of depression that the drugs are meant to tackle. That's probably where a lot of the horror stories of people getting worse on meds come from. Some types of depression can be tackled with medication, some really shouldn't. Unfortunately many GPs have a tendency to view it as a simple depressed/not depressed issue and either assume drugs will help, or assume they won't, without actually establishing a real diagnosis of what kind of depression they are looking at or what causal factors might be at play. At the same time, the psychiatric professionals often seem siloed into their own area of expertise and push their own pet strategies almost regardless of depression type/cause.

If you have a bi-polar condition then medication is usually a very sensible route. CBT is great, but is unlikely to be able to tackle wild swings in brain chemistry.

What I do take are drugs that act on anxiety, rather than depression. I take hydroxizine, which is a combination anti-histimine and sedative. Because of the eczema, I get anxious, and because I get anxious the eczema gets worse and so forth. Even if my eczema is ok, if I have a bout of anxiety it will kick it off big style. The hydroxizine allows me to break that cycle when I am in it, and prevent it occurring at certain regular times (such as night time). It's far from perfect, but it helps. Unfortunately medicine hasn't really learned how to deal with the sensation of itching yet. They can block histimine production, but that really only answers a small part of the itch problem: not all itching is the result of histimine production. beyond that, anti-priuritics and sedatives can be helpful: but they all treat itching as essentially a mild form of pain. We now know, though only very recently, that itching is an entirely distinct process using entirely distinct receptors.

All they can really do right now is sedate, mildly anaesthetise and bring down inflammation.

For the rest i self-medicate with pot and coffee, and sci-fi :P

[Trilby]

what is CBT?

eta - oh. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. (thanks, Google!)

I see a therapist but she's actually a cancer therapy specialist. She's helped me more than any other form of Rx/therapy combined. She's simply wonderful. I've learned so much from her - she's helped me! BUT, I went to many, many therapists who were of minimal to no help. It's important to keep pressing and looking for one that works for you.

The one thing cancer did do for me was introduce me to her. She's changed my life in many ways.

plus, the prozac. Gotta have the prozac.

[ZenGum]

Well, it might lift a little depression to know that every time I read CBT, my sick mind thinks of the other CBT first. Even when reviewing psych student essays at work.

Sometimes it is hard to be me. Is there a pill for that?

[Lamplighter]

This thread is a year old now, and I'm not resurrecting it to get
Dwellars to post again their personal experiences.
Instead, I wonder if others feel that pharmaceutical companies
are feeding the flames of mental illness primarily for $ profit.

The article below bothers me... because I don't believe it.
I find it difficult to believe 12% of the population NEED to be
on prescription drugs, just to carry on with their lives.

Washington Post
David Brown
January18, 2012

Government survey finds that 5 percent of Americans suffer from a ‘serious mental illness’

About 20 percent of American adults suffer some sort of mental illness each year,
and about 5 percent experience a serious disorder that disrupts work, family or social life,
according to a government report released Thursday.<snip>

Prescription medicine was the most common treatment, used by 12 percent of adults.
Between 2002 and 2010, the percentage of adults getting outpatient counseling fell slightly (to 7 percent),
while the fraction of adults using a prescription drug went up.
<snip>

Daniel J. Carlat, a Massachusetts psychiatrist whose 2010 book
“Unhinged: The Trouble With Psychiatry” criticized the profession’s overreliance on prescription drugs,
agreed “that there is a kind of alarmist quality to these reports.”
The disorders found could include spider-phobia and staying upset
for a long time after arguing with one’s spouse.
<snip>

Your thoughts ????

[Trilby]

um...what is the other CBT?

[skysidhe]

Magnesium Malate is good for what ails you.

oh and reading some descriptions of the antidepressants you are taking, seems science has come a long way. I am glad they are working. Especially interesting are the anti anxiety meds. I am glad to know you have had such dramatic results SG.

My son who works on his anxiety in alternate fashion cannot take them, as he has a bad reaction to them. He thinks therapists are are a waste of time and has his own CBT workbooks to work through any anxiety, by changing the way his body wants to react to stress.

As long as there is focussed routine it works pretty well.

[footfootfoot]

I eat very health consciously, exercise, take yoga, meditate, and have done CBT. I've never had suicidal thoughts until recently. My feeling about suicide is it's like walking out of a movie before it's over. When watching movies, I generally like to give the film/film maker the benefit of the doubt and wait to see how it ends, maybe they pull it together before the end. You don't know until then.

CBT has always been a problem for me since I have eyt to meet a therapist that wasn't either more fucked up than me, or nowhere near as smart as me and thus unable to realize that I am playing them. The worst is when I've seen therapists who make the mistake of confusing depression with stupidity. I don't really have much faith in CBT, after about 15 therapists over the past 25 years, I doubt I'll find one who will be helpful. Not to mention the cost.

My depression was diagnosed as Dysthymia. For me, what should take about five minutes, e.g. Go downstairs and get the board, measure it, cut it, and bring it back upstairs and nail it in place, takes about a half an hour or longer with a significant amount of time spent standing there thinking about having to go all the way downstairs and get the board... Sometimes I'll just get as far as going and getting the board and deciding I will measure it tomorrow.

I will load the washing machine and wash the clothes, then dry them. The dry clothes will then sit in the basket for weeks. If I do the laundry, then I probably won't be able to do anything else, like shave or sew a button on my shirt. It comes on so slowly that I don't even notice it until I find I am not returning important phone calls or emails, taking all day to get one sink of dishes washed, etc.

It's kind of fucked up.

Lately, and for the first time in my life, I have begun to feel that my family would be better off without me around. This is not the dominant thought, but it has begun to show up and that gives me concern. That and being unable to accomplish even the most insignificant tasks.

A friend with many years of sobriety in AA told me that his sponsor said to him "A lot of people will say 'I drink because my life is a mess' I suggest they flip the causality; there life is a mess because they drink."

So, for a long time I was feeling I'm depressed because of x,y,z in my life, and my friend asked me if it were possible that x,y,z were in my life because I was depressed.

In any case, I'm seeing my Doc first thing Monday am.

And thanks for your thoughts.

[Griff]

Take care brother.

[Spexxvet]

Originally Posted by footfootfoot

Lately, and for the first time in my life, I have begun to feel that my family would be better off without me around. This is not the dominant thought, but it has begun to show up and that gives me concern.

I get that, too. It's not an active thought to off myself, more like a thought that if I were to die in a car accident, it would be no big thing.

[skysidhe]

I am sorry this is happening to you foot. It is frustrating and maybe the frustration in it'self leads to a spiraling down. You seem to be funny and smart and you are needed by so many people. Here too! Keep your head up and just know there is light at the end of what seems like a long dark tunnel.

I am glad you are going to see your doctor on Monday. I know he will give you something to get you back on your feet. I hope he can prescribe something to elevate your mood a bit. When you are having such a bad time, I would not stand in anyones way by getting the medications that would help them feel better. It's just about what works for the individual.

Talking about mood elevators. I tried this product called, Sam-e once for joint pain but the "UP" jolt I got from it made me feel anxious. I could imagine that for someone who is down a mood enhancer like this might benefit. The word is that many people find it helps with their mood. I don't know.

Be well foot

[skysidhe]

I think you have something here foot. Maybe you are having mini sezures all of the time. Make the doctor check it out!


I know that sounds bossy.

Symptoms

The symptoms felt by the person, and the signs observable by others, during seizures which begin in the temporal lobe depend upon the specific regions of the temporal lobe and neighboring brain areas affected by the seizure. The International Classification of Epileptic Seizures published in 1981 by the International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE) recognizes three types of seizures which persons with TLE may experience.[24]
Simple Partial Seizures (SPS) involve small areas of the temporal lobe such as the amygdala or the hippocampus. The term "simple" means that consciousness is not altered. In temporal lobe epilepsy SPS usually only cause sensations. These sensations may be mnestic such as déjà vu (a feeling of familiarity), jamais vu (a feeling of unfamiliarity), a specific single or set of memories, or amnesia. The sensations may be auditory such as a sound or tune, gustatory such as a taste, or olfactory such as a smell that is not physically present. Sensations can also be visual, involve feelings on the skin or in the internal organs. The latter feelings may seem to move over the body. Psychic sensations can occur such as an out-of-body feeling. Dysphoric or euphoric feelings, fear, anger, and other sensations can also occur during SPS. Often, it is hard for persons with SPS of TLE to describe the feeling. SPS are often called "auras" by lay persons who mistake them for a warning sign of a subsequent seizure. In fact, they are indeed seizures. Persons experiencing only SPS may not recognize what they are or seek medical advice about them. SPS may or may not progress to the seizure types listed below.

[Trilby]

foot - allow me to add my voice to the choir: I am VERY glad you are going to see your doc on Monday. Maybe print out what you wrote up there and hand it to him/her?

You sound more than dysthymic IMHO. can you wait until monday??

[Undertoad]

I am quite wary of anti-depressants on the whole. I think they are often prescribed to people who are not actually suffering from the kinds of depression that the drugs are meant to tackle. That's probably where a lot of the horror stories of people getting worse on meds come from.

This is a very common statement and I'm here to tell you that, for the people who truly don't need them, anti-depression meds do nothing.

The horror stories come from people who are given the wrong drug for their condition, i.e., someone given antidepressants, who really needs a mood stabilizer, is likely to get much worse.

Also, since everyone's brains are different, it often takes a little trial and error to find the right med and the right dosage. For a while I was having side effects at a higher dosage - so I took a lower amount and was fine. Then I went to an even lower dosage, and the anxiety illness came back.

[Juniper]

I feel similar sometimes, foot. In all those ways. There are days I just can't seem to get a damn thing done. I've got this writing business, but I can't make myself do what I need to market myself, and if I do get a gig I put it off till I'm apologizing and making excuses, always getting it done just at the very tail end of their time allotment--when I used to be known as Ms. Quick Turnaround. I just finished one yesterday and it was like *torture* to do it - granted, it was about stocks & 401k's and such . . . but still!

And this house! I keep thinking that I'm unmotivated because I hate the house. But I don't hate it, it's just overwhelming. I can't keep up with housework. I stay home so I can keep on top of things and take care of my family and maybe do some home improvement stuff but it's just so HAAAAARD.

Then I feel terrible about myself because I never do a damn thing, I tell myself I'm so lazy, I'm a loser, my husband ought to just kick me out and find a better wife and mother for our kids. Worse yet sometimes I SAY that and get everybody upset, then I feel bad about myself for doing that too. Ugh.

I felt great about myself when I was in school, but it wasn't perfect because all I was doing was putting off the other stuff so I could focus on the one important thing in my life just then, the school stuff, and of course there was immediate feedback telling me I did good, yes I was actually good at something, and I figured that even though I was letting my family down it was only for a little while longer . . . but even then I felt terribly selfish.

Yeah, I need help. Last time I went to a therapist he was a complete blithering idiot. Hard to believe any of them aren't, at this point. We get counseling free through hubby's work, but that's where the idiot came from. You get what you pay for, eh?

[DanaC]

@ UT: *nods* that sounds about right. Most of my experience with anti-depressants comes from well over a decade ago. I suspect that things have moved on since then. How depression is diagnosed, understanding of different causes and types, recognition of the complex brain chemistry involved and so forth has all progressed since the initial prozac/seroxat flurry.

Long time since I went and got a catch-all diagnosis of 'clinical depression'. I went looking at wiki pages to figure out what that condition Foot listed, and found something that sounds so very like my experience that it could easily fit as a diagnosis.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyclothymia