The way I see it at least half the doctors and therapists out there graduated in the lower half of their classes.

Ha, good point.

I stopped going to my doctor because she became so nasty. The final straw was when I made an appointment to discuss how the medication I was taking was making me gain weight (and to once again ask if I could not try something else) and before I could get a word out she started haranguing me about my weight gain, as if it were a character flaw she needed to address.

That's what my GP does. Almost every reason I see her for she says it's "because of the weight". And she says it in a snotty way, as if she's accusing me of a wrongdoing- but then she snaps out that the medication I'm on causes weight gain, and that there's nothing that can be done about it. All of her words condescending, or at least that's the way she sounds to me.

I resolved then and there to get off the anti-depressant I was on, for three reasons: it didn't seem to be helping (she only wanted to give me more of the same); it made me hungry all the time, and if I went even a few days without it (which happened all the time because I could not get to the pharmacy promptly to fill the prescription) I went through horrible withdrawal.


Yes, w/d from every AD I've been on is horrific.

Well, the withdrawal was absolutely dreadful, even though I did it as slowly as possible. The last week before the symptoms abated I couldn't work, they were so bad.

The end result is, I am still depressed, but no more so than I was on the drug, and I am finally losing the weight. Unless or until someone can tell me I won't pile on the pounds and suffer withdrawal from hell, I am never taking an anti-depressant again.

I do NOT recommend what I did to anyone. I hope what my story does is makes you resolve to put some steel into your voice and say "My concern is serious and deserves attention! If you cannot address it, please refer me to someone who can!!!!!"

I like that- "steel in my voice". That's what I'm planning to do today - seriously assert myself and insist that Dr. W. pays attention to the weight gain issue - which is causing other medical problems that are very serious.

My former doctor had no business prescribing psychotropic drugs nor treating emotional concerns. Just because they can prescribe, doesn't mean they know how, in my opinion.