[CgRgSm]

Hi all, things have been tough for me, I've been seeing a therapist since mid October and just recently went to a Psychiatrist who diagnosed me with depression and anxiety. He didn't say anything like "major" depression or something else that I think I have heard before, but just "depression and anxiety". That is literally all he said to me before I was out the door. So he prescribed 10 mg Prozac and 0.5 mg Xanax, Prozac taken in the morning (which for me is at night because I work the night shift), and Xanax for bedtime.

So I was taking that since Monday, the 26th of Nov., stopped Friday. I really want to try and to make it work, but that Thursday I took the Xanax, went to sleep, woke up, and attempted to drive to work and work as normal. Now, I read the side effects and it sounds horrible for both of these drugs. How am I supposed to work or function or drive at all if I am on these ?? Well when I woke up that night I felt more tired and fatigued than I ever have in my life. Then I tried driving and immediately I noticed that I couldn't see straight, couldn't concentrate, and felt nauseous. I had diarrhea that night and couldn't work, had to have my family take me home.

I'm not certain but I think that I had some sort of reaction to the drugs, so I stopped taking them. I don't know what to do now though, it is so hard to contact the doctor, and I promised my therapist that I would try to make it work. I left a message for the doctor but it is the weekend now and I probably won't be able to talk to anyone any time soon. I don't want to mess up though and waste more time by not giving the meds a chance. I don't know what to do and I feel like crap, any advice?

[Rohag]

Hello, CgRgSm!

Originally Posted by CgRgSm

...I read the side effects and it sounds horrible for both of these drugs.

Yes, the range of possible side effects of psychoactive drugs are usually frightening. Few people experience all of those effects, and some folks experience none.

Your Thursday experience was serious and could have been a side effect of one of the drugs or of that specific combination. In the absence of immediate counsel from your caretakers, suddenly stopping your recently started meds -- usually inadvisable -- was a reasonable safety precaution. I'm particularly glad you decided not to attempt to drive. The driving issue is something to discuss with both your doctor and therapist.

I would hope your caretakers do not expect you to endanger yourself or others in an attempt to get better.

[unaluna]

That's a lot of xanax for some people. I'm a big girl and I had to cut mine in half. My pdoc was surprised. It sounds like you did not get a full 8 hours sleep afterwards. You can't fool around with this stuff.

[ECHOES]

Prozac will take a few weeks to begin to work, and during that time there will be side effects that should go away in time.

Xanax helped me on an as-needed basis, and I usually cut my .5mg tabs into quarters or less, but used half or a whole for sleep. However, if I took Xanax for several days in a row, I felt like my depression worsened. I rarely take it now, and it's good to know how it works for me.

A medication that helped me years ago for depression with anxiety, was Gabapentin (Neurontin).

[shortandcute]

i was scared to death to even take my meds at first; in fact it took me 8 months after it was first prescribed b4 i could bring myself to take them. partly because at that time i had just read an article about a 19 year old girl, who at 15, murdered a 9 year old girl after the doc upped her dosage of prozac! i finally broke down and started taking them this last june because i was going to kill myself.

i've had some side effects, but they have not been near as bad as i thought would be.

[Corvid]

Xanax is generally a bad idea for general anxiety, because it only lasts a few hours and then you crash and feel worse that you did before you took it - just generally what I hear. For my anxiety, my Pdoc has me on .5 mg Xanax as needed for severe bouts of anxiety and 10 mg of Valium - which is MUCH longer lasting, twice a day consistently. Usually Xanax is only used for sleep for a week or so, or for extreme cases of anxiety or panic attacks. There's no harm in halving the dose if it gives you problems. As for the SSRI - those are pretty much hell for about a month, sorry about that. :-(

[CgRgSm]

Thanks for all your replies. I guess I will have to wait until I can talk to my doctor or therapist again. I don't see the point of anything... if I want to stop depression why does the drug I have to take have known effects of causing even worse depression? I just don't get it. So bored, lonely, and depressed.

[shortandcute]

p.s. it takes a while for the meds to kick in sometimes too. for me it took about 3 weeks