can meds make you more depressed?

hey!

I've been on paxil (paroxetine) for almost two months now. It's my 20th day on the regular 20mg dose, before that I took 10mg. the 10mg only increased my anxiety, and didn't have any good effects. when I started the 20mg, on the first day of it, I had a panic attack. it was horrible. But I kind of thought, okay, it's kind of normal to have side-effects, so I didn't care about it. and then at like 11-12 days it started to make my anxiety better, and then I even felt a bit of energy increase, and a better mood.
that lasted for about day 15, but in the last 5 days or so, it's slowly starting to get worse. I don't care about anything, I feel like I can't feel good or bad either, can't cry, can't laugh, no sexual drive at all, and I feel totally hopeless too. Whatever I try to get out of this, only makes it worse, that's what I feel. I know that they say, the "full effects/benefits only appear after 4-6 weeks or even 2 months... but come on! I actually feel suicidal today, and totally worn out and hopeless. Is this normal? is this a side effect of the meds? or is it that I'm getting fed up, of no matter how hard I'm trying, I can't make my condition any better?
what should I do? stop the meds?
Start jogging, even if I'm fatigued out as hell?
is there ANYTHING that actually helps??? I'm meeting some friends almost every day, they come over to visit me, I take daily walks, I take Omega 3, spirulina algae, multivitamin, i go twice a week to psychotherapy, i go once monthly to my psychiatrist, i take the meds every day at the same time... what the f--- is up? what more can I do? why isn't it getting better? why is it only getting worse?
I would literally do anything that people say it helps, but so far NOTHING helped!! wtf is this ??? i would rather have a broken leg or anything that has a normal diagnose and a normal cure.

Call pdoc immediately, stop the med. I have known, professionally and personally, some meds to cause some people the adverse effects you describe.
There is likely another med that will work for you.
(I sympathize with wanting the broken leg---being in traction for months is so much more socially acceptable) Do run, or walk fast. Keep going in spite of symptoms. In the end it pays off big time.

Yes, call your doctor right away. Sounds as though you are having an adverse reaction to the medication.

thank you very much !!
i've been to therapy today, and my therapist assured me that everything's perfectly normal what's going on with me. so it was kind of a relief.

Did your psychiatrist tell you, Newlifeyeah, that all medications leave an acidic ash (or residue) that the system must metabolize? When we take psychotropic medicatons (or any over-the-counter ones) daily, that ash can build into a problem with acidic tissue and fluids in the body. To counteract that (and to create a more alkaline state of the tissues and fluids--which is healthy--), we need to do something to alleviate that condition.

The lowly little lemon will help do that for you. Even though the lemon is a citric
acid fruit, it is digested as leaving a highly alkaline ash, and that's what eases the
stress of psychotropic meds for several of us.

You may wish to try it. Squeeze two lemons into about 6-8 oz of water. Drink it all.
If you aren't better in 4 hours, repeat the process. That usually brings your alkaline
condition back to a more comfortable situation for you. (Because the lemon tastes
so acidic, it's a good idea to drink the juice with a straw because that helps prevent
damage to the enamel on the teeth.)

I keep lemons on hand all the time, and when I feel the fatigue, restless, and irritability emerging, I go for the "lemon thing" I call it.

Hope it works for you.

You might also wish to look at a website called http://www.acid-reactingfoods.com
to learn about changing your diet to a more alkaline ingestion of foods. It really
does help to make some changes that are apparent to you in what you eat daily
that could benefit your feeling tone. You need to compare that with other
websites that will print for you an alkaline list of foods. See alkalinefoods.com

Another very helpful thing is adding the Omega 3 fatty acids to the diet. If you
begin to feel much better taking Omega3's daily, you're safe in continuing to use
them because they have been proven now to be of benefit in relieving depression
and the condition known as bipolar illness.

Good wishes on improving your feeling tone.

I would like to 2nd the idea for you to contact your pdoc's office immediately. Be sure to impress upon whoever you talk to that this is an emergency. Don't let them put you off.

I was on Paxil (& Prozac) years ago. Neither Paxil nor Prozac had any effect on me at all one way or the other. So, from my perspective, the extreme effects you're having are odd indeed. But don't just stop taking it all at once either. That could make things even worse. Let your pdoc taper off the Paxil & substitute something else.

I've been on Cymbalta for over a year now & it has been the best SSRI I've taken. It's not perfect... but it helps & there are virtually no side effects for me.

Anyway I wish you all the best. Let us know how it's going.

Some medications can worsen depression. I have an aunt who toon a medications that made he feel very sucidal. She stopped taking it and found something better that worked for her. If the side effects are bad or your depression worsens I would call your pdoc.

Cymbalta is an SNRI.

thank you so much!
I think I feel better now, the way I was feeling wasn't because the meds. I'm having a hard time feeling my feelings realizing them. Why I feel in a certain way. well I will still give another 2-3 weeks to paxil,and we'll se what happens!

Hello! Thank you so much for the long response!
yes I'm aware that diet changes can be beneficial!
I will try the "lemon thing"

I do take Omega 3 and i find it very helpful.
thank you so much again!

feeling suicidal can be a side-effect in the early stages of taking an SSRI or other anti-depressant. Once the body gets used to the substance, these side-effects will get better, or they will dissappear.. that's what they say..

This is true, especially in younger people, because the medication starts to give you the energy to act that you didn't have before; but it can be dangerous too----so keep talking to t. and don't hesitate to try something else if the feelings continue or the mood becomes distressing. Best to you.

I'm still waiting for the energy though
but yeah, life has ups and downs, and not NEARLY everything that happens to you is because of the meds. especially in the case of some mental health issue. thank you!

I started taking Lamictal for depression 7 weeks ago. My depression has kinda became worse.
I sit in the house every weekend and refuse to run errands on weekdays, in the evenings. This week I started taking 200 MG and my pdoc said I should notice a difference.

good luck with the new dose!
Be patient, and try not to think about it too much it helps.

Thx, I'll do just that.

I tried Paxil, made me want to hurt people real bad. It was all I could do to resist the urge. Spent another week in the hospital. Seems I hear more bad effects on more people with paxil, but there are also people it helps.

I'm pretty sure the first 1 month on paxil is pretty rough. As it is for me. But actually the more your body gets used to it, the more its benefits come to surface. you really gotta be patient with it, that's all I guess.

When I was on Lexapro (nearly 3 years ago), it made me more depressed. It also increased my anger levels dramatically. I could be in public and somebody could royally irritate me and I'd be within an inch from punching them. No lie... Eventually I went cold turkey and gave up on anti-depressants.

how long did u take it for?
brain chemical levels are not really to be messed with, but in the case of it, you really got to give time. It doesn't happen overnight, that the brain gets used to altered levels of serotonin, dopamin, etc.

I'll say, my pdoc didn't ask me to be patient with my complaints on meds. It wasn't my first time on them.

He tapered me off, and that was that. Some of us, our bodies aren't able to accept the meds..

Being really angry, really angry was one of my complaints, this last time on the meds.

I had some ideation, anger, couldn't sleep, and well...my 'drive' went from rather normal to Nothing!!! That's one side effect, I am NOT about to wait for.

If the pdoc, accepts our reasons, it just is. Some of us, do have to learn to cope and manage sans meds. *sigh*