[trilogy31]

Background and a snapshot of me is I'm a 31yr old male in good physical shape. Have suffered from depression and misanthropy (distrust and dislike) for a while now. Seemingly getting worse as I get older and more isolated. Anxiety and dislike for most social situations. Communication becoming worse as I become more isolated outside of work. Live by myself.

Visited a psychiatrist for first time a couple weeks ago. Have never been to or spoken to a medical professional or therapist before since I'm innately distrustful. Have never taken any psychoactive drugs legal or illegal. Spoke for 30 minutes... felt nervous entire time. Doctor didn't do much to introduce or make me feel comfortable. Had some sort of assistant standing in... literally standing the whole time just watching and listening. Didn't tell me specific diagnosis (also didn't ask), but mentioned depression, anxiety, and mild paranoia symptoms.

Prescribed Prozac and Risperdal, received the generic equivalent in the forms of Fluoxetine HCL 20 mg, and Risperidone 1 mg at alternating times-- morning and night respectively.

Mood definitely brightened. I felt I could look people in the eye. My feelings of depression and hopelessness greatly decreased. But I did feel flat -- no feelings of happiness or sadness -- doing activites like watching TV or talking with others. The side effects were immense fatigue especially in the mornings coupled with insomnia (waking during sleep). I had to drag myself out of bed. By mid day I'd be up fine and running but would wear down from excess fatigue near end of day. Very lethargic. The main downside is I had severe sexual side effects. It simply didn't work anymore. When it did I could not climax.

Stopped both on my own 2 days prior to 2 week follow up with doctor. Original doctor couldn't see me, saw another of his assistants (unknown credentials). Felt more at ease this time, explained problems and was prescribed Wellbutrin, given generic Bupropion HCL XL 150mg once a day.

Immediately depression worsened. Felt more down, more feelings of anger at coworkers. Almost suicidal "downs". Wanted to withdraw further from life. Pronounced feelings of wanting to harm others for 'being so stupid', contemplating how I could 'get away with it'. Took it for a full week trying to let it work itself out, but ultimately decided to stop taking 3 days ago, and now feel fine, sort of even, but I'm not sure how long it will last. Follow up with doctor is not for another 3 weeks and I'm not sure what I should do from here.

Is this normally how people treat their depression and psychological issues simply taking and trying new medicines? My insurance does not really cover psychotherapy. I believe I am only allowed like 8 visits and then its all out of pocket. So I never really considered that route. Also becoming frustrated with trying and taking new medicines, paying copays and burning through my limited resources as I live on my own and have no savings.

So far nobody knows I've sought out help or am on medication, and I'd like to keep it that way. Looking for options and advice please.

[vital]

Originally Posted by trilogy31

...
So far nobody knows I've sought out help or am on medication, and I'd like to keep it that way. Looking for options and advice please.

Dear trilogy31,

In my personal opinion, what you have described is horrible care. Here is what I think is the best plan, with plenty of options. The first step, it seems to me is to carefully look for purely medical or nutritional problems and to try healthy safe ways of getting better before immediately going for drugs that may have serious short and long term consequences:

http://forums.psychcentral.com/4262681-post105.html

- vital

[Nike007]

Hello. I'm sorry about all the terrible side effects that happened to you. I would ask your pdoc for your actual diagnosis. It would be helpful for you to know in the future. I just feel surprised that they were able to diagnose you with something in half an hour and give you two different types of medications. Prozac is an antidepressant while Risperdal an antipsychotic. I'm also surprised of how when you said those medications weren't working, the doctor immediately prescribed you new medication, which was even worse. That seems terrible to me. My suggestion is that you figure out what exactly they have said to you, and if you feel dissatisfied with their services, go somewhere else if you can afford and/or have insurance and/or free health care. Hope this helps.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[trilogy31]

Originally Posted by vital

Dear trilogy31,

In my personal opinion, what you have described is horrible care. Here is what I think is the best plan, with plenty of options. The first step, it seems to me is to carefully look for purely medical or nutritional problems and to try healthy safe ways of getting better before immediately going for drugs that may have serious short and long term consequences:

Thanks you vital for the advice and resource. I will definitely read through those links and possibly pick up that book for more info.

Most of what you said is completely logical and rational, but being depressed as I've been for so long, I was sort of optimistic that I could take some sort of short cut with the drugs. Just using my common sense, I've felt that drugs shouldn't have been part of an initial diagnosis unless I gave the doctor the idea that I was psychotic, but I am confident that I came across as a normal functional person who gave no indications that I was suicidal or a danger to others.

I am overall coming to realize there is no short cut to improve my life and that's why I've joined this forum to gain more information for myself.

[emijec]

it sounds like a clinic with limited resources, can u go to another health center? or somewhere where they do sliding scale? talking to a therapist for at least 2-3 sessions can help you get the diagnosis right, though I noticed of what you're feeling I'm going through as my 2nd round of depression, waking up early is one of the side effects. you need to find the right meds and give it 3 weeks or so to begin seeing the effects. I liked celexa but at the end it gave me drenched sweats at night, reneron made me gain 10 pounds in 1.5 weeks, I'm on Zoloft now and it's helped with my anxiety and depression ( at the end of week 2). for sleep u can try trazodone but that leaves u groggy, I'm on Ativan for a bit and I just take it when I wake up so I can go back to sleep.

[Crypts_Of_The_Mind]

Originally Posted by trilogy31

Background and a snapshot of me is I'm a 31yr old male in good physical shape. Have suffered from depression and misanthropy (distrust and dislike) for a while now. Seemingly getting worse as I get older and more isolated. Anxiety and dislike for most social situations. Communication becoming worse as I become more isolated outside of work. Live by myself.

Visited a psychiatrist for first time a couple weeks ago. Have never been to or spoken to a medical professional or therapist before since I'm innately distrustful. Have never taken any psychoactive drugs legal or illegal. Spoke for 30 minutes... felt nervous entire time. Doctor didn't do much to introduce or make me feel comfortable. Had some sort of assistant standing in... literally standing the whole time just watching and listening. Didn't tell me specific diagnosis (also didn't ask), but mentioned depression, anxiety, and mild paranoia symptoms.

Prescribed Prozac and Risperdal, received the generic equivalent in the forms of Fluoxetine HCL 20 mg, and Risperidone 1 mg at alternating times-- morning and night respectively.

Mood definitely brightened. I felt I could look people in the eye. My feelings of depression and hopelessness greatly decreased. But I did feel flat -- no feelings of happiness or sadness -- doing activites like watching TV or talking with others. The side effects were immense fatigue especially in the mornings coupled with insomnia (waking during sleep). I had to drag myself out of bed. By mid day I'd be up fine and running but would wear down from excess fatigue near end of day. Very lethargic. The main downside is I had severe sexual side effects. It simply didn't work anymore. When it did I could not climax.

Stopped both on my own 2 days prior to 2 week follow up with doctor. Original doctor couldn't see me, saw another of his assistants (unknown credentials). Felt more at ease this time, explained problems and was prescribed Wellbutrin, given generic Bupropion HCL XL 150mg once a day.

Immediately depression worsened. Felt more down, more feelings of anger at coworkers. Almost suicidal "downs". Wanted to withdraw further from life. Pronounced feelings of wanting to harm others for 'being so stupid', contemplating how I could 'get away with it'. Took it for a full week trying to let it work itself out, but ultimately decided to stop taking 3 days ago, and now feel fine, sort of even, but I'm not sure how long it will last. Follow up with doctor is not for another 3 weeks and I'm not sure what I should do from here.

Is this normally how people treat their depression and psychological issues simply taking and trying new medicines? My insurance does not really cover psychotherapy. I believe I am only allowed like 8 visits and then its all out of pocket. So I never really considered that route. Also becoming frustrated with trying and taking new medicines, paying copays and burning through my limited resources as I live on my own and have no savings.

So far nobody knows I've sought out help or am on medication, and I'd like to keep it that way. Looking for options and advice please.

Honestly, in my experience, once you start going to a psychiatrist n counselor - yes it is "experiment til you get it right" n they give each new med 6-8 weeks before checking in on you bc that is generally how long they need to "level out" but if you have serious side effects, you should let them know before then. Also - you should always have good communication with them - both ways - have them tell you diagnosis (or suspected diagnosis) - you have a right to know what you are being treated for, but you can also go to homeopathic clinics if you are truly unhappy with conventional medicine.

[Onward2wards]

I'd suggest six thing to can try:
1. Journaling. Write down your thoughts and feelings about specific issues you have. It might lead to insights and ideas you wouldn't see otherwise.
2. Doing all the usual anti-depressive lifestyle habits usually suggested - adequate rest, good nutrition, get some sunshine and exercise, try to find people of similar interests, don't isolate or simply worry about your problems without making changes, etc. All of these things CAN help, to at least a small degree.
3. See if there are online therapists you click with. I've tried therapy via video chat and email, and found it useful. The cost can be substantially lower than face-to-face therapy.
4. If you do want to try meds, be VERY specific about the positive effects you are looking for, and any side effects which you find simply too unpleasant to put up with. Clear communication with your psychiatrist or doctor is absolutely vital, and you do have to be your own advocate.
5. Self-help books can be useful. The suggestions presented may or may not help, it's pretty much the same as getting advice from a counselor. The only limitation I find is, the advice tends to be kind of generic.
6. Keep posting about your issues on Psych Central forums and/or chat. The people here can offer good insights and potentially useful advice, based on what has worked for them.

[vital]

Originally Posted by trilogy31

Thanks you vital for the advice and resource. I will definitely read through those links and possibly pick up that book for more info.

Most of what you said is completely logical and rational, but being depressed as I've been for so long, I was sort of optimistic that I could take some sort of short cut with the drugs. Just using my common sense, I've felt that drugs shouldn't have been part of an initial diagnosis unless I gave the doctor the idea that I was psychotic, but I am confident that I came across as a normal functional person who gave no indications that I was suicidal or a danger to others.

I am overall coming to realize there is no short cut to improve my life and that's why I've joined this forum to gain more information for myself.

You're very welcome trilogy. You might want to have a look at what worked for Freewilled too:

http://forums.psychcentral.com/4715237-post156.html

- vital