I hate taking antidepressants!

I'm thinking you haven't had a depression for, what, maybe 6 mo? A year?
Have you asked outright what they look for as signs that you can go without the meds?

I've tried talking to my pdoc about getting off lexapro. I told him that I don't like taking it...this is the second one he's put me on. Instead he tells me that I should increase and like a fool I tell him I'll give it a try
How do you convince your pdoc and T that ypu don't need them anymore?

I've tried talking to my pdoc about getting off lexapro. I told him that I don't like taking it...this is the second one he's put me on. Instead he tells me that I should increase and like a fool I tell him I'll give it a try
How do you convince your pdoc and T that ypu don't need them anymore?

What does you pdoc say when you say you want to wean off of them?

Some people can't go off of them, ever. Others can try to get off them after six months to a year.

Why do you hate them? Do they help you?

Typically it's recommended to stay on antidepressants 1 yr after all of your symptoms remit. So if you haven't been in remission for 1 year, that could be why they are encouraging you to stay on the antidepressant. On the other hand, if it is not working and you remain depressed, I can understand why you would want to stop the med. What do your therapist and pdoc say when you discuss this with them?

I have struggled with anti-depressive medication for ever. I took Lexapro for a sometime and even though it was one of the better one's it never made any real difference for my illness, I spent years feeling numb and living on the outside of existence....

It took a lot of time and effort but I finally convinced my doctors to let me try a drug free therapy, it took a while with ups and downs but I feel much better for it.

Mind you I still take Seraquel as required to help avoid my most darker or hyper days....Or to help my sleep patterns ...But I generally take no more then 300 mg a month which is a real achievement if you consider that I once took 200mg a day.

My drug free mental health action plan includes the following:
Bibliotherapy
Omega-3 and vitamins
Light therapy
Yoga
Aromatherapy

Getting enough sleep
Practise slow-breathing exercises to decrease stress and anxiety.
Learn and practise relaxation techniques.
Cognitive behaviour therapy
Interpersonal psychotherapy
Psychodynamic psychotherapy,
Supportive counselling
Understanding the importantance of physical activity for good mental health.
Pets and Animal-Assisted Therapy

Sometimes increasing the dose changes the effects i think.

Hmm. All I have to go by is my own experience, which might be very different from yours. When I first got on antidepressants, I didn't like it. I felt like I should have been able to deal with my depression without them, but the fact is, I'm not. Every time I've taken myself off them (twice) I've gotten very ill. The second time I ended up in the hospital for ten days.

At least your doctor is telling you that eventually he will take you off of them. I was told I'll be on them the rest of my life, and I accept that now because I never want to end up in a psychiatric hospital again.

It's very common for people with mental illness to blame their feelings and physical problems on their psych meds, but usually it's not a realistic reaction.

When I got on the right meds at the right dosage, my digestion actually improved. If it were me, I'd give the meds a chance to work. If he wants to up the dosage, why not try it? The sooner you find a dosage that works, the sooner he'll taper you back off of them.

That's just what I'd do though, and I didn't always feel that way.

Good luck, however you decide to handle it. Stay safe.

Why is it that they feel like they can put you on meds that they aren't so sure will work? I'm doing what he asks but what is the out come in the end? Who really benefits.... The pdoc,pharmisuical company... Insurance company...Or me?
I know at times I need the help but why do I end up feeling like a lab rat?

I don't know how you ended up with a pdoc, but most of the time they do it because 1) it makes talk therapy more effective, faster, and 2) depression is really dangerous--People with clinical depression have a much higher incidence of heart disease, stroke, suicide, and a host of other chronic illnesses. So it's more serious that just being in a 'bad mood'. That's also why insurance companies used to turn down applicants with a history of depression--too likely something else will go wrong.

I wonder if the diarrhea is really from the meds. Have you seen your GP about it? Sometimes depression is caused by underlying chronic medical conditions.

I really do understand your frustration. I don't want to be on them the rest of my life either. You can't imagine how much I don't want to be on them the rest of my life. But I'm glad that, in the absence of anything else that works, they keep me functional and allow me to have a normal-ish life.

Good luck to you! Hang in there.

Why did your doc keep you on lexapro if it didn't help you?

I've tried to get the 2 of them to meet with me to discusse it. Although my t said he would meet me w/ the pdoc - he never did. At this point I doubt it will ever happen! I was told that maybe 3-6 months would be the length of usage...obviously, I wasn't told the truth.

Why is it that they feel like they can put you on meds that they aren't so sure will work?

I think the choice is always yours and yours alone.

every time I tell him I'd like to stop he tells me he'll take me off. Then he tells me that he'd like to try raising the dosage...I ask why - he says to give it a chance always saying that my dosage is too low and thats why it's not working. The first one I was on, I couldn't tolerate the side effects-it was too much! With this one I feel like a zombie with constant diareah! Do they help...what do you think?

Others hadn't worked and she wanted me to wait and see
change doses the usual....

Most of the doctors I have seen will not even discuss therapy without drugs but after 25 years of mental illness I finally have a doctor and Psy
helping me maintain and over the past three years I have been doing better when compared to before....

It's not easy but it's what works for me....

If you want to discuss it with them, you don't have to have a 3 way meeting. Just discuss it with each provider individually at your next session. If they won't discuss it with you at your session, there's something wrong, because it's a serious concern! Also, I'm not sure about the necessity of having your T involved. Your pdoc should be able to handle your medication concerns. Typically people aren't placed on ADs for only 3 months, but 6 months might work for some. I wouldn't assume your providers were lying to you just because it has been difficult to find an AD that works. I'm sure they wanted you to feel better more quickly too.

I know that I didn't have to meet with my t and pdoc however, I've been going to my t for about 3 years and the pdoc almost a year. There were questions that I had that I felt were not being answered and I also wanted some support. Maybe it's easy for some people to do this on there own but, it hasn't been for me.

It is kind of irresponsible for a provider to switch a person's AD before they have found the right dose, providing the side effects are not a problem. So that is why your pdoc wants to increase the dose first. That is how it's done. Start at low dose, if it doesn't help enough, increase dose. If that doesn't work, switch med. So wouldn't be right for your pdoc to switch to another AD before he's tried increasing the Lexapro dose. Except of course, if you have really bad side effects, which it sounds like you may be having. What does your pdoc say about the diarrhea?Sometimes side effects go away after a little while on the AD, so if you can persevere, it may be OK. But if you've had diarrhea for months, that is totally not right!

Ok, so I'm not a veteran of Ad's but the first one that I took I had terrible side effects! Yes, this is the second 'try' and everytime it gets increased I have problems. My stomach is so messed up from this...and yes other meds. I've been to my regular doc and pdoc, they both know of my issues...I guess we just have to wait and see, this is the usual answer that I get.

That "zombie" feeling is not a good sign. Some people get that on certain ADs but they may do fine on another med. And often it doesn't resolve like certain other side effects do, like GI symptoms or sedation. That might be a signal this is not going to be the med for you.

I'd sooner play Russian roulette then to keep on trying different meds! I was really against taking them from the beginning but I told the t and pdoc that if they think it will work - fine.

Unfortunately, that's how it is with many psych meds. They just don't know. They don't have the ability yet to see inside your DNA and choose the right med for you. It seems worse than in other areas of medicine, but that is the state of the science right now. I recently had a bladder infection and was prescribed a completely ineffective antibiotic. So they had to prescribe a new one that helped me. So prescribing an ineffective med is not confined to psychiatry. The difference is, it takes about 3 days to realize an antibiotic is not going to help, plus they can do a culture. With antidepressants, it may take 3 months to know if a specific medication is not going to help because the response time is so slow. It's completely frustrating! I wish there was a faster way to know. I really think, though, that if you haven't shown ANY improvement in depressive symptoms after several weeks at a therapeutic dose of Lexapro, then this will discourage your pdoc from this med. If you have shown SOME improvement, though, this will encourage him to stick with this med but try an even higher dose.

The pdoc seems to think it's working, so he raised it - now...I don't feel anything, this is what I mean by zombie. I'm not happy, sad, content...anything! So I told him is this what I'm supposed to be like...he said that he would like to increase and see if it will continue to be helpful. I guess the point of psycpharm is to make people feel nothing.

Hope you can get some answers from your pdoc and are able to communicate the duration and intensity of your side effects.

Amen. If you have decided you will no longer take ADs, though, can you request a taper plan from your pdoc? Quitting abruptly is not a good idea. I had an episode of major depression several years ago and did not treat it with medication. I used psychotherapy and always felt really good I hadn't used meds. It was super expensive though to pay for therapy and took months and months and months of really difficult work. I feel lucky I was able to do it without meds as I know that doesn't work for everyone. Plus, although my depression seemed pretty bad to me, compared to people who are attempting to take their life and end up in and out of psychiatric hospitals, I guess I didn't have it so bad. (Maybe a provider would have insisted I take meds if I was like that.) Good luck.

Medicine does/does not help or is/is not worth it for the person taking it. If you are not getting relief and things feel worse for you than your depression (feeling like a zombie with constant diarrhea) then you have to decide that and tell the pdoc you want off and not agree with taking another script home, etc. If the pdoc does not do as you wish, you have to go to another pdoc who will look at your situation and desires and work with you on what you want for your life!