Success with antidepressants?

Has anyone here had any major successes with antidepressants? How did it change your mood and life? What were the benefits?

SURE , depend how you look at it , you will never be 100% I would say if 70% think yourself lucky I do . IF you started a med feeling 30% that's a bad depression, so if your reach 70% its a great leap.

iwas deemed manic, then I was told I was bipolar

Major? No. I'm on my second round. It took things really getting overwhelming to agree to it. I think they give you a chance to find solutions that don't depend on the med but then that's the key. Finding ways to self care. The consequences of ad's are to great IMO. The statistics of people getting dx with bipolar after an ad is a perfect example.

I have had success with Lexapro recently for a seasonal depressive episode, but I don't plan on taking it long term. In the past, I have taken Provigil with great success. It is not an anti-depressant. It is a stimulant designed for narcolepsy, but I used it off label for a vegetative depression and it worked right away and kept working.

Most AD's have failed for me. Wellbutrin and Zoloft works very well for me. The Zoloft helps reduce my anxiety. This combo helps me by cutting the edges off the highs and lows. So I can't say 100%, but I am very pleased with my results. Prior to this combo I never noticed any differences. Also for me Seroquel even settles me down a bit more too. It's not a AD, it's a anti-psychotic but seems to work very well with my WellOff combo.

Some times it takes a while until you find a combo that works for you. By work for you I don't mean 100% cure, I mean significant improvement.

I've tried different anti-depressants but an anti-depressant alone hasn't worked for me. Right now i'm on an anti-depressant/anti-anxiety combo and that's been working well. I also used to be on an anti-depressant/anti-psychotic combo and that worked great as well.

Most Alcoholics are self medicated DEPRESSIVES who chose between meds and drink , and chose drink to be sociable and has normal has can be . With meds you feel ok but its a boring life , BUT A LONGER ONE.

No luck so far for me. All I have tried failed. So in the end pdoc gave up and just told me to "stick to one."

Yes, Lexapro, Aplenzin and Viibryd helped alleviate my bipolar depression, but Latuda mixed with Lexapro and Lamictal has worked wonders!

When I was first diagnosed with Major Depression only try-cyclics were available and did no good for me. After a year Welbutrin became available and gave me back my sanity for several years. Then they switched me to Zoloft saved my life and worked for a long time. I've gone through many others that worked for a peroid of time and I was functional. However, in the last year they haven't found anything that will get me out of this depressive episode, so maybe they won't work for me anymore. I've given up much hope at this point. I suspect he wll raise the Prozac next. Of course, now that I have been diagnosed Bipolar II, they worry about mania. I say mania beats my thoughts now.

so you take a med even though it don't work

I see tramadol in your meds , how long you been on that pain killer. it can interact with AD,S it gave me serotonin syndrome.

I've been on it for probably about six months, however, now I only take one every couple of weeks. I was on hydrocodone and a whole different batch of psych meds because I started having delusions and they took me off all the psych meds, except Klonopin, because they didn't know what was causing the problem. i had just started a new blood thinner along with the hydrocodone. They have slowly put me back on psych meds though different ones. I think it was the hydrocodone but nobody knew for sure and I'm still on the blood thinner. Thanks for your concern. I'm not planning on refilling the prescription.

Hey sewerrats, Ultram is a weak pain med for nerve pain as I'm sure you know. You said you take Duloxetine, do you have fibro? If so did you take Cymbalta at 240mg? It's rare at that dose, since insurance won't pay, but at 240mg it helps with nerve and fibro pain greatly!

I have arthritis of the knees for construction, and Ankles from fractures when young in a motor bike Crash. I take Ibroprofen in large amounts . I did take Cymbalta many years ago and remember pain relief from the med , but I don't think it helped my depression, at the time I was pretty bad.