[Hopefull]

I was visiting the psychotherapy section and saw a thread on length of time with current T. Since I am new to taking AD's, I am curious to know about how long have some of you been on it.

How long have you been on ADs?

Did it stop working? If so, how long into therapy was that?

Did you decide to stop drug therapy?

If so, how did that go?

How long did you go without drug therapy?

Why did you return to drug therapy if you did?

Did you have a T at the same time?

This is my first time on ADs. I started in late 2006 and have been on them for over eight months now. I have wondered if I might try to get off them in six months or so depending on how my life is going. I have been seeing a T for a year and a half.

ive never been on ad's for very long before having to change to another one given that they never really helped to lift the symptoms
i was on prozac for about a year or so and had to stop taking it for physical stuff
ive been on valium for a fair few yrs now as a prn
mostly with the other ad's i wood be on them between 1-4mnths before having to change and these decisions was driven by my GP and psychiatrist not me i just went with the flow and did as i was told since i was in a real slump
i refuse to go back onto anti d's at least for now just cos i feel most of what will help me is in T
valium helps with my anxiety and agitation so im sorry i cant really help u out much

[drunksunflower]

Ask psisci.

I am a bad example so I will refrain from commenting in this thread.

Good luck to you

[SandyWeb]

Hi Hopeful,

I've been on meds, of one type or another for 4 years this March.

I was on the roller-coaster ride for AD's at first because I was always prescribed SSRIs and they did awful things to me. So I always had to stop and try another and then another. It messed me up more than before I went on them, to tell the truth! Lol. And I was put on an AD from the very first visit to the doc.

I can't remember how long I kept trying to get those SSRIs to work with me. It was a long and horrendous journey. My body just would not tolerate them, even with mood stabilizers added on.

I think we have all stopped drug therapy at one point or another. Some people feel better and think that they're "cured" and don't need the meds anymore. Some, like me, are just so fed up with being a walking pharmacy and feeling worse rather than better to be too much to tolerate.

Depending on whether you quit cold-turkey or titrate downwards, coming off the meds can affect you differently. Some I came off of very easily cold-turkey, whereas I was sick as a dog when I quit Ativan (cold-turkey again. I'm thick-headed!

I didn't last long without drug therapy. I would feel fine for the first little while, wondering why I was even playing around with all these medications when I seemingly didn't need them. But everything slowly creeps back in, and you know that you need SOMETHING in order to survive.....but it's so disheartening because there just doesn't seem to be anything that works.

(Remember that I'm only talking about my experience here. And I'm not recommending anything. I'm just answering each of your questions down the list with my own history. So please don't take me as the model of how this all works. )

I returned to drug therapy when I was becoming suicidal again. This time I tried Remeron. The doctor never wanted to give it to me because it would make me "profoundly tired". Well, that didn't happen. And it's only at the lowest doses that the sleep properties are in affect. I was way past that dosage in a short while, and I called it my anti-suicide drug. It was great. I felt so much more like myself. I functioned, if not as well as before, at least much better than when I was being bombarded with meds. That is when we realized that Serotonin wasn't my problem (which is what SSRIs target), but that Epinephrine was what needed to stick around in my brain for a longer time than it was. No wonder all those other meds weren't working! Phew! I also started taking a beta blocker to help with the physical symptoms of anxiety (helps to block the adrenaline from flooding your heart and giving you a panic attack). By the way, my "labels" were social anxiety, PTSD, suicidal ideation with attempts, and eventually I became agoraphobic. But I felt great on a HIGH dose of Remeron.

That lasted for a year until I had gained sooooo much weight that I just had to quit. I became huge. I quit and stayed on the beta blocker and anti-anxiety meds. Over time, I lost all that weight (amazing!!)....but I started having suicidal thoughts and agoraphobia along with the social anxiety.

We went straight to Effexor XR (another med that targets Epinephrine). I take 300mg daily, along with the beta blocker and the anti-anxiety, and I feel good again. The depressive, suicidal "entity" is off in the distance somewhere (I don't know if it will ever go away), but I am calmer now again and certainly don't jump out of my skin when the phone rings anymore! Lol. I am still agoraphobic, though, and it's driving me batty.

My doc tried to get me into a prgram where the therapist comes to YOUR house for counselling, but nothing ever happened with that. I could do out-patient counselling....but I can't take a bus yet. I just need someone to help me while I'm in my safe zone, and then help me carry that over into the outside world. I'm ready for it! I *want* to get rid of this agoraphobia. But meds and myself alone just doesn't do the trick. And it's been so long that it almost seems like there's no turning back now. Ugh! But who knows? Maybe a therapist will call this very day!

So, those are my answers. Meds help a lot (I'd probably be dead without them), some therapists were better than others (when I still was able to push myself to go places), but therapy is definately something that needs to be included in the treatment regimen (I think). My medical doctor signs a medical release each year, and he checks the boxes that say, "severe", "permanent", and "can't be employed". That makes a person feel just wonderful. But if I had a therapist......

Anyways, the best of luck to you, hon.

God bless,
Sandy

[jefftele]

i can only say good luck meds for me just do not work but then i have to ask myself are my expectations too high it is sooooooooooo long since i've felt well, i have vague memories of being able to function in the world but it seems to have gone now i am on remeron now but they are not working they help me sleep but that is all i don't have the weight gain yet but i feel so drugged, i'm constipated feel numb, when i'm not on meds providing i don't have too much stress i can manage life -just, i so wish i could yet well enough to function in the world i live in hope

I've been on & off different meds for about 40 years! I started having trouble with my first suicide attempt when I was a teenager. But I finally got a correct dx of bipolar so the meds I'm on now are really helping. I had the problem of the ad's working for about 8 weeks (didn't know they were really just throwing me into hypo mania--I thought "Wow, these things really work!"). I am told & I believe it, that I'll have to be on meds for the rest of my life.

Both my kids had depression in their teens or early 20's & had to go on ad's. They only had to take them for about a year & then they were able to get off them & function just fine. We all went through therapy, too. The combo of meds & therapy is supposed to be the most helpful. It was for us.--Suzy

[sadeyesr4ever]

Wow, I have only been on them about 3 months. I thought that once you start ed feeling better, they would start weaning you off of them!

[psisci]

I have posted this before, but for ADs and treating depression you should be on it for 6 months-year, symptom free after your first depressive episode before you even consider a taper. If you relapse, then 2 years symptom free minimum before considering a taper. If you then have a 3 rd episode meeting criteria for major depression then you should probably be on meds for life.

[sadeyesr4ever]

That stinks, with all my meds it costs us a $100.00 a month and if I am on them for a year, it will cost $1200.00 a year, that is alot of money on medication.

How long have you been on ADs?

I was on and off all sorts of ADs for a couple of years... all SSRI's, one tri-cyclic.

Did it stop working? If so, how long into therapy was that?

I was never on anything long enough to tell. The only one that sort of worked was Zoloft, until my brilliant pdoc at the time bumped it up to 200mg and it sent me into mania.

Did you decide to stop drug therapy?

Yes.

If so, how did that go?

Depends which time. If we are talking about the time I stopped 200 mg of Zoloft cold turkey by throwing them all down the sink and ending up in the psychiatric ward, then I'd say not well.

After my pdoc guinea pigged me for awhile and had me try Zyprexa for my anxiety (had I known then what I do now, I never would have tried it), I decided NO MORE meds, except for the occasionally benzos for my anxiety. I guess it went as good as can be expected.

How long did you go without drug therapy?

About 5 years, but like I said, still took benzos.

Why did you return to drug therapy if you did?

Two semesters ago... I went into a bad depressive episode and had to drop a class. When it began to interfere with my school work, it was a wake-up call that told me I had little to no control over my moods, and might need an adjunct to my therapy. I couldn't afford to have my mood swings interrupt my schooling.

Did you have a T at the same time?

Yes. The T came first, then the meds.

However, I should clarify that I am not on an AD, I am on a mood stabilizer. An AD (Lexapro) was added a couple months ago to help me out of another depression, but was then taken away when the anxiety got worse. Unfortunately, I have still not been able to see if the mood stabilizer has worked because I have not let it reach its full effects in any way-- I tend to be a bit non-compliant in that sense. I guess even though I am on meds I technically haven't reached the full "I want/need to be on meds" conclusion.

[DePressMe]

The money is a tough issue. I am on several meds, so I won’t even tell you how much I am spending…lets just say it’s enough to make a car payment. But, I would rather have my sanity. Depression is a horrible illness when it is not treated.

[SandyWeb]

I've been on meds for 4 years now.....sometimes just one and other times a handful. Right now I'm only on three, and that feels like freedom!

I live in Canada, and I'm very lucky to be in a program where I only pay $5 per prescription....and my doctor writes each prescription out for a three-month period. So it costs me $15 every three months, and the government pays the rest. If I had to pay for these meds myself, I just simply couldn't. There's absolutely no way. And I would be dead, quite literally. So I feel for anyone who has to take food from their mouths just to keep their mind functioning rationally. In the US, however, aren't there programs that will allow you the meds for free if you have a doctor's notice of inability to pay for a drug that is beneficial to you? I just can't believe that people would be made to sink or swim, regardless of what the illness and medications happen to be, simply because they live in a lower economic bracket. Yes, the world revolves around MONEY....but have we forgotten our humanity in the process?

I wish everyone luck in finding ways to afford your meds. Try United Way, county free clinics, the med manufacturers, the Salvation Army, even some food banks have money set aside for medical emergencies for people in need, and believe it or not but Victim Services (through the police department) has stacks of books full of local assistance for ALL TYPES of situations. You don't have to be a victim of a crime to call them. You never know...you might become a perpatrator of a crime if you don't call. What about churches, community service clubs, even your own doctor supplying you with samples?

God bless,
Sandy

[DePressMe]

Yeah, my pdoc gives me all the free samples he can...that really helps out. I just have to ask for them. It really would be tough to make it if he did not give me the samples. The scary thing is--I have an okay job and have health insurance. I don't know how people make it who have little or no insurance. Yes, there are places that help out with meds. And, I always ask for the generic--even though some say the generic is not as good--I have not found that to be the case.