[DowdyTheFifth]

Just wanted to preface this by saying that I am meeting with a psychiatrist tomorrow.

I started college a couple months back, and that triggered my anxiety, which then triggered a psychotic depression episode so I've been fighting that.

I was wondering if SSRI's do not work for me, and I feel that the psychiatrist will come to the same conclusion. During my previous psychotic depression episode I was hospitalized, and they tried a bunch of medications; specifically Lexapro, Prozac, Lamictal, Risperdal. Prozac almost gave me a psychotic break so I was off that quickly, and the Lexapro apparently made me irritable according to the mental hospital staff.

Nowadays, I was originally put on Celexa, then Doxepin was added and a few days later Buspirone was added. I was taking the Celexa when I had only been very anxious, and then I started to feel very depressed. At the moment I am on Celexa 40 mg and Risperdal 1 mg as the nurse took me off of Doxepin and Buspirone the other day.

I have not felt any relief from the Celexa, so I was wondering if anyone has a similar situation, maybe with the same type of thing where SSRIs never helped them? I am going to bring it up with the Psychiatrist, I just feel like medicine might not help

[WildcatVet]

Since different classes of antidepressants affect different neurotransmitters in the brain there are other classes that might work for you if SSRI's dont...and it's not uncommon for some antidepressants not to work for some people.
There are many others...the SNRI's, atypicals, TCA's, TTCA's, MAOI's. It's really a matter of finding the combination or "cocktail" that's right for you and that's a matter of trial and error...and patience.

[still_crazy]

hi. especially w/ a psychotic component involved, ssri antidepressants aren't the best call for everyone. if i recall correctly, tricyclics are supposed to be more effective than ssri drugs for psychotic depression, but they come with their own set of risks and drawbacks.

my -big- piece of advice would be to keep your tranquilizer dose as low as possible and work with your psychiatrist to taper off the tranquilizer when you can. especially at a young age, its a good idea to keep tranquilizer doses low and minimize overall exposure, if you can.

[Biteplate]

Ssri's don't work for me either. They make me irritable, irratic, and manic. I have to avoid them.

[DowdyTheFifth]

Originally Posted by still_crazy

hi. especially w/ a psychotic component involved, ssri antidepressants aren't the best call for everyone. if i recall correctly, tricyclics are supposed to be more effective than ssri drugs for psychotic depression, but they come with their own set of risks and drawbacks.

my -big- piece of advice would be to keep your tranquilizer dose as low as possible and work with your psychiatrist to taper off the tranquilizer when you can. especially at a young age, its a good idea to keep tranquilizer doses low and minimize overall exposure, if you can.

The Psychiatrist wants to get me off of Celexa in a couple of weeks, but she added in Remeron to help with insomnia and depression, as well as I can take 2 mg of Risperdal if my hallucinations are particularly bad today. She seemed to agree with me that SSRIs likely won't do anything for me.

[DowdyTheFifth]

Originally Posted by Biteplate

Ssri's don't work for me either. They make me irritable, irratic, and manic. I have to avoid them.

I had the irritability problem for both Prozac and Lexapro, so far Celexa hasn't made me irritable, but it hasn't made me feel any better in 2 months so it should be nice to get off of it finally if this 40 mg dosage does not help out.

[DowdyTheFifth]

Just a quick update: The Celexa finally started to negatively affect me so I am no longer on it. It made me extremely irritable just like Prozac and Lexapro did, I assume it just needed to get to the right dose to start to impact me since it didn't affect me at all over the last two months until now. Yesterday both my depression and anxiety were at a maximum and I believe it was a direct result of the Celexa settling into my body at the dose. Looking forward to life without Celexa, and figuring out which medications will work best for me with my Psychiatrist. Thank you everyone, will keep this thread updated with medication changes.

[DowdyTheFifth]

No more SSRIs!! My Psychiatrist finally said we will no longer be trying SSRIs because they have only negatively affected me so far. Best news I've heard in weeks. Great to finally be off SSRIs for good.

[Grath]

Originally Posted by DowdyTheFifth

No more SSRIs!! My Psychiatrist finally said we will no longer be trying SSRIs because they have only negatively affected me so far. Best news I've heard in weeks. Great to finally be off SSRIs for good.

Congratulations!
Has she suggested any other medication? I've been on Lexapro and Prozac so far and both haven't done much for me, if anything, Prozac has made me more irritable as well.

[DowdyTheFifth]

Originally Posted by Grath

Congratulations!
Has she suggested any other medication? I've been on Lexapro and Prozac so far and both haven't done much for me, if anything, Prozac has made me more irritable as well.

She prescribed me 100 mg of Seroquel to go along with 2 mg Risperidone and 15 mg Remeron. She is targeting my anxiety first because I told her that it hinders me more than the depression does. If the Seroquel works for me, then she wants to take me off of Risperidone, and then she'll target my depression once my anxiety gets better.

[All Is Revealed]

Originally Posted by DowdyTheFifth

No more SSRIs!! My Psychiatrist finally said we will no longer be trying SSRIs because they have only negatively affected me so far. Best news I've heard in weeks. Great to finally be off SSRIs for good.

I'm the same way. I cannot take SSRIs. They make me have psychotic episodes. Mood stabilizers have somewhat worked for me.

[Nammu]

AD only work in about 1/3 of the people who take them. Maybe ask about mood stabilizers.

[DowdyTheFifth]

Originally Posted by Nammu

AD only work in about 1/3 of the people who take them. Maybe ask about mood stabilizers.

Right now it seems like Seroquel has been lifting me out of my depression, and it completely rid me of my psychotic symptoms. It has not helped my anxiety yet, but it's only been 6 days since I started it. My Psychiatrist is attempting to target my anxiety first before my depression, but I think my depression is lifting so that is good and she can just focus on helping my anxiety out.

For mood stabilizers, I was on Lamictal a few years ago but I refuse to go back on it, mainly because I know I am not bipolar, and my brain instantly feels like "why are you taking this if you aren't bipolar?" It definitely does not make much sense but I still do not want to take Lamictal.

[DowdyTheFifth]

Originally Posted by All Is Revealed

I'm the same way. I cannot take SSRIs. They make me have psychotic episodes. Mood stabilizers have somewhat worked for me.

Good to know that I'm not the only one who cannot take SSRIs. Lexapro almost gave me a psychotic break, and Celexa made my depression and anxiety drastically worse. All of the SSRIs that I have been on have made me irritable and/or made my symptoms worse. I'm glad that my Psychiatrist agrees with me that they just will not ever help me. The main thing helping me right now is my Seroquel, it has lifted me out of my depression, and completely gotten rid of my psychotic symptoms. I love it, except that it makes me unbearably restless about an hour after I take it at night. That part is not fun, but it has helped me out so far

[still_crazy]

hi. seroquel is a neuroleptic/tranquilizer/"antipsychotic" that can also help depression. with remeron and seroquel on board, you're on 2 highly sedating drugs w/ strong antihistamine properties.

now and then, seroquel is used as "monotherapy" in some cases of agitated, psychotic depression. I think the goal there is to get up to 300mgs+, but I could be wrong.

lamictal can "take the edge off" depression, even though it isn't an antidepressant. if you've had repeated bouts of depression, lamictal isn't a bad idea. as an anticonvulsant, lamictal can also help reduce agitation. some evidence suggests that taking lamictal w/ a tranquilizer reduces some of the changes in the brain from tranquilizer treatment. this may or may not be true of other anti-epileptic drugs (I read this little gem on mad in america, btw).

higher doses of remeron = less sedation, less weight gain. i forget why, but...yeah. there's an xr version of seroquel (now in generic...) that's taken at night and is supposed to provide all day coverage.

i hope things get better in your world.

[All Is Revealed]

Originally Posted by still_crazy

lamictal can "take the edge off" depression, even though it isn't an antidepressant. if you've had repeated bouts of depression, lamictal isn't a bad idea.

i hope things get better in your world.

I call Lamictal my miracle drug. After trying over 60 types of medications, it's the only drug that I still take. Though I do not suffer from depression, it was given to me when I stopped drinking alcohol.

It did what no other OCD drug could do for me - it cut my obsessions by 85%. It completely cut out my pathological gambling episodes, and my desire to drink alcohol. The only side effect was loss of appetite. I'm ok with that!

[DowdyTheFifth]

Originally Posted by still_crazy

hi. seroquel is a neuroleptic/tranquilizer/"antipsychotic" that can also help depression. with remeron and seroquel on board, you're on 2 highly sedating drugs w/ strong antihistamine properties.

now and then, seroquel is used as "monotherapy" in some cases of agitated, psychotic depression. I think the goal there is to get up to 300mgs+, but I could be wrong.

lamictal can "take the edge off" depression, even though it isn't an antidepressant. if you've had repeated bouts of depression, lamictal isn't a bad idea. as an anticonvulsant, lamictal can also help reduce agitation. some evidence suggests that taking lamictal w/ a tranquilizer reduces some of the changes in the brain from tranquilizer treatment. this may or may not be true of other anti-epileptic drugs (I read this little gem on mad in america, btw).

higher doses of remeron = less sedation, less weight gain. i forget why, but...yeah. there's an xr version of seroquel (now in generic...) that's taken at night and is supposed to provide all day coverage.

i hope things get better in your world.

Thank you for the detailed reply! My Psychiatrist is weaning me off Risperidone because she thinks that it might be contributing to my restlessness that started when I started Seroquel. Before she prescribed Seroquel she mentioned that she wanted to eventually take me off Risperidone. I do not take the xr version of Seroquel, just the regular one. Thank you.

[DowdyTheFifth]

Originally Posted by All Is Revealed

I call Lamictal my miracle drug. After trying over 60 types of medications, it's the only drug that I still take. Though I do not suffer from depression, it was given to me when I stopped drinking alcohol.

It did what no other OCD drug could do for me - it cut my obsessions by 85%. It completely cut out my pathological gambling episodes, and my desire to drink alcohol. The only side effect was loss of appetite. I'm ok with that!

When I was on Lamictal, I eventually started to fell better after 5-6 months, but I strongly believe that it was just a coincidence that my depressive episode ended, since I stopped taking Lamictal and felt fine for 3 years.

[All Is Revealed]

Originally Posted by DowdyTheFifth

When I was on Lamictal, I eventually started to fell better after 5-6 months, but I strongly believe that it was just a coincidence that my depressive episode ended, since I stopped taking Lamictal and felt fine for 3 years.

That's awesome news! My goal is to completely stop taking meds. I'm only on Lamictal, but it would be nice to not take any meds at all.

Seems like I've tried every miracle drug in America ... and the truth was revealed. The truth was they weren't so "great" after all. You'd be amazed at all the lawsuits against Abilify and Risperdal. These meds have destroyed lives.

[DowdyTheFifth]

Originally Posted by All Is Revealed

That's awesome news! My goal is to completely stop taking meds. I'm only on Lamictal, but it would be nice to not take any meds at all.

Seems like I've tried every miracle drug in America ... and the truth was revealed. The truth was they weren't so "great" after all. You'd be amazed at all the lawsuits against Abilify and Risperdal. These meds have destroyed lives.

I remember seeing a commercial three years ago about how you could sue if you had negative side effects from Risperdal. I probably could have tried to sue, and succeeded.