[piggy momma]

My therapist told me today that I’m clinically depressed. I made a doctor appt to go back on meds. I was previously on Prozac and it had no effect.

What are some of the newer ADs that might be worth a try? Of course I don’t want to gain weight - I just lost 80lbs and regain terrifies me .

[still_crazy]

ok...a couple things come to mind here...

1) I've had therapists try to drug me up to make me more managable, so then they could make more $$$ off me. they're -not- doctors.

2) do you really want meds? keep in mind; even the most promising studies from the 2000's onward show only a slight benefit to antidepressants, and that's mostly in severely depressed (read: this close to being in a hospital) people.

3) the vast majority of the antidepressants mess with metabolism. wellbutrin doesn't, some people even drop a bit of weight, but beware; chemically, its related to Tenuate, a mild(ish) diet pill from back in the day, when diet pills were socially acceptable.

4) adverse effects ('side effects') are real. not scaring you...I have a written Rx for wellbutrin around here, somewhere...I'm still weighing the pros vs cons for me, myself, and I.

5) no psych drugs 'fix' anything. its...not a reason to avoid the psych drugs, if needed. I'd rather take the Abilify voluntarily than be in a hospital and pumped full of all kindsa drugs and ******** psychobabble jibber jabber, but I'm on the 'severely bipolar i' end of things, supposedly. its kinda like...taking cough syrup all the time, but leaving pneumonia untreated, or taking pain killers all the time but doing nothing about the source of the pain. necessary? sometimes, maybe. best idea ever? no, not really.

just another FYI--mental health professionals come down hard on smart people and 'uppity' women. true story, not just some cliche stuff im rehashing. im a smart queer, so they treated me worse than an 'uppity woman' back in the day. i wised up, took legal action, now 'inmates are running the asylum,' as they say.

not trying to be harsh on -you-, either...just thought id spare you the typical fluff and saccharin ********e and keep it real. :-)

[piggy momma]

My T is not normally a fan of meds. I was quite surprised when he suggested I make a doc appt to find out about going back on some. He was the biggest pusher for me to go off them a year ago. He wants me "slightly" depressed so he has something to work with - if I'm not feeling the problem, I can't work on it. And honestly, he charges me so little he's definitely not making any money off me. I've even begged for extra sessions and he won't give them to me, so he has the opportunity to double his income from me and isn't.

No, I don't really want meds. But I also don't want to keep feeling like this, and he's leaving for 13 weeks soon so I need to be able to function while he's gone. If I can find one that will work for me relatively quickly, I'm hoping to only need it until the fall.

Psych drugs can't do all the work, but they can definitely help, and they can do some of the work. Especially since he's leaving...that gap has to be filled by something or someone.

I don't even know if my doc will give me meds at this point. Last time I talked to her she told me I'm not depressed. My T finally heard me today after five weeks of me saying "I'm not ok"...so now that he believes me, maybe my doctor will too.

I take Citalopram for my depression, and it's worked great thus far. No weight gain and you take it at night before bed.

[splitimage]

My first antidepressant was my best - Effexor, it blasted me out of a deep dark depression, when my T said I was too sick to work with if I didn't go on meds I'm still on it. Only downside is it's really hard to come off.


Good luck with the Dr.

splitimage

[still_crazy]

some of the newest round...fetzima, trintellix...are supposed to be easier to tolerate with some benefits older ones don't have (I think its trintellix that's supposed to help w/ cognitive processing, if that's a problem for you during depressive phases...), but they do tend to be $$$ and, of course...

taking very new drugs is a risk for the person/patient and a bit of one for the prescriber, too; its often not until 10, 15 years post-marketing that a drug's -real- adverse effect profile can be accurately determined.

with the more established antidepressants...i personally opt for wellbutrin. not the best if you're on edge with agitation, but...its basically a very mild stimulant, with a lot less of the emotional numbing that one gets from antidepressants. its not -without- emotional numbing, but for me...10x better than ssri, ssnri.

not all depression is treated with antidepressants. there's lamictal...antiseizure drug if you get lots of episodes...xanax/xanax xr, if you have a friendly shrink and have lots of anxiety...now and then stimulants, although there's cardio risks and psychosis, now and then...

provigil or nuvigil, if you have excellent insurance...

so, it really depends on the psych doc and what you can tolerate, also...honestly...on how much you're paying the shrink. not to sound too cynical, but...one way to make shrinks be nicer to you, even if they accept your insurance, is to pay cash for the session. true story. in many areas, there are psychiatrists who don't accept anything but self-pay...they're obviously in it for $$$$, but...they have less attitude and such.

i hope things go well for you. :-)

[effexorbad]

hello to all it may concern -
personally I have taken 2 anti depressents.
Prozac and Effexor
Prozac didn't really do much other then reduce my yurine
Effexor literally made me insane.
literally, im never taking that drug again.
AND it was very hard to get off of cold turkey.
IF YOU ARE ON THIS DRUG I PRAY FOR YOU

[bluekoi]

piggy momma,

I take Cymbalta. It's been the most effective for me and no weight gain. For that matter no side effects at all that I am aware of. Good luck to you!

[Guiness187055]

Wellbutrin has been great for me with little to no side effects.

[piggy momma]

I saw my doctor last Thursday. She is adamant that she will not put me on meds, and I have to manage my depression myself. My T is disappointed. I’m somewhat disappointed and somewhat relieved.

[still_crazy]

wow...you're clearly not in the US. LOL. I'm happy for you, in a way (?), and also happy to hear that you have ethical, responsible doctors.

[Calla lily12]

As I wrote in another post, I was on Zoloft, Dexadrine and Wellbutrin . I stopped the Zoloft because of weight gain. Wellbutrin is good but I personally, can't take it alone. I need other meds with it. I might ask my T for Cymbalta or Vivactil.