The Antidepressant Debate

Are antidepressants really the answer?

Have you ever needed them? Have you ever been offered them by a doctor? Should mental stability be controlled by drugs? Is there still a taboo about mental illness in our society?

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Comments

[Tracey Marks, MD]

Antidepressanats aren't for everyone and they do have side effects. There are some who may have some situational depressive symptoms who don't need medicine. Often those people won't see much improvement if they took the meds. But there are those like Ange and Elle mentioned above who need them to correct chemical imbalance that is causing sypmtoms that are beyond their control.

Postpartum depression can be particulary problematic because women aren't always warned about it while they're pregnant and they can feel very guilty for feeling down after the miracle birth.

[Darron]

I was on Lexapro and Wellbutrin for 4 years for serious depression. The meds made me less depressed, but also left me unmotivated, unambitious, more of a couch potato I suppose. The side effects were pretty bad as well. Weight gain, sexual disfunction etc. I used to be athletic, active and interested in life. I went off the meds and onto St Johns wort and other supplements mostly because I hadn't really done anything with my life in the four years on the meds.

St johns wort is a miracle cure for me. There are no side effects and I feel like myself, something I never felt on the meds. I'm not here to turn people off of meds, but I wish I would've been made aware of alternatives to anti-depressants before I began taking them.

[Jennifer]

It really is rather pointless to say that anti-depressants don't work. Here's an easy solution: get a test to see how your serotonin and norepenephrine levels are. YES, THESE TESTS DO EXIST!!!
If you're levels are low, it's a chemical imbalance and anti-depressants will help.
If they are fine, you might have a hormone imbalance, but you probably just need to give up the drink, surround yourself with nicer people and get some better coping skills.

[emma notley]

i suffed post natal depression when i had my beautiful daughter millie but i didnt do anything about it then last year later i had my beautiful daughter maisie who was born sleeping still i thought nothing of taking any form of tablets i thought having to take antidepresents made me weak and a failure not like i felt that anyway and i should be locked up or something but a year on i decided to go to the doctors who prescribed me ciropram now i feel like the dark clould has been lifted i say dont knock them if you haven taken them yourself everyone is different em xxx

[M Sewell]

I have been reading comments on anti depression medication with great interest. In 2007 i went through a very depresive state which to this day still blame on work related problems, in July of 07 i was prescribed PROZAC which did very little for me.I was then changed to VELOFAXINE and although it took a while and going from 1 to 2 a day have been really good.I do stress however i had fantatic support from my GP COUNCILOR & MY WONDERFUL FAMILY. I am now down to 1 aday and feeling good tho at this moment do not feel ready to
stop them. i have also eradicated the main problem and changed my job and feel that is one of the main things people have to do to get through
malc

[Sam]

i have just started on venlafaxin effexor, i took them about 5 yeras ago and remember well that i went through a dark period and used drink to help me through, i was both taking meds for depression but also using drink which was actually a depressant, i came off them myself after the doctors gave up on me for being so stupid and never listening. Life moved on and things were good, however since october 2007 i believe i started to become very depresed, arguing for no reason and breaking down in tears over the slightest thing, i remeber hating myself over everything i failed to do, my confidence was zero, there simply felt like no point at all. i started having very vivid and fantasy thoughts of suicide, contemplating hanging myself and walking into trafiic, i never could do it but always came to a point where i felt very close. i took an overdose and felt enourmouse guilt when i woke up in the hosiptal, the next day i pretended it never happened and shut mysef off for about a week, feeling like the worst person on the world, i suffered in silence and had a loving boyfriend supporting me but i though i was not good enough and that he woud leave me for my behaviour, as i wasnt the same happy bubbly girl he first met. Iv been on these meds now for 2 weeeks and it still feels hard my thoughts are still very negative and i need lots of reassurance, im off work, bored and still just want to close my eyes and it all be over. but im living in hope at the moment, that this will all be behind me soon and i can get on with my life. i have a good team on hand to help me with counselling, but this can be hard, facing demons and opening cans of worms. I woke up one morning and went into A&E and they helped me straigt away, my advice is to hang in there, take all the help you can get, but dont rely on for everything. Be strong and take each day as it comes dont think too far ahead of how things will be just look after number one - yourself and think positve thoughts.... very easy to say and very difficult to do, but along with supervised meds and support, we can do it. Look after yourselves, things will get better...

[Sarina]

Reading the story about Georgia is like looking at myself in the mirror telling my own story. I've been messed up for a long time.
But it wasn't until having my second kid when it seemed like the worst had just begun and there was no way of beating this on my own. I've been through 4 different types of meds. a psychiatrist who i felt that i paid just so she could make me cry. What a waste. And now i've just been searching for something that will work. Somedays, i just wanna give up. It feels like the only logical answer is to just die. But i can't do that. I'm a mother of two and a wife. But my husband isn't the strong support i need. If i don't help i'm afraid that it could carry on through my kids. I would never want them to feel the way i do.

[PAULINE]

I took anti depressents from the age of 15 but i found that wrighting how i felt down helped me more.Nobody understands how you feel except yourself so who better than yourself to listen.I still get depressed and it still feels like my heart will burst and life is not worth living but i read things i have written and it helps some thinks just like me.I go through all kinds of things from bosses to pepole as they carnt understand it my greatist hate is snap out of it.

[Bill B]

I think that AD's definately do work I have been on Citalopram and Fluoxetine(Prozac), Citalopram didn't do that much for me so my GP swapped me to the Prozac and the effects took place within the matter of 10 days. I had alot more energy, Could feel emotions again etc... I believe it is alot more than a placebo effect, but then again each person and their body chemistry varies so what may work for one may not work for another( I found what worked for me by changing medication)

[Michele Halstead]

I also think its horses for courses, what works for one, doesnt always mean it is going to work for another !!!
I have suffered clinical depression since I was 19, I am now 41, and have felt all the things everyone else has, and we always think that our symptoms ae worse than anybody else', and that nobody else could possibly have felt as bad as we have, but whichever way you look at it, depression is the silent illness that nobody else can possibly understand unless they have suffered....
I struggled for 10 years before I thought i was grown up enough to ask for help, because why else would a 19 year old girl, slim attractive, great friends, social life, good job, great family, holidays abroad etc, etc, etc suffer from depression, i felt i had lost my mind, and wasnt until i started reading all the books i could in the local library that I realised what i was suffering from, and only then did i ask for help, and have never looked back...I know, that i will probably take my medication for the rest of my life, to be able to live a life, i have a six month stint on them, and come off slowly, ok, i get a bit of a shake, like i havnt eaten for a while, but for me, this is a small price to pay, to be 'normal again'..
I could go on and on abut this, but all sufferers will know where i'm at, best wishes everyone, and keep taking the tablets..

[Michelle]

I'm on Sertaline, otherwise known as Lustral or Zoloft, and have been now since August 2007 after having suffered with Clinical Depression since the age of thirteen and Anorexia Nervosa since the age of fourteen. I'm now twenty-four, Twenty-Five this yr.
I never was offered them prior to last yr, and after feeling very desperate for help, i asked my psychiatrist at my Eating Disorders Unit for help, feeling that i was finally ready to relent to asking for help after ten years of struggling with my Depression as not only was i bogged down by the Depression, but it now had friends in the severity of my mild Social Anxiety and OCD, rendering me pretty useless in all honesty.
I never had agreed with the use of medication, in any manner really, i don't take painkillers and i don't like to go to the GP if i am unwell, i have always believed that my body has it's own immune system for a reason and in taking medicine, i'm cheating it out of it's chance to fight for itself and i disliked the idea of putting something false into my body.
Until i had it explained to me that the nature of Depression is one which involves a chemical imbalance in the brain, and sometimes we just aren't able to stabilise it ourselves. I certainly have realised that after this explanation, i would never go back on my decision to accept Anti-Depressants, because although they aren't a cure for my illnesses, they are a crutch that helps me to atleast function a little more than i ever could without them. The chemicals in my SSRI's (Selected Seratonin Reuptake Inhibitors) are the reason that i am able to get up and dressed most days and even so much as leave my house! Which although still tough, is a lot more possible now that i have that help!

The best and only way to truly overcome any form of mental illness, in particular Depressive illnesses, is through a combination of therapy and medication.. Luckily i am starting to see my old Clinical Psychologist again for treatment with regard to my Eating Disorder, after having relapsed, and i will always try and hold hope that one day things will be more manageable. I don't think that i am the kind of person who is ever going to be free of these struggles, but i know i'm glad i accepted the AD's to help me to keep my head above water.

[linda hicks]

I to had to go on prozac a few years ago,was going through a bad time and couldnt see a light at the end of the tunnel,I was prescribed them for a few months,thankfully they made me feel life was good ,Ihad no side effects and coming off of them wasnt a problem.Iwould describe them as a sunshine pill because they really made me live for today and take what was thrown at me without a care.

[yaz]

After years of living with symptoms that made me think i was just fiesty and paranoid i went to see my g.p and after tests at the hospital i was diagnosed with anxiety and take paroxetine.I have tried most of the ssri's and paroxetine works best for me.If i dont take it i quickly become shakey,nervous and paranoid.Paroxetine make me a more reasonable person and able to handle things more calmly.

[Emily]

There's a point I think some people are missing here - the question is not if you got better taking anti-depressants but if they made you get better because they had an actual scientific effect or if they were just a placebo that convinced you you were better. I think for some people its just a comfort blanket. Which doesnt mean it's not worth taking them if you need them but maybe the effect is more in you're heads.

[Tommy]

After a serious bout of depression last year i was pescribed antidepressants. They nearly finished me off, never again. Recovereed now i think you have to do it yourself.
Tommy

[Sally]

Well I am on Sorroxat and have been for over 10 years I was given them by my doctor for panic attacks, I was only in my early teens, it is very hard to come off them, if I miss a dosage I have the shackes, feeling sick, parronoid and head aches for some thing that is ment to help me it has caused another problem for me, I also find it had to consentrate, I have a review every so often but the doctor's seem happy for me to carrying on taking it, I have read at lot and watched tv programms about these kind of drugs some people in America have sued the companys who make the drugs.I am dependant and addicted to them I know that my self.Any body been put on these please, please do your reasurch and speak to your Doctor etc befor taking them.

[Suzanne]

I've only been taking antidepressants for a couple of months but I now can't see how I'm going to cope without them. My doctor prescribed them to me after I reacted badly to a hormone injection. I was crying all day, every day and found I couldn't cope with even the most simple jobs and some days I couldn't even leave the house. I was signed off work until the prozac took effect. My life is now as it was before the injection but I'm now too scared to come off the antidepressants in case I turn back into a tearful wreck. I do sometimes wonder whether if I hadn't taken the antidepressants, the hormone injection would have worn off and the prozac wouldn't have been necessary.

[Alison Page]

I took prozac for about nine months after three years of worsening depression due to problems with my youngest daughter. Within three weeks I went from not sleeping and contemplating walking in front of a moving car to feeling "normal' and well balanced. I gradually reduced the dose myself and had no problems stopping taking them when I felt I could manage without them.

I wouldn't hesitate to ask for them again if necessary as they helped turn my life around and I'm sure that without them I wouldn't be here today.

[michelle]

Just wanted to comment on the debate about anti depressents.Ten years ago i was at real low in my life and had tried all alternative treatments to try and get better.But i truely believe if i hadnt taken anti depresseents i wouldnt be where i am today.I think it's unfair to say that the tablets don't work just because some people have had bad experiences.There are some of us that has a positive outcome.

[Ange]

Hi Im Ange,

Im a 37yr old female and currently take Prozac.
I have suffered with depression and anxiety quite often throughout my life.
However I now have post natal depression and dont believe there is enough info and publicity surrounding post-natal depression, I was suicidal, depressed and suffered also with anxiety.

With the help of the local parent and baby unit (specialists in postnatal) counselling and my prozac along with the support of my mum I believe I wouldnt be here today.

I put my son into voluntary care until I got better, Im now in recovery and hopefully will have my 6.5mth old son back within 8wks.

I would be grateful if you could publisice Post natal Depression.

Ange

[Alison Howard]

I read with interest your 2 conflicting view on anti-depressants.

Thirteen years ago, my sister and best friend emigrated to Australia and I felt my world had fallen apart. My doctor prescribed Prozac, but I just didn't get on well with it. I then fell pregnant with my first child, aged 25. My pregnancy was probably a time when I felt my best ever, maybe it was mind over matter, that I had to be well for my unborn child. When I came home, I acted as the perfect mum for all the visitors, but inside I was falling apart and putting on a 'show' of what people expected of me. When my husband had to go back to work after 2 weeks leave, I 'cracked'. Something was telling me he would go to work and not come home, like my sister had when she left for Perth. If I sat down and thought about it, I knew this wouldn't happen, but the negative thoughts were overwhelming.

I went to see my doctor and he prescribed me Venalfaxine Efexor another SSRI. They seemed to do the trick and after a few weeks picked myself up. I returned to full time work and thought I didn't need the tablets anymore, so I stopped them. Funnily enough, over the last 13 years I have 'come off' them a few times - normally in the summer when we all have that 'sunny feel good' factor. Then come the Autumn and Winter months I would 'crash' again. Was this SAD ? I asked my doctor and was advised that some people cannot stabalize the levels of Serotonin in their brains. Some people after having a natural 'high' would come back down to a normal level, when I had a high I came crashing back down to well below and couldn't bring my levels back up. I used to call it the WALL. I would say to my husband that the Wall was approaching and he knew that I then needed he a little bit more assistance with the day to day mundane things until I felt better. I stopped them again when I had my daughter 5 1/2 years ago, but as before, 2 weeks later I crashed big time into my wall and went back on them.

My last 2 employers have been very understanding of my situation and helped me through my darkest patches. I used to feel such a failure for needing medication to get me up and out for the day, until my doctor said "If you had arthritus and needed tablets to help you walk you would take them wouldn't you ?" I had to agree and finally after years, understood that I needed this medication.

It has been hard trying to convince even family members that I need this medication, when they all used to ask why, when I had a loving husband, good job and 2 lovely kids did I feel so down, but I now understand I am not at fault.

My dose is very low, and classed as a sort of 'top up' dose, but if I miss them for whatever reason, the after effects are the sudden feeling of falling back into a place I don't want to be anymore.

I guess my message to everyone out there who is on these type of tablets, is ignore what others say, and do what is right for you. Would I be happier off them, but then not wanting to get out of bed, play with my kids and feel like I was in a pit of despair every day ? I don't think so. I understand that they are not a miracle cure and some think that you never have a low point if you take them, but you do, but they help me get through the bad times and lead a normal life - how can that be so wrong ?

Best regards

Alison (37)
Birmingham

[mrs r king]

just to add my opinion on th matter of paroxatine.i have been taking them for 8 years.they brought my life back.im just glad i feel normal again and can live my life.however the worst side effect for me was that my libido was 0. althogh it is alot better nowi have tried to cut down a few times,but as soon as i feel the slightest symptom,it is really scarey ,because its the mostaufull feling that is really hard to cope with.i am not a very fiery person and i would do anything for a quiet life.if i was a stronger person maybe i would be able to cope better.i do feel that i have gained confidence.having lack of libido did cause a srain on my marriage.my husband took it personal that he felt i was no longr attracted to him.it did result in him having an affair,which was totally devastating.my depression reared its ugly head after giving birth,,twice, after my second pregnancy i was put on hormone treatment,but within two and a half weeks after comming off the hormone,the depression hit back worse than i had ever known i didnt eat wash,was unable to look after my children,needed round the clock care.had to give up my job.i really didnt want to live.so paroxitine was the best antidepressant for me.this is just the tip of the ice berg although still on antidepressants my life for me couldnt be better at the moment thanks

[samantha viney]

i suffered with depression after my first baby and for seven months i went undiagnosed,it was the worst time of my entire life, i was losing all grip on reality and was on the verge of losing my boyfriend. each day i felt hopeless and couldn't see any good in anything i would cry over anything and everything and was constantly panicky and anxious. i went to the doctor each week sometimes twice a week complaining of not feeling "normal" and was told the same thing each week, "it's just baby blue's" and would be sent home feeling like i'd wasted their time. it wasn't untill we moved adrress and changed doctors that i got diagnosed with depression, once again i'd made an appiontment at the doctors within days of regestering, i was sitting in the waiting room feeling like i was about to die and wondering what the point of everything was, i had a beautifull baby girl what i'd always wanted but felt no emotion towards her at all,when it came to her i feed her,cleaned her and kept her safe but there was no bond there.when i saw the doctor at last she said i was suffering with depression and would probably benefit from antidepressants,she prescribed me prozac and told me to come back in two weeks to see how i was,that day was the turning point for me and i'm so thankful that she prescribed those tablets for me and didn't just send me home telling me it was the baby blues. within a week i was not feeling as scared or worried that something terrible was going to happen and by the time i had been on them two weeks i felt as though everything thet had been out of place in my head had now gone back in the right place and more then anything i felt relieved that i felt like me again. i was now bonding with my baby and loving spendinng my time with her something i should have done seven months earlier, my relationship with my boyfriend was back on track and i felt the happiest i had done in a long time it had been so long that i'd forgotten what it felt like to be happy. i stayed on prozac for six months and then felt ready to wean myself of gradually. that was two years ago now, seven months ago i had my second baby and this time i started back on prozac within a week of giving birth as a precution as i never want to experince the way i felt back then ever again. this time i only stayed on it for a month just long enough to get me past the inital surge of hormones. i am so grateful for prozac and i dread to think what would have happened if i'd not been prescribed them they worked so well for me although they may not suit everyone they were my life saver.

[elle]

They do work!!I have had to take them on and off for 25 years and I can actually feel the difference very quickly. Without them I probably wouldnt be here.