I am 35 years old.
I went on anti depressants when i was 18, after years of wondering what was wrong with me. I suffer from depression and anxiety and has been some evidence of this throughout my lifr for as long as i can remember.
When I was 18 i had also been suffering severe panic attacks every time i went out socialising. I tried to hide this with alcohol for a while, but it just made it worse in the long run. I know now that i have certain personality dissorders. social and general.
Anyway at first i went on peroxatine(seroxat) this helped at first but were far too many side effects. I eventually went onto venlafaxine (effovesor/snri?) and must admitt they did work for me, they gave me the ability to live some sort of life without the panic attacks and constant nervous feeling in my gut. Sure there were side effects but i managed to cope with them.
I came off a few times over the years, always with problems and i must have been 30 when i eventually came off them. Life was good and I thought i would be ok. Turned out i wasn't and had a really bad time coming off them, horrendous.
After struggling again with anxiety and depression and obsessive thoughts i ended up back at the doctors. I tried a few that didnt help my nerves until i was given escitalopram. These did help. I felt good again, and was told they were easier to come off.
About a year later I had a new wife, the love of my life, new house, work was ok so I thought it was a good time to totally come off anti depressants. over the next 6 months i just felt myself heading towards depression, allthough at first i denied it and thought this cannot be happening.
Thats where I am now, im so depressed, think constant obsessing thoughts that make me feel like i dont wanna be here anymore. Ive tried St johns wort 1000mg a day but that doesnt seem to be helping enough. I was going to start taking SAMe in a morning aswell to see if that could make me feel better. I obviously cant manage in my life without some sort of anti depressant, but i cant live my life with the side effects.
Ive tried cognitive therapy (helped a bit) and am going to try counselling.
Life is hard, i dont deserve this illness and im sure anybody who reads it doesnt deserve it either. Im not sure i can manage my whole life with depression in it.
Sorry for the long post, i could type forever about it.
can't find the right tablets
Moderators: windsong, BlueGobi, Moderators, Astrid
thought i would say hi, by the way that is not a long post ,you can write as much as you need to.
sorry you are hurting so much. below are a few things that have helped maintain a normal life without meds for me.
hypnotherapy, vitamins especially bs', no sugars, routine etc.
perhaps google abram hoffer talks about niacin therapy and healthy diet.
you are not alone , there are lots of nice people on here.
take care.
sorry you are hurting so much. below are a few things that have helped maintain a normal life without meds for me.
hypnotherapy, vitamins especially bs', no sugars, routine etc.
perhaps google abram hoffer talks about niacin therapy and healthy diet.
you are not alone , there are lots of nice people on here.
take care.
Whatever fallen is saying, everyone shld follow it.
BUT PLUS
Regular Exercise. One doesn't need to join a gym or aerobic class for it. All we need is a mobile with music player and pair of ear phone and yea a mat. Floor exercises can be done at home.
Medically, it will spray endorphins in brain...a happy hormone.
And if i say spiritually, it just make me to think that i am taking care of myself and so it feels good.
My depression is on & off types. But in the "On days" i find everything i said above totally meaningless. But then i convince and force myself to spend sometime for it. In fact sometime i manipulate my own self. Yea that's true. What i do is, i try to do exercise at the time of my favourite television show. That way i distract myself from my negative thoughts and the exercise becomes more interesting. So i just put my mat in front of my tv and start. Just be stubborn with ur self sometimes. For that, u will have to cultivate ur WILL to make ur life better. And we all are there to help u in doing so. Oki.
Take care.
Keep posting.
BUT PLUS
Regular Exercise. One doesn't need to join a gym or aerobic class for it. All we need is a mobile with music player and pair of ear phone and yea a mat. Floor exercises can be done at home.
Medically, it will spray endorphins in brain...a happy hormone.
And if i say spiritually, it just make me to think that i am taking care of myself and so it feels good.
My depression is on & off types. But in the "On days" i find everything i said above totally meaningless. But then i convince and force myself to spend sometime for it. In fact sometime i manipulate my own self. Yea that's true. What i do is, i try to do exercise at the time of my favourite television show. That way i distract myself from my negative thoughts and the exercise becomes more interesting. So i just put my mat in front of my tv and start. Just be stubborn with ur self sometimes. For that, u will have to cultivate ur WILL to make ur life better. And we all are there to help u in doing so. Oki.
Take care.
Keep posting.
thanks for your replies.
I take a b complex and 100mg b3 niacin. aswell as vit d, 3 fish oil tablets and the st johns wort. Unfortunately it just doesn't seem to be working.
I also have a healthy diet these days, ive lost 2 stone in the past 6 months.
None of this seems to be working, I also have had bad back pain for the past 3 months which definitely doesn't help.
I would like to think there is a way I can live without prescribed anti depressants but I just haven't found it yet. Im trying SAMe from tomorrow onwards, and as soon as I can feel a slight improvement to give me just a bit of get up and go I am going to do everything in my power to get to the bottom of my problems and try to get my head around meditation which im convinced will help, its just too hard to get the motivation or concentration needed at the moment.
I take a b complex and 100mg b3 niacin. aswell as vit d, 3 fish oil tablets and the st johns wort. Unfortunately it just doesn't seem to be working.
I also have a healthy diet these days, ive lost 2 stone in the past 6 months.
None of this seems to be working, I also have had bad back pain for the past 3 months which definitely doesn't help.
I would like to think there is a way I can live without prescribed anti depressants but I just haven't found it yet. Im trying SAMe from tomorrow onwards, and as soon as I can feel a slight improvement to give me just a bit of get up and go I am going to do everything in my power to get to the bottom of my problems and try to get my head around meditation which im convinced will help, its just too hard to get the motivation or concentration needed at the moment.
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Alaska1958
- Posts: 178
- Joined: Sat Jul 06, 2013 11:23 pm
Hi there George,
Over the years I've gotten pretty cynical about alternative therapies, but after 40 years with the same problem I'm in no position to judge. Try things, some of them will help and maybe you'll find something great.
I have a terrible time focusing on anything for any period of time. I wish you well.
Over the years I've gotten pretty cynical about alternative therapies, but after 40 years with the same problem I'm in no position to judge. Try things, some of them will help and maybe you'll find something great.
I have a terrible time focusing on anything for any period of time. I wish you well.
Hey hi George....u r putting in so much efforts to make ur life better. Just Stay determined.
Being a medical student, i wud suggest not to go for medicines unless u Really Really need them and if nothing else is working.
It's Because anti depressants bring more side effects than the desired positive effects. So try to avoid them or if u Really want them then go for lowest dose. But believe me, in the long run these meds start begging to increase their dose. The lower dose stops bringing out the positive effects after sometime.
But George, if u have already been taking these meds then never stop taking them abruptly. There is a way of discontinuing these medicines...known as Tapering Down the dose. Ask ur doctor he or she will explain u satisfactorily.
Do u know about yoga?
It's the best option to enhance peace of mind and to improve concentration abilities. If u want i can suggest some to u and then u can check them out on youtube.
Plus u shld engage sometimes with games like Sudoku (it also comes in newspapers) or chess.
That ws all about practical efforts that u or one can put it. But u know what i believe....i think u shld also share all the thoughts which are and have been going on in ur head and heart. Because i think unless u don't share it with someone...u won't be able to calm urself...neither by medicines nor by anything else.
George, i think u shld blurt out every thought here...only if u r comfortable of course.
I can't promise that after sharing ur problems or other annoying stuff, whether u will get their solutions here or not but yes one thing i can promise and that is, u will surely feel that u r not alone...u will be heard...people wud listen and wud try to guide u thru.
U won't regret it.
Okayeees take care.
Being a medical student, i wud suggest not to go for medicines unless u Really Really need them and if nothing else is working.
It's Because anti depressants bring more side effects than the desired positive effects. So try to avoid them or if u Really want them then go for lowest dose. But believe me, in the long run these meds start begging to increase their dose. The lower dose stops bringing out the positive effects after sometime.
But George, if u have already been taking these meds then never stop taking them abruptly. There is a way of discontinuing these medicines...known as Tapering Down the dose. Ask ur doctor he or she will explain u satisfactorily.
Do u know about yoga?
It's the best option to enhance peace of mind and to improve concentration abilities. If u want i can suggest some to u and then u can check them out on youtube.
Plus u shld engage sometimes with games like Sudoku (it also comes in newspapers) or chess.
That ws all about practical efforts that u or one can put it. But u know what i believe....i think u shld also share all the thoughts which are and have been going on in ur head and heart. Because i think unless u don't share it with someone...u won't be able to calm urself...neither by medicines nor by anything else.
George, i think u shld blurt out every thought here...only if u r comfortable of course.
I can't promise that after sharing ur problems or other annoying stuff, whether u will get their solutions here or not but yes one thing i can promise and that is, u will surely feel that u r not alone...u will be heard...people wud listen and wud try to guide u thru.
U won't regret it.
Okayeees take care.
Hi Alaska, thanks. I have to admit i have always been of a cynical nature also about such things. But Im prrpared to try, there so many different things out there that seem to help different people so Im gonna keep trying until i hopefully find what works for me.
Hi saragupta, thanks for your post.I believe (certainly for me anyway) that anti d's simply paper over the cracks.Over long periods of time they do start to have less effect on you and then you are back to square 1. Im sure that there is something else out there that can help me, whether its one thing or a combination of things i just havent found it yet. For the moment im hoping SAMe which i started today will take the edge off to help me getting started with trying to beat this.
Sure i would welcome some links for yoga. Ive been considering looking into this for a while. I do some pilates to try and help my back and it does help a bit will try yoga also to see if it can make any difference.
When i feel i have it in me I will start to share my most inner problems and worries but once i start I could go on forever.[/list]
Hi saragupta, thanks for your post.I believe (certainly for me anyway) that anti d's simply paper over the cracks.Over long periods of time they do start to have less effect on you and then you are back to square 1. Im sure that there is something else out there that can help me, whether its one thing or a combination of things i just havent found it yet. For the moment im hoping SAMe which i started today will take the edge off to help me getting started with trying to beat this.
Sure i would welcome some links for yoga. Ive been considering looking into this for a while. I do some pilates to try and help my back and it does help a bit will try yoga also to see if it can make any difference.
When i feel i have it in me I will start to share my most inner problems and worries but once i start I could go on forever.[/list]
Sounds like you are dealing with Chronic Depression
Myself as well and it seems that the meds aren't really doing much because once I get on the med regimen I bump up to a "new normal" and forget how bad it was until I am face down in the depression again.
Literally, some meds simply let you keep more of your thoughts and dump the ones you don't want more selectively - putting a person in the general realm of how people's seratonin uptake is supposed to work.
I'd been off meds for about 2 years at one point and was functional but miserable, using every coping skill I had and doing ok, but feeling like shit. I got back on meds and LITERALLY I could SEE that the gray film I'd been physically looking at the world with was lifted. The trees and water and houses along my bus route were DIFFERENT to me than they were the day before. The weather was the same, but it was like a layer of grime had been cleaned off my windshield and I could see things as they really were. So I had to admit there was a chemical component to MY depression.
I don't advocate taking meds if a person doesn't need them or not taking them if you do. I just think a person needs to be fearlessly honest about whether the situation is a chemical imbalance or not and deal with the answer, because whatever the truth is, there is the solution.
What was wrong with escitalopram? AND have you ever discussed PLANNED Medication "holidays"? I haven't tried it because I'm not disciplined enough to do something that precisely, but if your meds really DO lose effectiveness it could be an option, but only a physiciatrist would know which drugs lend themselves to that process and exactly how to set it up.
I don't have "depression once in awhile" I have chronic depression. So MY biggest issue with meds is NOT WANTING to be the person who HAS to take them ALL my life. It's a shame thing. It's vanity. It's the social stigma attached. BUT I've never had a host of side effects either.
OH, BTW thereapeutic dose of St John's Wort can be as high as 1,800mg a day. BUT it CAN interract with other meds and herbals, so you might want to talk to an accupuncturist who trained in China. They also get trained to what is equivilant in China as a doctor to prescribe herbal therapies. I'm not sure what kinds of standards American herbalists apply or if it depends on what specifically that person knows and it's the luck of the draw.
I went down from 1,800 to about 900mg of St John's Wort once I started taking some anti-depressants, sorry don't remember which ones at this point, and my periods became so bad that it was like hemoraging and I got anemic from blood loss. Finally mentioned the St John's Wort to my doctor and she said to discontinue it while on the anti-depressants and things settled down fairly soon in that area.
Obviously, that would not be a problem for you, but it interracts with lots of blood thinners etc... so whoever treats you needs to know you take it and you need to know they are well versed in what it does and doesn't affect.
So much nuts and bolts to dealing with this darn depression. Like a full time job at times.
Literally, some meds simply let you keep more of your thoughts and dump the ones you don't want more selectively - putting a person in the general realm of how people's seratonin uptake is supposed to work.
I'd been off meds for about 2 years at one point and was functional but miserable, using every coping skill I had and doing ok, but feeling like shit. I got back on meds and LITERALLY I could SEE that the gray film I'd been physically looking at the world with was lifted. The trees and water and houses along my bus route were DIFFERENT to me than they were the day before. The weather was the same, but it was like a layer of grime had been cleaned off my windshield and I could see things as they really were. So I had to admit there was a chemical component to MY depression.
I don't advocate taking meds if a person doesn't need them or not taking them if you do. I just think a person needs to be fearlessly honest about whether the situation is a chemical imbalance or not and deal with the answer, because whatever the truth is, there is the solution.
What was wrong with escitalopram? AND have you ever discussed PLANNED Medication "holidays"? I haven't tried it because I'm not disciplined enough to do something that precisely, but if your meds really DO lose effectiveness it could be an option, but only a physiciatrist would know which drugs lend themselves to that process and exactly how to set it up.
I don't have "depression once in awhile" I have chronic depression. So MY biggest issue with meds is NOT WANTING to be the person who HAS to take them ALL my life. It's a shame thing. It's vanity. It's the social stigma attached. BUT I've never had a host of side effects either.
OH, BTW thereapeutic dose of St John's Wort can be as high as 1,800mg a day. BUT it CAN interract with other meds and herbals, so you might want to talk to an accupuncturist who trained in China. They also get trained to what is equivilant in China as a doctor to prescribe herbal therapies. I'm not sure what kinds of standards American herbalists apply or if it depends on what specifically that person knows and it's the luck of the draw.
I went down from 1,800 to about 900mg of St John's Wort once I started taking some anti-depressants, sorry don't remember which ones at this point, and my periods became so bad that it was like hemoraging and I got anemic from blood loss. Finally mentioned the St John's Wort to my doctor and she said to discontinue it while on the anti-depressants and things settled down fairly soon in that area.
Obviously, that would not be a problem for you, but it interracts with lots of blood thinners etc... so whoever treats you needs to know you take it and you need to know they are well versed in what it does and doesn't affect.
So much nuts and bolts to dealing with this darn depression. Like a full time job at times.
Thanks for the post glad2bme.
I just feel like i need to try and have a good go at life without anti ds and see what happens. Another few weeks of feeling like shit and i will throw the towel in.
At the moment im a shadow of who i can be.
The escitalipram did work very well for me. The main problems were the sexual ones. I could still perform but its just not the same. A feeling that should be so much more intense just wasnt there. Im 35 now and newly married. I feel i deserve a time to enjoy my sex life to the max before i get too old. Thats blunt but true.
I need to try my hardest to give it a go or will spend the rest of my life regretting it.
But if im totally honest i feel im not just going through spells of depression, i too am chronically depressed and probably am in need of anti ds to give me some pleasure from life. Im coming to realise this moght be true whilst still hoping its not.
But whatever will be will be
I just feel like i need to try and have a good go at life without anti ds and see what happens. Another few weeks of feeling like shit and i will throw the towel in.
At the moment im a shadow of who i can be.
The escitalipram did work very well for me. The main problems were the sexual ones. I could still perform but its just not the same. A feeling that should be so much more intense just wasnt there. Im 35 now and newly married. I feel i deserve a time to enjoy my sex life to the max before i get too old. Thats blunt but true.
I need to try my hardest to give it a go or will spend the rest of my life regretting it.
But if im totally honest i feel im not just going through spells of depression, i too am chronically depressed and probably am in need of anti ds to give me some pleasure from life. Im coming to realise this moght be true whilst still hoping its not.
But whatever will be will be
U deserve to be a whole person enjoying all liffe's aspects
These days they have all kind of things you can buy at Walgreens to make things good for her - good for him and when they come together Kaboom.
The fact they have these supplies at mainstream retail outlets indicates LOTS of people want more in that area and it's become a profitible business.
So I think finding out what all of your options entails simply asking a medical dr or phsyciatrist what to do with all the various side effects to get the needs met in all areas with the least hassle.
I had one medical professional who had some cross referenced chart and asked certain questions that kind of ruled out certain meds and pointed to others until we had a list of options to try and realistically, the best I was I had one more med on my daily regimine, but I'm afraid to go back on it because it makes me sleep really sound and there are obligations I have at home that make my bed time inconsistent. New baby in the house.
The fact they have these supplies at mainstream retail outlets indicates LOTS of people want more in that area and it's become a profitible business.
So I think finding out what all of your options entails simply asking a medical dr or phsyciatrist what to do with all the various side effects to get the needs met in all areas with the least hassle.
I had one medical professional who had some cross referenced chart and asked certain questions that kind of ruled out certain meds and pointed to others until we had a list of options to try and realistically, the best I was I had one more med on my daily regimine, but I'm afraid to go back on it because it makes me sleep really sound and there are obligations I have at home that make my bed time inconsistent. New baby in the house.
Thanks will look into more things that help in that department.
Always side effects, you can't get anything for free.
Congrats on the baby. Its an amazing time, magical, but also can be extremely difficult.
I have two, and while they are the best things to ever happen to me i found the 1st 6 months very very hard
Always side effects, you can't get anything for free.
Congrats on the baby. Its an amazing time, magical, but also can be extremely difficult.
I have two, and while they are the best things to ever happen to me i found the 1st 6 months very very hard
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