Antidepressants...anyone had success?

Hey gang, figured I'd post this to get some feedback....

My family has a history of depression, and I was a lucky recipient of it as well. Top that off with my girl of three years leaving me, and I've just been feeling FREAKIN' WONDERFUL!!! Lol!....Anyway, and seriously, has anyone been on antidepressants and actually felt better on them? All of the ones I've tried have done nothing but made me extremely sick, and I can't even make it past the first week. Lexapro, Effexor...all of them just destroy my entire functioning! So tell me, anybody have success on these things? Do you feel like an emotionless zombie? Depression is an unexplainable feeling...does it really go away once these things kick in? Thank you to all who reply....

hey there,

im glad your feeling great yay.

anyway me personally havent been on them however people seem to feel that i am clinically depressed when three quaters of the time im on top of the world! yay. anyway that was irrelevent.

anyways...my sister has been on them for the last three years or so. shes on prozak 9if you spell it that way) and well there wasnt an immediate effect as she explains it but soon enough she was able to in her terms 'cope with things in a more reasonable sense and believe back in the things she used to'

she found one problem all thought at times she felt great on them, she missed a day and she was back where she started and she didnt feel too good either.

anyway she seems to be lowering the amount she takes and shes doing good, it has helped her gradually but over a long period of time, and she knows she made it worse but not confronting this but as you say.

Depression is an unexplainable feeling...

and i believe she would agree with that completely.

to the zombie question lol, from what she tells us, which isnt as much as before this all, shes not how she used to be, she doesnt know if thats good or bad but she misses aspects. i guess you can become blank in some sense and she has a tendency to get tied lol.

but shes doing good.

hope you get over it and be as happy as you are now...yay.

anyway hope this helped.

kel

I've had good luck with Celexa after some pretty bad luck with Paxil. The first month or so wasn't much fun as there were a lot of side effects to work through. But once my body got used to it I did feel different.

Depression will not just "go away" because of the medication. All the medication does is take the edge off and let you focus on beating the depression with counseling, time, healing, etc. It stops the darkness from overcoming you. For awhile I felt emotionless but I think that was caused by the depression more so than the medication. Its just that once the sadness lifted I noticed the numbness more

I've been on Cipramil for a few months now and things are a lot better. I had no side effects except for feeling a little euphoric in the first week - I guess that's what it feels like to be feeling normal after a long bout of depression

I definitely agree with avman in that any antidepressants must be be hand in hand with counselling/therapy etc. as it really does help, especially in the long term. A great deal of my healing has come simply by getting involved with more outside activities, and day to day lifestyle changes. Simply popping pills may work for a while, but once off the pills, things may slide back to the "dark old days".

Anyway, best of luck - it will work out in time. When I was depressed I wouldn't have believed that, but its true.

I've been on wellbutrin for about 6 months, and for me, it's working wonders. I've had to stop taking it at nighttime (read as after 7 pm) as it keeps me so level I don't sleep.

In researching my family history, severe depression keeps rearing its ugly head. So it comes as no surprise (now) that I inherited this problem along with a few others.

I've found counseling is needed, and right now, my psychiatrist is doing a great job in helping me with dealing with the bumps.

I find that everyone responses differently to medication, so the best bet is to talk to a psychiatrist and put together a plan of action. It took me 3 tries to find the right medication to keep me level.

For a lot of the anti-depressants to work, you have to maintain dosage about 1-2 weeks. However, if you "zombie" out, a dosage reduction or medication change is needed. The idea is that they reduce the depression level and leave you able to function (almost) normally.

Just some of my thoughts.....