Side effects from antidepressants

LegacyUser · 06-02-2009 1:16pm #1

I started taking affex last week (20mg). I know its normal to experience some side effects but I've been feeling so sick that I can barely eat. I find it difficult to even get outta bed in the morning. Is this normal?

My gp thinks I should be put on some other meds if these ones are making me feel so bad, but I'm afraid that they will make me sick too. I've been on lexapro and prozac and had some bad side effects from them too.... Help!

LegacyUser · 06-02-2009 2:52pm

hi

i take cipramil. Im on it about 4 months now. The first week I felt just awful - queasy, pain in my stomack. But it goes away after a few days. hang in there

luckyfrank · 06-02-2009 11:54pm

Unregistered wrote: »

I started taking affex last week (20mg). I know its normal to experience some side effects but I've been feeling so sick that I can barely eat. I find it difficult to even get outta bed in the morning. Is this normal?

My gp thinks I should be put on some other meds if these ones are making me feel so bad, but I'm afraid that they will make me sick too. I've been on lexapro and prozac and had some bad side effects from them too.... Help!

The only advice you should heed is your doctors it would be unwise of anybody to give you advice as we dont know your circumstances

If the medication is making you really ill contact your doctor immeadiatly

ugliest · 11-02-2009 3:47am

Can I take it this is the same gp who perscribed you your other meds?

If it is, and they just put you on this and now want to take you off it, i'd kinda do as they said.

An important thing is to find what works for you, if you have the same doctor all along, they may have a better idea of what will work for you.

Don't take this the wrong way, but if you've been on meds before, you really should be seeing a psch doc, as this doesn't seem to be going away.. If you have the same doc overseeing your case, you'll be able to build a relationship and they'll get a better idea of how to treat you.

That said, sometimes it does take time for your body to adjust. I had no problem going onto lexapro, but was bedridden for a week and a half going on other drugs.

I'd try and wait it out for 2 weeks before giving up on it. If at that point you're still in bits, really consider coming off it. Untill then, try wait it out, you're probably over the worst of it, give your body time to adjust+time for the meds to kick in.x

doctor evil · 11-02-2009 4:22am

I'm on Cymbalta 120 mg but only take 90 mg my psych doctor wants me to take the 120mg but I am not so sure as I do not like the side effects I get at 90 mg. A lot of the time I almost feel like I am about to faint but only in my head if you get what I mean. I don't feel neasaus (sp?) or actually dizzy. I almost feel like I am about to swoon. This can come on if I really need to concentrate to do something such as horse riding when doing something tricky but not when doing other things such as the cross word when I would really be working my brain. I also get like this when I am tired (myself partly to blame, turning night into day)

I used to be on Lexapro. I am not too happy with my doctor at the moment as at the last appointment they did not have my file and my appointment often starts about thirty minutes late. I am due to go back next month, my regulat gp is kept informed by the psych doctor. They are meant to have a CBT specialist but I have not received word about it in months. I know I can do look into CBT by myself (I have done it before and found it helped) but I would like to have someone to discuss it with. I don't get why I can't just do it with the psych doc?

LegacyUser · 11-02-2009 2:35pm

Can anybody actually give a happy story from the time they got on meds? 95% of the stories I hear about meds mad the person worse or improved nothing. I am very anxious and often depressed and am considering meds but am thinking is there a point when they just exacerbate the situation? Is it a case of successfully treated people avoiding the internet and not posting their stories because they want to get away from the whole message board scene?

nesf · 11-02-2009 4:18pm

Unregistered wrote: »

Can anybody actually give a happy story from the time they got on meds? 95% of the stories I hear about meds mad the person worse or improved nothing. I am very anxious and often depressed and am considering meds but am thinking is there a point when they just exacerbate the situation? Is it a case of successfully treated people avoiding the internet and not posting their stories because they want to get away from the whole message board scene?

My life has been turned around by medication and I can honestly say that without it my quality of life would far worse than it is now. I have bipolar and without medication I suffer chronic highs and lows most of the year, with medication my moods are a lot more stable.

I also suffer minimal side effects to my medication despite being on four different drugs and taking 13 pills a day. It took a while and the testing of a few different drugs to find ones that suited me but it was well worth it in the long run.

I hope that helps.

Edit: Also bear in mind, due to human nature being what it is, you'll always hear more about the bad sides of medication online than the good ones simply because people who've responded well to medication won't have an axe to grind about it so to speak. Having had bad side effects to drugs in the past I understand why people post up their stories but the reality is that side effects aren't anywhere as common as it would first appear from browsing online.

luckyfrank · 11-02-2009 7:22pm

Mod Edit:

Frank - you were warned about this before. What you are talking about is a controlled substance in Ireland. Please do not post like this again - next time it will be a ban.

Susannahmia · 12-02-2009 2:43am

Unregistered wrote: »

Can anybody actually give a happy story from the time they got on meds? 95% of the stories I hear about meds mad the person worse or improved nothing. I am very anxious and often depressed and am considering meds but am thinking is there a point when they just exacerbate the situation? Is it a case of successfully treated people avoiding the internet and not posting their stories because they want to get away from the whole message board scene?

Hey there I am on lustral 200 mg and zispin 15mg for anxiety and depression. When I first went on the lustral I had a dry mouth for the first few weeks and a lower mood for the first two weeks. Now I have no side effects at all and feel a lot better.

Monkey61 · 12-02-2009 7:03pm

Citalopram completely changed my life, for a few months anyway! They do work it's just a matter of figuring out which is the right one for you and it's unfortunate that the only way to do that is through months of trial and error.

sam34 · 12-02-2009 9:39pm

doctor evil wrote: »

months. I know I can do look into CBT by myself (I have done it before and found it helped) but I would like to have someone to discuss it with. I don't get why I can't just do it with the psych doc?

because most psychiatrists are not qualified in cbt practice. it is usually done by psychologists.

sorella · 13-02-2009 6:52pm

Please forgive if I have misread or misremembered something; I came back to this thread because of a reference to St John's Wort? Is this what is being mentioned here? I had no idea ; is it classed in Ireland like this? Please delete this too:)
I was about to say to be very careful with this powerful herb.

luckyfrank wrote: »

Mod Edit:

Frank - you were warned about this before. What you are talking about is a controlled substance in Ireland. Please do not post like this again - next time it will be a ban.

AlexBM · 14-02-2009 2:39am

Unregistered wrote: »

Can anybody actually give a happy story from the time they got on meds? 95% of the stories I hear about meds mad the person worse or improved nothing. I am very anxious and often depressed and am considering meds but am thinking is there a point when they just exacerbate the situation? Is it a case of successfully treated people avoiding the internet and not posting their stories because they want to get away from the whole message board scene?

Yes, been taking Efexor for about 6 or 7 years now. I never had any major side effects (although I do suffer a bit if I forget to take them) and they, together with visits to my psychiatrist, made a world of difference. i have good and bad days, just like everybody else, but it was the best thing I ever could have done. I hesitated at the thought of taking meds at first, and thought I could manage without them, but at the end of the day, I couldn't. I've met many people who say, 'oh, I got a prescription, but just pulled myself out of it in the end because I didn't want to take any pills'. Good for them, but there was no way I would have managed without them (and my shrink).

projectxz2005 · 14-02-2009 6:56pm

sam34 wrote: »

because most psychiatrists are not qualified in cbt practice. it is usually done by psychologists.

actually psychiatrists are all trained in CBT. they generally don't see patients in this capacity however because it is time-consuming and they are highly trained doctors whose skills are more applicable in medical practice.

sam34 · 15-02-2009 10:45pm

projectxz2005 wrote: »

actually psychiatrists are all trained in CBT. they generally don't see patients in this capacity however because it is time-consuming and they are highly trained doctors whose skills are more applicable in medical practice.

thats not true. i am a psychiatrist and neither i nor any of my colleagues are trained in cbt.
we know the theory of it, of course, but we are not trained in it and therefore do not practice it.

i know of only one psychiatrist in munster who is trained in cbt, she did a masters in it after qualifying as a psychiatrist.

star-pants · 19-02-2009 10:30pm

Just a question along the lines of antidepressants and their effects, I'm on prozac for fibromyalgia, but I'm also slightly depressed.

For those on anti-ds - obviously we all get good days and bad ones, would combining counselling with the meds have a better longterm reaction?

nesf · 19-02-2009 11:12pm

star-pants wrote: »

For those on anti-ds - obviously we all get good days and bad ones, would combining counselling with the meds have a better longterm reaction?

Depends on the person I think. I found counselling didn't help me whenever I've tried it, I know other's who couldn't go day to day without it. Try it and see if it works for you, if it doesn't don't worry about it not everyone needs counselling, if it does great, it's always good to have a variety of tools at your disposal when it comes to issues like these.

star-pants · 19-02-2009 11:21pm

nesf wrote: »

Depends on the person I think. I found counselling didn't help me whenever I've tried it, I know other's who couldn't go day to day without it. Try it and see if it works for you, if it doesn't don't worry about it not everyone needs counselling, if it does great, it's always good to have a variety of tools at your disposal when it comes to issues like these.

Thanks for your input

I never particularly liked the idea of counselling, just trying to tell someone about things that I don't tell anyone/just one close person.
But a year on the Prozac and I had a bit of a stepback and I don't like the idea it could creep up again like that.

nesf · 19-02-2009 11:23pm

star-pants wrote: »

Thanks for your input
I never particularly liked the idea of counselling, just trying to tell someone about things that I don't tell anyone/just one close person.
But a year on the Prozac and I had a bit of a stepback and I don't like the idea it could creep up again like that.

Well, counselling is confidential, so you can work with them to try and talk about issues that are bothering you that you feel you can't talk to anyone else about.

Partially why I don't need counselling is that I'm able to discuss pretty much anything with my wife and one of my closest friends as well as some of my family.

luckyfrank · 19-02-2009 11:25pm

How can you tell how badly depressed you are ?

star-pants · 19-02-2009 11:26pm

It's not really the confidentiality thing - it's the actual talking about certain things. Sometimes I'm physically unable to speak, it's like I'm struck dumb, no matter how I try to word/talk it doesn't come out.

I'm glad you can share with your wife/friends - that's definitely good. I can kind of confide in my bf, but I don't like putting any extra stress on him.

nesf · 19-02-2009 11:58pm

luckyfrank wrote: »

How can you tell how badly depressed you are ?

It's very hard to tell yourself, you can try and make some guess by what problems you're having and what others have noticed but the only person who'll be able to tell for sure is a psychiatrist. I compare depressions (and manias) to past ones for reference but it's hard to quantify these things when you're the sufferer.

star-pants wrote: »

It's not really the confidentiality thing - it's the actual talking about certain things. Sometimes I'm physically unable to speak, it's like I'm struck dumb, no matter how I try to word/talk it doesn't come out.

I don't mean to be glib but this could be something a counsellor could help you with.

star-pants · 20-02-2009 1:59pm

nesf wrote: »

I don't mean to be glib but this could be something a counsellor could help you with.

True - you're probably quite right, i'd probably prefer to confide in someone close to me but learning to be able to articulate myself would be a useful skill to learn from a counsellor perhaps.

tbh · 20-02-2009 5:46pm

star-pants wrote: »

It's not really the confidentiality thing - it's the actual talking about certain things. Sometimes I'm physically unable to speak, it's like I'm struck dumb, no matter how I try to word/talk it doesn't come out.
.

I know I don't speak for all guys but I think a lot us are bad listeners because when we hear people -especially people we love - talking about problems, our natural inclination is to try to fix them. I think if you explain to your boyfriend that you just want to vent a bit, it'll help take some of the stresses off him, and I'm sure he'll feel good about being able to help -in my experience anyway. I went out with a girl who was on meds and it did take me a while to learn that skill but it didn't take long to get used to it.

star-pants · 20-02-2009 7:39pm

tbh wrote: »

I know I don't speak for all guys but I think a lot us are bad listeners because when we hear people -especially people we love - talking about problems, our natural inclination is to try to fix them. I think if you explain to your boyfriend that you just want to vent a bit, it'll help take some of the stresses off him, and I'm sure he'll feel good about being able to help -in my experience anyway. I went out with a girl who was on meds and it did take me a while to learn that skill but it didn't take long to get used to it.

Thanks

He is really good at listening - just well, an issue this week has upset him and he's now not talking to me, I thought I was doing right by being honest but it's so hard to know how some people will react. I just hope he comes around, I don't like burdoning him with my stuff but I feel being honest is best. I just hope I don't lose him for it.
(excuse personal vent there!)
I have kept most stuff from my parents - they really don't need it, so I guess maybe I should take the advice of friends and organise a counsellor at some point.

qtmamma · 23-06-2009 11:46am

I plan to stay on 60mg cymbalta for the rest of my life, but am slightly worried about the long term effects. I already have diverticulis disease and have had my gall bladder removed which puts my liver at risk, but the thought of descending into that Black Hole of depression makes me terrified of giving up cymbalta which also helps my fibromyalgia. Does anyone know what the long term effects are?

tbh · 23-06-2009 12:03pm

not sure about the long term effects - better to discuss with your doctor really, but the side effects listed are:

http://www.drugs.com/cymbalta.html wrote:

Call your doctor at once if you have any of these serious side effects while using Cymbalta:
nausea, stomach pain, low fever, loss of appetite, dark urine, clay-colored stools, jaundice (yellowing of the skin or eyes);
painful or difficult urination;
easy bruising or bleeding, nosebleeds;
black, bloody, or tarry stools;
very stiff (rigid) muscles, high fever, vomiting, diarrhea, sweating, fast or uneven heartbeats, tremors, overactive reflexes;
headache, trouble concentrating, memory problems, confusion, hallucinations; or
weakness, feeling unsteady, loss of coordination, fainting, seizure, shallow breathing or breathing that stops.
Less serious Cymbalta side effects may include:
dry mouth, blurred vision;
drowsiness, dizziness, spinning sensation;
mild nausea, constipation, gas;
sleep problems (insomnia);
joint or muscle pain;
weight changes; or
decreased sex drive, impotence, or difficulty having an orgasm.

Chuckchuck · 22-07-2009 8:26am

It will take a number of weeks before your system get used to a new medication but not all will agree with you....take your GPs advice

qtmamma · 22-07-2009 12:02pm

I have been taking it for years now. I wonder if I can go on taking it indefinitely.

LegacyUser · 22-07-2009 6:45pm

hi, i have just been prescribed Lexapro 10mg for depression and am just wondering if anyone could share their experiences with it? I am a bit apprehensive about weight gain, headaches etc.

I have been diagnosed with mild depression and the doc thought it would be beneficial to take this for a month or two...she told me it would start to take effect in about 2wks.

I have only been taking it for a few days now and I feel very thirsty all the time and a bit 'spaced out' but nothing to bad really. I have been feeling a bit euphoric already, can't stop smiling all day long (not in a manic way tho) and am just wondering if anyone else experienced this so soon after starting on this drug? it could be a kind of placebo effect though!

I am also starting counselling this week and making lifestyle changes as I really don't want to be on anti-d's for too long. I believe that the withdrawl symptoms can be awful.

tim0ney · 22-07-2009 8:35pm

Unregistered wrote: »

I started taking affex last week (20mg). I know its normal to experience some side effects but I've been feeling so sick that I can barely eat. I find it difficult to even get outta bed in the morning. Is this normal?

My gp thinks I should be put on some other meds if these ones are making me feel so bad, but I'm afraid that they will make me sick too. I've been on lexapro and prozac and had some bad side effects from them too.... Help!

Affex is a generic brand of Prozac - both are fluoxetine, so you should react the same to the Affex as you did to the Prozac, presuming both of the dosages are the same. It's quite common to get gastric side-effects from these drugs in the first week or two of therapy, but they usually subside, as the antidepressant effect starts to take hold.

I would say though, that you should listen to the advice of your GP above anything anybody on these boards says! Hope this helps.

Side effects from antidepressants

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