A Thought about AD Medications.

Just thought I would post my thoughts on AD medications. I have been suffering for the last 8 to 10 years from depression, anxiety and a touch of OCD. For most of this time I have dealt with these issues on my own, keeping most of these problems hidden from my family and friend.   Over the last four year these problems become a lot worse, sum it up to getting older or whatever. The last year has been truly the hardest of all. I started to have severe anxiety attacks and went into a deep depression, so bad that I no longer could keep it to myself and deal with it alone. My wife and I started to have marital issues and went to see a counselor and during these sessions I started to open up about the conditions I was suffering from.    I had a really bad two week depression spell in which I was almost unable to function at all. Under my wife’s urging I went to see my doctor and he prescribed me Ativan and Paxil. I was terrified to take these drugs, I hate taking prescript ion medications in any form. Also with all I had read about these drugs on the internet I did not want to take them. But I was desperate and needed something to pull me out of this. I started taking the Ativan right away and then stared the Paxil. The Ativan was a lifesaver, within a few days I was able to relax and started to function somewhat normally again. Over the next month I continued to take the Paxil everyday and the Ativan as needed. Unfortunately, I had some bad side effects on the Paxil, night sweats and jitter in the morning. I quit taking them and just took the Ativan for awhile.   The Paxil did start to help my depression though, my mood was better and I started to feel “normal” for once. But the side effects were too much and I also started to gain weight which was no good, I have high blood pressure have been trying to lose weight to take of that. So I went back for my follow up appointment at the Dr and told him my issues with the Paxil. He changed me over to Budeprion SR, generic Wellbutrin, and wow what a difference it has made in my life. I have been on it for about two months now and this has become so much better. I have lost 30 pounds, and my life is so much clearer and brighter. It was like someone opened the window in a darkroom and let the sunshine in. For once in a long time I am starting to live again and feel like there is hope.   I still have moments of depression and anxiety but they do not consume me and I am able to handle them a lot better now. So where am I going with this? Lately I have been doing a lot of reflecting on how much of my life I have lost to depression and the anxiety.   How many years have I stayed closed up and beaten down and what it has done to the people I love. Why did I not seek help a long time ago? If you are suffering as I have DO NOT WAIT TO GET HELP, do not try and deal with this alone. Get to your Dr, reach out to a family member, a pastor, a friend, SOMEBODY and and get help now. Do not lose time like I have to these dreaded conditions.   I am no expert by any means and all I know is what I have read. But depression is a medical condition, caused by an unbalance of certain chemicals in the brain and it is very treatable.   As for AD and the side effects they cause? Well you just have to find what works for you. Paxil did not work for me but Budeprion did, you have to try and keep trying until you find what works for you but don’t give up. Every medication we put in our body can cause side effects, to be honest I have worse side effects from my blood pressure meds than from the AD. You just have to find what works with your body.   I also think you have to take responsibility for your heath also. With the AD I take I also changed my diet and stared an exercise program. The AD can help but you have to use it as a stepping stone for change. You have to take charge of yourself and meet the drugs halfway. I do yoga, martial arts, weight lifting and eat a balanced diet now. I am hoping that one day in the future I will not need any medications and will be able to deal with this on my own, but for now I need to meds and I am grateful I started taking them. Sorry this was so long but with all the negative info about AD I thought I would share my story for those considering getting on meds. Good luck to all and I wish you brighter days! Remember life is choice you can chose to be a victim or anything else you would like to be but you do have a choice. Post Edited By Moderator (stkitt) : 3/14/2009 3:03:51 PM (GMT-6)

Nate,

I also wanted to say I think everybody needs to hear posts like these. Getting help was the best thing I ever did and I waited 3yrs too long but it doesn't matter what point you are at in your life, everybody has it in them to succeed and everybody deserves to feel happy. Your right in the fact that it can take some time to find the right medication. There is hope in it and we just have to be strong. I've been doing better but might need a adjustment in my dose, so I also wanted to say that whatever Dr your seeing if they say come back in 4 weeks 2mo or 3mo and if you think the meds are just not doing there job contact the Dr and make appt before that time period. Only you know yourself well enough to know how your feeling. I believe there is hope for everyone and I'm glad this board is here to see everyone through!