Medication suggestions

Hi Everyone!

I am new here, but I felt like I needed some encouragement and interaction with people who are going through the same as I am.

I have been dealing with major depression for 3 months now. Unfortunately, I passed multiple kidney stones and the excruciating pain, stress and lack of self care got me depressed. Not to mention, I lost 3 family members, all on the same day.

My depression started of being severe with severe anxiety, now it is more moderate and my anxiety is completely gone! So that’s a positive and I am improving. I try to be as hopeful as I can be. Unfortunately depression runs in my family, so that could also be a factor.

I started off taking escitalopram (20mg), I suffered with the side effects but I pushed through and it made me feel better around week 3. However, the more I took, the more confused and dizzy I became so I stopped cold turkey. ( no withdrawals at all).

I went on to take Bupropion, which worked- other than I had slight mania- but after 10 days I developed an allergic reaction(swollen face, severe sore throat). Stopped cold turkey, other than diarrhea I was okay.

Per my psychiatrist’s suggestion, I tried duloxetine, which gave me an allergic reaction ( swollen face, severe sore throat) over night, so I stopped that.

I have a pretty good team of professionals (2 psychologists, 1 psychiatrist, 1 GP and a loving family ) lined up, but we just don’t seem to find what I need.

Does anyone have any experience with allergies to antidepressants? How long did it take to find the right medication? And what did you do to keep yourself encouraged during the trials?

Thanks Everyone!

L

Hi Karen,

Thanks for the quick reply!
I was so happy to see a comment so fast!

Escitalopram is Lexapro
Duloxetine is Cymbalta

Yes, my anxiety was awful. I was crying and shaking every morning then I got to work and couldn’t function till noon. I am off work now to recover at home so maybe that also helped with the anxiety.
My issue is now is that I don’t want to do much. I recently started cooking and cleaning the house. And today I finally laughed a little.
My depression is bad in the morning, then around 5-6p.m I feel pretty good. I still try to avoid grocery stores and public indoor places as my fight or flight reaction seems not functioning at all. Feeling pretty good at outdoor public events. Sounds like to me that my norepinephrine level is still off.
But soon it will be all good!
L

Hi guys. Yeah lexapro is eirher hit or miss...cymbalta is good if ya body takes to it.

I eat pristiq with a mood stabiliser. Maybe a combo alike pristiq and a mood stabiliser may help?

Keep being 💪... 2 u both. Soz been busy with support worker n stuff. HT.

Maybe there is a therapy you could try instead of antidepressants. That would be awesome!

Let us know how your psychiatrist appointment goes...

Have a good day...

Hugs, Karen...

St johns ok for milder forms of depression. Try the teduced lexapro first....if not...
HT

Best wishes with the Zoloft. I hope it works for you...

Let us know how it goes...

Hugs, Karen...

Hi, I had an allergic reaction to Prozac many years ago (hives) but have taken many different types of antidepressants since then without any problems, including tricyclics. They are older drugs but can work really well. They gave me a dry mouth and constipation but I dealt with that by drinking a lot of water and taking fiber tabs. I stopped them because this was 33 years ago and there was a terrible stigma about having any type of mental illness and I was worried someone would find out. But they actually worked for me.

Regular exercise can be very helpful also.

I hope that the Trintellix works for you. I hope that the side effects go away. Keep us posted on how you are doing on it.

Hugs, Karen...