Posted by Cindylou on March 18, 2001, at 19:29:18
I just discovered this site last night, and it has been SO affirming to know that it's not just me who has a hard time tolerating the different antidepressants out there. I have had chronic depression since I was 13 (I believe it is very much connected to my HORMONES since it gets progressively worse as the month goes on, to the point where I can't stand living that last week.)
I didn't receive treatment until 12 years later (I medicated myself with alcohol and relationships during those years -- really healthy stuff.) And now, for the past 11 years I have been on and off several medications.
I have tried most of the SSRIs (Prozac, Paxil, Zoloft, and Effexor) They all make me extremely fatigued and "drugged out" -- with severe "brain grog" as someone mentioned in this site. (A great description!) My doctor acts as if I'm making up the fatigue because she said she's never known anyone to get tired on Prozac or Zoloft. I was on ZOloft + Wellbutrin for a couple of years -- the Wellbutrin helped with the fatigue a bit, but I still wasn't fully "awake."
I got off the Zolfot+Wellbutrin a couple of years ago in order to get pregnant. During my pregnancy, I did pretty well off the meds (probably because I was no longer ovulating!) but the minute my baby was born I was hit with severe postpartum depression and anxiety. I was SO SENSITIVE to meds that even 5 mg of Prozac knocked me out. I had to use a dropper and work up to 5 mg, which helped for a couple of months, but then backfired (this happened to me once before on Prozac.) I finally ended up on Effoxor + Wellbutrin, but the Wellbutrin didn't do enough to get rid of the exhaustion caused by the Effexor, so I am now weaning myself off the Effexor (I'm down to 50 mg and already feel more alert -- people have even commented on the difference).
HOWEVER, now that I can actually feel things, I am experiencing anxiety. I tried Buspar for a few days, but it "drugged me out" just like the SSRIs. I am now trying Klonapin, which doesn't seem to do much, and does make me sleepy (not as bad as the others though.) I am leary about the risks involved with it as well, so I don't think I'll continue it.
So that's where I'm at. My questions for anyone out there are ...
- can you think of any antidepressant that won't make me so fatigued??
- Has anyone tried Desipramine? I was on that in the very beginning and it seemed to help with minimal side effects, but I was told later that I wasn't taking a therapeutic dose. I was only taking 40 mg. I think. What is a normal dose for Desipramine? And does it have many side effects?
- I have heard a lot of meds mentioned that I wasn't aware of, like Celexa, Neurontin, Luvox ... do any of these sound like they could help me considering my extreme sensivity to SSRIs?
Any advice, thoughts, opinions are greatly appreciated!!
Sorry for the rambling message -- didn't know how to put my complicated history into too small of a nutshell. I hope someone made it through to the end.
- cindylou
poster:Cindylou
thread:56863
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20010310/msgs/56863.html