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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 7 of 7. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by crabwalk on May 1, 2006, at 19:01:14
So, the first few days on EMSAM were up and down, but now it is consistently making me totally lethargic, fatigued, and terribly, terribly depressed. I have actually never felt this type of depression before as it's hard for me to even fake interest in things, fake laughs or smiles. Before I was very unhappy but could usually perk up for people. Now, I always just want to lie down...it's really incredible that an antidepressant is doing this, there's no 'anti' about it at the moment. Anyone else been blindsided like this by EMSAM or anything else? Anyone stuck with a med through something like this to come out feeling better? Ungh...
Posted by Phillipa on May 1, 2006, at 21:33:14
In reply to first wk on EMSAM - increased depression?!, posted by crabwalk on May 1, 2006, at 19:01:14
I am tuly sorry.Want to try the patch but waiting to see a lot more people and their reponses first. What were you on before and most importantly did you feel better on that? Love Phillipa
Posted by blueberry on May 2, 2006, at 6:53:48
In reply to first wk on EMSAM - increased depression?!, posted by crabwalk on May 1, 2006, at 19:01:14
I have experienced rapidly deepened depression to a scary degree on several medications and even on natural supplements. If depression is a so-called chemical imbalance, well, from person to person we don't know what is out of balance. A medication or supplement could throw things out of balance even more or create a new imbalance.
My doctor complains to me that I am too fearful of meds and she squacks when I start something at a miniscule dose instead of the regular starting dose. But it is because of those scary depressions I have experienced that I am fearful when starting something.
Sometimes they say things will be a lot worse for a couple weeks before they start getting better. I don't know about that, never made it that far. I guess we have to make a choice to either keep going or stop it.
Posted by ravenstorm on May 2, 2006, at 9:19:10
In reply to Re: first wk on EMSAM - increased depression?!, posted by blueberry on May 2, 2006, at 6:53:48
Have you told your doctor about these symptoms? Are you also going through withdrawal to anything that may be making you feel like this?
Posted by crabwalk on May 2, 2006, at 10:09:41
In reply to Re: first wk on EMSAM - increased depression?!, posted by ravenstorm on May 2, 2006, at 9:19:10
I just typed a long response and forgot to add my name and it got deleted. How frustrating. Maybe I'll try again later.
Posted by crabwalk on May 2, 2006, at 14:32:14
In reply to Re: first wk on EMSAM - increased depression?!, posted by crabwalk on May 2, 2006, at 10:09:41
Ok, so I've had a rough history in terms of medication that started about 2 years ago. I was given paxil by my pdoc for anxiety that caused severe insomnia, which I still have. I did paxil for two months, no help in sleep and side effects, so I switched to prozac for 6 months. No help in sleep, gave me restless leg eventually, also extremely severe sexual side effects, so I decided to quit that over a year ago.
The severe sexual side effects never went away, and this has more or less ruined my life, caused me to lose my girlfriend with whom I was in love. To give an idea of the severity, I have numb genitals/genital shrinkage, no pleasurable sensitivity anywhere on my body, no pleasure from orgasm, and little/no attraction/arousal to girls. Before ssris, I was very horny, very sensual, and in my humble opinion a very good lover. Also, ssris made me feel 'numb' in general (i.e. anhedonic) and this lack of ability to feel much, especially pleasure, is directly related to the sexual side effects in my opinion.
Anyway, over the past year I've tried several things to remedy this, but the only rx meds I've tried have been buspar and tianeptine (which actually isn't prescribable here in the US). Buspar helped a little but I quit for awhile, then when I tried it again it gave me akathisia and a tremor in my hands which never fully went away either. A few months later I tried tianeptine, had a horrible reaction to a dose increase, but was able to take a very small dose as it helped out with anxiety. I quit this about a week before starting emsam, took it for about a month total. I don't think what I'm going through now has much to do with withdrawal from tianeptine since I was such a small dose (10mg a day vs. normal dose of 37.5).
I am pretty determined to stick it out on emsam for at least a month-6 weeks. But right now, man I have never felt depression like this. I have been in rough shape generally, but this is like putting a wet blanket on everything. I am actually dizzy much of the time. I was expecting that emsam would be too activating for me since I have anxiety, but I never expected it to make me depressed. Hopefully I just have to hold out a few more weeks.
By the way, this story was partly meant to dissuade people from extrapolating anything from my experience. I am a weird case and my depression has a definite root in the seemingly permanent sexual/emotional damage that ssris caused me. If that does not clear up, I don't think I will ever really be happy. Emsam seems to be helping a lot of people, the only way to find out if it'll work is to try it. Good luck.
Posted by Donna Louise on May 4, 2006, at 7:03:31
In reply to Re: first wk on EMSAM - increased depression?!, posted by blueberry on May 2, 2006, at 6:53:48
> I have experienced rapidly deepened depression to a scary degree on several medications and even on natural supplements. If depression is a so-called chemical imbalance, well, from person to person we don't know what is out of balance. A medication or supplement could throw things out of balance even more or create a new imbalance.
>
> My doctor complains to me that I am too fearful of meds and she squacks when I start something at a miniscule dose instead of the regular starting dose. But it is because of those scary depressions I have experienced that I am fearful when starting something.
>
> Sometimes they say things will be a lot worse for a couple weeks before they start getting better. I don't know about that, never made it that far. I guess we have to make a choice to either keep going or stop it.
My poor husband was nearly bed-bound (not in a good way) for the first two weeks he was on paxil. Amazingly, shockingly, he was desperate, he hung in there and then all the start up stuff passed and he has felt good for a couple of years, now it has pooped out on him and he sleeps all the time. I think he is going to try the patch. I wonder if some of us with sri induced atypical depression are the ones who are going to do well on ENSAM, eventually.Donna
This is the end of the thread.
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