Depression and Anti-Depressants

LegacyUser

Hi all,
Firstly I'm aware this is strictly not a medical board. If this post is out of line, I apologise and feel free to lock/delete it.

I suffer with depression. It has become quite exacerbated in the last few months and I'm really tired of feeling so down and crying every day. I started going back to counselling a month ago. The talking does help but I have to be honest and say I haven't cried so much or been this low before. I have been thinking about anti-depressants but I have no experience with them, nor do I have a GP, or any idea how I'd go about seeking them. I suppose I'm looking for people's experiences with them. I am very much against throwing out prescriptions willy nilly though, and it's not an issue I'm taking lightly.

LegacyUser

Hey.
sorry for the old troubles there! Well you need to go see a GP. register with one. i have suffered with depression on and off and only recently decided to go down the tablet route. im taking lexapro. it definetly helps to life the mood. but been anxious ismore my problem and i dotn find it helps with that. alot of it is trial and error. some tablets work for some but might not work for others!
but anyway get registered with a good GP and he/she will sort you out

adastra

Hi,

I too have depression and have been taking anti-depressants for the last few years. My first bit of advice would be to go and see a GP. They will be able to give you better advice than anything I'm about to say:)

Obviously I can only speak for myself but I have found the meds to be very helpful. Before I started taking them I was in a pretty bad place, and while they didn't make me walk around on cloud nine they definately really helped to even out my moods. One thing that a lot of people worry about are the side-effects. In my case, for the first couple of days I felt quite sick, although I never actually threw up. I was also drowsy, so I started taking them in the evening. The weirdest side effect was that if I forgot to take them, the next day I would get these weird brain zaps, like a little electric shock in my head....not painful or anything, just a bit strange:)

I was taking 20mgs of Prozac, just to let you know. Anti-depressants aren't addictive, but you can experience withdrawal symptoms when you come off them. Your doctor can help to stop this by gradually reducing your dose.

If you want to ask me anything else you can PM me:)

LegacyUser

Thanks for that both of you. The info is greatly appreciated. I suppose I'm just a bit reticent to go to a GP....don't really know what to say! Just going in and blurting out "I'm depressed" seems a bit much. But I will go and see one. Thanks.