Hey guys,
really need u all today! Went to my second appt at the hospital today and they are strongly suggesting i go on antidepressants because they say my success in treatment is not as hopeful w/out em and I agree, finally, that yeh i am depressed and its like im putting my whole life on hold at the mo. However, if i take em, i will have to wait a few weeks longer b4 treatment starts for my bulimia. I don't know much about em. U hear different stories.

Anyone been on them?? What side effects did u experience? What's the difference between different ones? What sort of dosage would i b expectin? Is it not just a false sense of happiness that u get? How about if i vomit, will they still work?? Do they affect appetite? In what way??? ANY HELP would be great!!!!!!!

I gtg see them at the hospital again early next week to discuss it again and make a final decision but i need to think about it before then and have things pretty clear in my mind!

Suzanne
xxx

First, Let me just say that I have done lots of research that says AD's have NO effect on eating disorders (Don't get mad anyone!! I know there is info that claims otherwise, but I am just saying that there is info that contradicts those claims). AD's many times do not even help treat depression. YES, they help some people!! YES, they HURT some people! (like me...I will tell you my horror story). Some people respond wonderfully, some respond negatively, some have no effect. I took prozac for my bulimia and no only did I not stop b/p, but I turned into a complete zombie ( I was on a low dose also). I did not care about anything. I didn't laugh or cry. Killed my sex dive. I also tried zoloft, which made me SO emotional I felt like I was going crazy. Lastly I tried effexor, which I do not recommend to anyone. If you are going to try an AD, do NOT start with effexor, it is the worst for side effects. Before effexor, I was mildly depressed, binging every day. After starting I still binged everyday, but became more and more depressed each time my dose was increased....started having panic attacks. Vivid dreams. Incredible night sweats. No sex drive. Screaming fits, crying fits. I felt like I was going crazy!! I was NEVER like that before effexor, and after slowly weaning myself off of it, I have no symtoms anymore, except the mild depression and bulimia that I had before taking the medication!
AD's will NOT make you feel better about yourself, or fix you, or kill the reason why you are bulimic. All they can do is fix a chemical imbalance, IF YOU HAVE A CHEMICAL IMBALANCE WHICH YOU MAY NOT!! Doc's just ASSUME depressed people have an imblance which they may not even have. There is no test to see if you have a chemical imbalance.
Why are you bulimic?? Until you deal with the reason why....no drug will help you.

THIS IS ONLY MY OPINION. Anyone who has been helped by AD's, please don't attack me...if you had my horrific experience with AD's, you would know why I am so strongly against them for most people. The scary thing is, there is no way of telling who will react negatively to AD's...who will actually become suicidal because of them.

depression due to depression is way different than depression from having an eating disorder. If you had the depression prior to the ED then it may be helpful to give them a try. Natasha is right they don't work for everyone and have made some people more depressed ( a small small percentage) but the good news is you can ask friends and family to help you decide if they are helping or not. They can watch your behavior. You'll know soon enough, takes about a month for them to start working and if they don't even better news you can stop taking them, if they give you side effects same thing call the doc and stop taking them or try something different. I would hate to see you not try them just because what if they do help and part of your problems are alleviated enough to work on the true issues surrounding your ED? It would be a huge loss to not a least give it an honest effort. Anyway just my thoughts!

Hi, let me share my experience with you (I'll try to be brief). I am bi-polar with panic disorder, a recovering addict and now I have an out of control eating disorder. I started taking Prozac for depression and Xanax for anxiety in 1990. I wasn't always bulemic, but I have always abused laxitives. In 1998 I went into rehab for drug addition (Xanax and cocaine) and I was taken off the xanax and prozac and put on serzone only. I did ok on the serzone until 2001, when I had a manic episode and my doc. changed my meds. Then I got into a car accident in 2002 and became very depressed. My doc changed my meds every two weeks for 3 months trying to find one that would get me out of my depression (which I gained about 30 pounds during that time, either because of the meds or the depression, I don't know which) Finally he put me in the hospital to get me off all my meds and start with new ones. I started with Depakote and Remeron. They totally worked for ME. Then I had a second car accident and my anxiety was thru the roof so they added Paxil and Klonopin. I've been on them since 2002 and I've done really well on them. Every doctor evaluates each person individually in order to decide which med is right for each person. I recently started to become manic again and now I am making myself throw up several times a week as well as taking laxatives (5 every night) and my meds are not working as they should. I saw my doc. on Thursday and she is cutting down my Paxil to try to get my mania to go away and with that, hopefully my desire to throw up will go away too. This is my experience with meds. I hope I was helpful. MONA

Hey everyone,
Thanks so much for ur responses. I still havnt made up my mind just yet. I think this is quite possibly the hardest decision ive had to make in my life (Ive had a pretty easy life tho!). Anyway, just wanted to say thankyou...I will keep u updated....

Suzanne
xxx

After reading a book in the library on the affects of anti depressants, i'd NEVER go on them.It scared the hell out of me. But that's just my personal though/opinion on it all. And one thing, if your in a realtionship, it can also cause havoc, it affects your ability to orgasm....you can't. The time at takes to orgasm gets bigger and bigger until it becomes impossible. but obviously there's a lot more serious physical side affects.
You should look into it, the internet or the library will most probably have something on it for you. xox

Hey Suzanne-
Please use your best judgment with this. And not all antidepressants have sexual side effects and if yours happens to you can have it changed. You know what I do for a living and there are over 20 different antidepressants. Many people with eating disorders are terrified of taking them, its not unusual myself included at one time. But sometimes they do help, they will not cure ED, not at all but if they can help so that you can address the REAL problems, remember ED is not the real problem, it is a huge symptom but is not the main issues. You can always stop taking them, its not forever if you decide to try them. Trust your treatment team Suzanne, they are telling you they think they will help for a reason, they don't automatically give every single person with ED antidepressants. I took them for awhile (1 year), several different ones and they did help for a bit then they didn't so I am not taking them. It takes 3-4 wks for the meds to reach a therapuetic level. Sometimes like Natasha said they can make you sick but mostly ED's don't like them because it causes some to lose their urge to binge/purge and then it is like losing control and then ED might get better and well Hell we don't want that do we? (sarcastic). Anyway, just some more thoughts. Thinking of you and wishing you the best

lilly5, I read your message and wanted to know if you are doing okay? Are the laxatives still running your life? I too was addicted to them and lost alot of weight. They messed my intestines up so much. My intestinal wall is hardly there anymore. Have you increased your dose since your last post? Are you taking them at night?

I have fought eating disorders for 12 years. I have been on and off meds but never really gave them a chance or took them long enough to allow them to do their job. I finally decided I had had enough, October 21, and without even seeing my doctor I went and got my Prozac filled and started taking it immediatly. BUT, I did it because I wanted it to work. And it has. I have not had bulimic episode in 11 days. May not sound like much but it's HUGE for me! I feel kind of out of it sometimes and my sex drive is not as great but they say that with time that may change and I'm willing to give it a fair chance this time. Maybe it's as much of a state of mind as anything else but it's working for me right now.

Hey everyone,

Thankyou so much for all ur advice. I've decided to go for it. Its worth a shot coz i really cant feel any worse than i already do. Anything is worth a try. To be honest, I think my biggest problem with them, and i realise i am about to sound incredibly stupid, but its not whether or not id b addicted or whatever but the real real reason i was saying no is that i was and still am to an extent too proud to admit i cannot get myself out of depression. Its as though i have to admit defeat by giving into a drug but actually thats just silly. Im so so desperate to escape this horrible horrible cycle now, im willing to try anything at all but i need the kick start and this could be it.

Anyway, thankyou all. I cannot even begoin to tell you how much i need and appreciate your support right now. Its nice to have people who are ALWAYS there for me and who can EMPATHISE with me. I dont expect my friends to understand but at the mo its as though they are taking my mood and lack of wanting to b socialbe as a personal insult and its NOT helping!!

LOVE AND HUGS

Suzanne
xxx