Seems I can't tolerate the SSRIs. Anyone else been like this?

[wearestardust]

I meant to say that all these brand-names are confusing me; if you were to use the actual name of the drug more often then I'd have a far better idea of what you were all talking about.
Mary, when I suffered from depression several years ago (NOT anxiety - I was still being prescribed 20mg diazepam q.i.d. for that) I found that clomipramine was the thing that worked. Unlike SSRIs, tricyclics don't give you that dreadful constant anxiety, and in ten days or so I found the cloud I was living under lifted magically. The course was for six months, and I can say truthfully that I have not suffered a true depression since.
The statistics are there; SSRIs work in remarkably few people, and in as far as anxiety is concerned, make more people worse than they help.
WAStardust

[pud]

Hiya,
Just to say that my doctor told me that the SSRIs are prescribed more often than a good tricyclic (like the Dosulepin I'm now on) is because they are CHEAPER!! Well, that's just great, isn't it? Why worry if half of our patients prescribed them actually get worse!!!!
Of course there are a lot of people who have benefited greatly from the SSRIs (even if they've had to try more than one), so can't fully condemm them, but I do wonder. A lady at our church, who had severe post natal depression, said that when she had Prozac she actually developed anxiety, which she had never had before in her life! Yet Citalopram (which I was last on) did the trick for her. Another lady, who's now been on Lexapro for over 6 weeks told me she was STILL suffering from bad anxiety.
I don't know - I just don't trust them. I do know that the morning I woke up, 2 weeks after starting Citalopram, I calmly thought "time to die, I will just get in the bath and slit my wrists". FORTUNATELY, I recognised that this was not right (maybe some people wouldn't have!!) so went straight to the doc, taking my youngest daughter, home from uni, with me.
He told me to get off them right away, and had to prescribe tranquillizers for a while to bring me down again.
Something here quite funny (ironic?) on that day when I rang for an appointment the receptionist said "we only have emergency appointments left. Is it an emergency?" I told her that because of the side effects of the tablets I'm on I felt I would commit sucicide this morning!!
Now, at least I have it on my notes at the doctor's not to prescribe me any more SSRIs (tried 3, and they all made me worse!!).
Keep healing.
Pud
xxx

Originally Posted by wearestardust

ABSOLUTELY! SSRIs make me as I posted elsewhere, a hundred times worse. There isn't a substitute for me to the ones that actually work like alprazolam, diazepam and bromazepam, the last named especially useful if you suffer sudden panic attacks; it works so fast and gives the most wonderful calm sedation for a couple of hours after 18-36mg.
When they tried me on citalopram I was 100% anxious 100% of the time and suffered sometimes two or three full panic attacks daily. Now I am back on an alprazolam script I haven't had but one fully-blown attack and my anxiety level is low, even though my dosage is tiny - 2.25mg/day. Ah, but I supplement it with the occasional diazepam and always carry bromazepam just in case.
Only about 50% of patients are receptive to SSRIs. Why the medical establishment is trying so hard to displace benzodiazepine treatment with these horrible things is a mystery to me. BZDs have proved their worth to so many of us sufferers. I can see the day we may have to demonstrate against the continued deletion of BZDs from various national formularies. Disgraceful.
We are Stardust

[mary63]

Hi there- it is so scary that a drug can bring on feelings of suicide....
Interested to see how your psych visit goes. Several years ago i paid hundreds to see a psychiatrist and he didn't give any helpful advice at all re meds..as i mentioned before- it was my sister that put me onto the right thing! all the psych told me was that i was "a control freak"- which is kinda funny. I feel like you are really quite alone when it comes to taking meds and that only you can decide if its right or not- <BECAUSE> not even psychiatrists have a clue how its going to affect you!

[Twig]

I feel the need to chime in here on this one. I was on Ativan (BZD) for 3 or so years with no problems at all, not hardly an anxiety attack ever. Then I read that they were addicting and tried getting off of them, because I didn't want to become "that person". Went to a detox center, it worked, I was off of them for 5 months I think. Then the anxiety started kicking back up, there was no triggers, life is better than it ever has for me. I have tried a few SSRI's in the past with no luck. The dr tried Paxil this time and I gave it as long as I could, but things were just plain worse. So now I'm back to taking the Ativan once a day, which is usually in the late afternoon. Everything is back to normal and not one flare up with the anxiety....

[pud]

Hi all,
When you talk about the benzo-watsits (sorry, don't remember spelling!), aren't they all in the class of tranquilisers? I think they are not prescribed often because they have a medical history of being highly addictive, which in itself would not be so bad, but I've heard and read that they would eventually bring on the very symptoms they were first prescribed to relieve, whereas anti-depressants are not addictive (well, maybe psychologically so).

I fully agree about the SSRIs being quite a dangerous drug for a lot of people, and with regard to tranquillizers, the day I came off the citalopram my doc prescribed some Trifluoperazine (tranx - my little "blue pills" to stop me being blue!) to help bring me "down" again from the increased anxiety citralopram had caused. Apparently these drugs are also good for depression caused by anxiety (not the other way round!). I was also told to stay on the tricyclic ad as well.

Anyway, from day one of taking these, I felt like a different person. I felt calm and relaxed, and the joy and fun and interest in life began to return. After a week, and ever since, I have felt pretty "normal" (whatever that is!). I am seeing a psychiatrist for the first time tomorrow, but I think I'm going to be told to stop the tranx for the above reasons, and I have to say I'm scared to death to stop them. But MAYBE he'll say okay to keep taking. Anyway, I have started to cut them down to one a day now instead of two, to see what happens.

As I'm still feeling pretty good at the mo, it will be interesting to see what the psychiatrist says, not sure what he will advise me to do. I also wonder if the high strength evening primrose oil and soy milk I drink each day has begun to help (this not for the guys among us!!) as my original ads stopped working for me when I got all the horrible menopause symptoms and my depression and anxiety came back with a vengeance also!!!! I read somewhere that Chinese and Japanese women have hardly any menopause symptoms as they have a diet high in soy.

Just another footnote, with regard to drugs/medical treatment, etc. Over here in the good old UK, though we moan about it, at least all our treatment is free on the NHS. We only have to pay for prescribed drugs, which are £6-odd a go (about 3 dollars??) per prescription.

Just as well I'm not in the states with all this business - I'd be bankrupt!!

Any comments to this post welcome, and I'll let you all know how my psychiatric appointment goes tomorrow.

Much love,
Pud
xxx