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<p>Exactly what I am trying to accomplish. The exact opposite of what you trying to accomplish. Your mentality hurts people.</p>
<p>SSRI’s (at least Prozac) definitely DO help! Before I started taking it, I wouldn’t sleep well, couldn’t eat much, had OCD interfering with most of my daily activities…And it was all anxiety related. I was in therapy for awhile before I started Prozac, but I decided to try the Prozac because the therapy alone wasn’t getting results. After a few months of both, I was feeling great! I dropped the therapy but stayed on the Prozac for awhile. I’m now off, and not in therapy, and I’m doing alright…I think I would be doing better with the meds, but I’m not the type of person who likes putting unnecessary stuff in their body.</p>
<p>"The exact opposite of what you trying to accomplish. Your mentality hurts people. "</p>
<p>What do YOU know about my mentality? I (try; not always successfully…) not to come on here and proselytize. I simply said, don’t get your medical information from strangers on the internet. You have no idea what their issues are. The internet should not replace trusted people in real life. Even if it is not your doctor. That seems to me, to provide the least opportunity for harm.</p>
<p>So you believe doctors are trusted people? The internet is a great place to learn about different possibilities and then with that new data be able to utile your doctor appropriately.</p>
<p>I said even if it’s NOT your doctor. Yes, the internet can be great, if you go to the right place, for the right kind of information, and if you understand the literature and it’s flaws. But certainly you don’t believe college confidential is the place for the latest in evidence based information or randomized, controlled studies.</p>
<p>But this is College Life, so whatev. Peace out.</p>
<p>I used to take Celexa and hated it. And then Prozac, and hated that, and stopped taking them years ago.</p>
<p>I suppose it varies from person to person, but the effects were horrible. One would make me feel extremely tired and, mentally, just out of it. Kind of like a walking zombie.</p>
<p>The other made me extremely giddy and I couldn’t pay attention to anything.</p>
<p>Supposedly, the effects die down after you continue taking them for a period, but I never took it steadily enough to get there because of the aforementioned effects.</p>
<p>It varies person to person, though.</p>
<p>Smoking a good ol’ joint works for just about everyone :)</p>
<p>Better is crushing up some xanax bars and blowing them.</p>
<p>I will probably start taking citalopram recommended by my physician and still continue therapy. Once I start, I am supposed to come back to her in two weeks for observation. The thing is I can hardly fall asleep or return to sleep when I wake up and the sad thoughts make me so upset that even I get a headache. I have no where escape, neither on campus, neither at home. My mother literally forces me to do things I don’t want to, for ex go to church even by myself and always asks me whenever I am successful but rarely or not at all whether I have fun. I should not even mention how I grew up with church in Poland before I came to US, its really sad. My friends whether old or new potential ones I made in dorms reject me and no one seem to feel sorry for me like everyone thought I am weird but really had no idea what I really feel inside.</p>
<p>Cant sleep. 1 hr before you plan to go to sleep, go running and lift some weights. If you run to your capacity, I guarantee you will have no problem falling asleep. </p>
<p>The problems everybody is talking about here, are caused simply by you not treating your body correctly. If you have depression or/and anxiety why don’t you try to change your diet and start to exercise. Ive read lots of research papers all which show that the imbalance between omega 3 and omega 6 &9 amino acids( which should be 1:1, though in the standard American diet is usually 1:50) all are correlated to depression and anxiety. </p>
<p>Has anybody ever wondered why the poor seem to never suffer from OCD. The disorder is found almost exclusively in those who live in suburbia, Some research points to to easy of a life. You brain simply needs to protect itself from deteriorating, so when you are lazy and have most things handed to you with little or no worry, your brain compensates accordingly. Then when you keep busy the intrusive thoughts go away. </p>
<p>Im not a doctor, so i dont want anybody to take what I say as a absolute. The truth is their is no absolutes and all doctors are just as clueless.</p>
<p>Enough Dr. Horse. You’re being irresponsible in your advice giving. There are times when it’s best to reassure and then direct an OP to follow up with the professionals. While you like to call yourself a Dr., please stop trying to play Dr.</p>
<p>To the OP: follow up with your physician. Ask your physician for a referral to a mental health professional for a complete mental health evaluation. Your asking for help is a positive step in your recovery. Listen to the professionals.</p>
<p>I second nysmile, listen to the professional’s advice.</p>
<p>Im not trying to play doctor, in all of my posts, I clearly say the reader should look the material up for themselves. </p>
<p>I am glad if I get somebody to fear the negative effects of anti-depressants which results in them not taking them. One less person is a guinea pig for big pharma. </p>
<p>When you tell somebody to listen to the professionals, you do realize you are hurting them more then helping them. If the Op was to lets say go to a psychiatrist, they would be put on a SSRI and that would be it. No questions would be raised, no reasons why, nothing. The doctor will say take the pill. In the end you get a brain which is destroyed and no net benefit. Since you get no benefit you continue to take the pills and continue to raise the dosage. What happens when you read the FDA limit. Well now your 5-HT receptors are fried and you cant get your drug any more. You are completely physically dependant on the drug and your depression is now real, real because the 5-HT receptors are utterly wrecked. </p>
<p>very few psychiatrists will do traditional therapy any more. The reason it is to expensive. I remember when i went to ask the dean of my U’s medical school in the dept of psychiatry. I made an appointment and flat out asked him, why do you prescribe these medications when all reasons points to not prescribing them. The answer I got was, money. </p>
<p>If I can stop one person from taking these drugs, or get atleast one person to actually look at the science I would be happy.</p>
<p>Dr. Horse,
Can we see some evidence of this already? You’ve been spewing on for four pages, yet you haven’t provided a shred of evidence to support your claims.</p>
<p>morning_Theft, I think the trick is to not engage in his debates. Rather than focus on his issues, it’s important that the OP understand that information regarding her condition should come from certified mental health professionals.</p>
<p><a href=“Anti-depressants 'no better than dummy pills'”>Anti-depressants 'no better than dummy pills';
<p>[Prozac</a>, used by 40m people, does not work say scientists | Society | The Guardian](<a href=“http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2008/feb/26/mentalhealth.medicalresearch]Prozac”>Prozac, used by 40m people, does not work say scientists | Mental health | The Guardian)</p>
<p>[The</a> creation of the Prozac myth | Society | The Guardian](<a href=“http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2008/feb/27/mentalhealth.health1]The”>The creation of the Prozac myth | Mental health | The Guardian)</p>
<p>coyote77, I just want to give you a hug. My advice is to take the meds your doctor prescribed. I’ve been taking Paxil for over a year now, and I did notice a difference. I do on occasion still get a little down…more like frustrated and overwhelmed, but I do think it really helped me. Research some different antidepressants (including the one you were prescribed) and ask your doctor about one if it sounds better. Did you tell your doctor about your sleeping problem? I’m not 100% on this, but I’ve heard that if you take melatonin (it’s just an over the counter…no prescription necessary) it can help you sleep. I really wish you the best of luck. And please, please don’t do anything to hurt yourself. Just don’t.</p>
<p>Dr. Horse, before I started taking an AD I was really skeptical about it. I think my doctor wrote me a prescription for an AD when I was 15, but I didn’t start taking them until right around my 17th birthday. I thought they were really stupid. Like, is a pill really going to change the things I was depressed about? All the pill was going to do was make me “feel” better, not actually physically change any of the situations around me. Which is the truth. However, I do think certain meds can give you the motivation to do things. For me, I think I’m much less anxious in social situations, which has been a big positive for me. I think there is a ridiculous abuse of the AD/anxiety meds, but I do believe some people do need them and some people are helped enormously. Anxiety and depression is hereditary. Some people just can’t help it.</p>
<p>“If the Op was to lets say go to a psychiatrist, they would be put on a SSRI and that would be it. No questions would be raised, no reasons why, nothing.”</p>
<p>This was not my experience. My psychiatrist talked to me for about 50 mins., getting a thorough medical and psychological history, also had me get some medical tests to see if I had anything like a thyroid problem that may have been causing my symptoms.</p>
<p>He told me in depth about my medication and gave me some copies of medical journal articles about it.</p>
<p>He started me on a low doseage of my med (Cymbalta), and told me that he would slowly raise the dosage while monitoring me for the effects. He also told me that it usually takes a couple of weeks to feel the effects. He was also very clear about possible side effects including the possibility of mania, which could happen if it ended up that I was bipolar, not just suffering from depression. </p>
<p>Once I reached the standard doseage, I began to feel the effects. The doctor kept monitoring me – monthly visits for a while, then down to visits about every 3 months. </p>
<p>When the doctor saw a journal article about some patients who had had liver damage related to the meds, he had me take a liver function test to make sure that my liver was OK.</p>
<p>Due to how quickly and completely I responded to the meds after I reached the standard doseage, the doctor told me that it appears I had a lifelong serotonin deficiency, and due to that fact and the fact that I had had at least 3 major depressive episodes in my life, I would need to be on the meds for the rest of my life.</p>
<p>At first, I was feeling badly about this, but then my son pointed out that obviously I had had a lifelong disease and now was getting help – which was a wonderful thing. I now feel so very lucky that I was diagnosed and correctly treated. The medication changed my life. Based on their behavior, I am sure that my late grandmother and mother had the same problem, but unfortunately weren’t given any treatment. They went through life assuming it was something that one should simply endure.</p>
<p>If one has depression that is linked to physiological problems, one needs medication just like a diabetic needs insulin. However, just as is the case with any other medical problem, proper diagnosis and monitoring are crucial.</p>
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<p>Yeah. That’s completely false. Mine didn’t want to give me any medications at first, I asked for them. And before that there was an intensive questioning and discussion process that lasted weeks before he agreed to prescribe medication, and even then, I was given the lowest dosage possible.</p>
<p>Are your scenarios coming from fact or just something you made up in your head?</p>