Has taking medicine helped your depression?

Hello. I have depression and anxiety too and I used to take medication for it. Medication is to help balance out thechemicals in your brain that are causing you to feel the way you do. You willnotbedependent on medicine forever. They simply prescribe you a medication that helps your depression/anxiety and when the chemicals in your brain are balanced out then you ease off of the medicine. The dosage is how much of a certain chemical you need to take for an amount of time. The side effects vary from person to person. In my experience, the side effects made it worse but in my friend's case, the medicine made her happy and almost produced some sort of "high." In my own personal experience with medication, I was negatively affected. I was tired all the time, it made my insomnia worse, I was moody, more suicidal, etc. I eventually tried to overdose on them, which is why I don't take medicine anymore. But it really just depends on you. I hope this helped. I wish you the best. (:

Hi,

Thanks so much for responding to my question and sharing your experience with taking medicine for your depression. From personal experience, I feel like I would have a similar result to yourself than your friend. Just taking normal allergy medicine I find that the side effects can completely outweigh the benefits, as when I take allergy medicine I'm drowsy to the point where I can fall asleep instantly and anywhere. Its good to know though that it can be a temporary thing because I would never want to have to rely on medicine for life, that would be awful.

@LanaMarieee@ChaiTea36- Just some corrections. Antidepressants don't necessarily balance chemicals in the brain, that is something that does not have a solid proof yet;it is believed to increase the activity of certain chemicals in the brain. Also some medicines are harder to stop than some others, so how long someone will be on a medication can't be accurately estimated here. So@ChaiTea36if you plan to use medication you can visita physician who can perform an in-person physical examination to determine what is the best approach for you.

I gotta say meds have helped me significantly. And one thing they do work against is fatigue (if it's the right med for you). I have only experienced very minor side-effects and ones that my doctor forsaw (I can recall only a little spike in anxiety with my current one at the moment). The only thing which isn't written anywhere and which scared me at first was that the very first day of taking a med... it just felt a bit weird. But the next day I felt just like the ordinary self.

I've been on theantidepressantCitalopram for about 4 months. I haven't actually experienced any significant side affects or had any major problems at all while using it. It has however helped to stabilise my mood and generally to improve my outlook on life.

If you're worried about taking medication it's always worth talking to your doctor, they can help reassure you and you can discuss any anxieties you might have. If you find the side affects of a medication you're taking intolerable it's perfectly possible, with a doctor's assistance to change your medication or dosage to something that better suits you - there are always options!

Oh yes. I was reluctant to go on anti-depressants for years because I was afraid of being "altered" and that medication would make me less like myself. My therapist put it very eloquently, "Depression has already made you less like yourself. Medicine can help you be yourself again." And she was right. I had tried literally every other possible method of coping my my depression, and I still do, but I use it in addition to anti-depressants. I'm not gonna lie, finding the right dose of the right drug is an inexact science, but in my experience, the trial and error was worth it. I've been on Zoloft for four years and it literally saved my life. At first I wanted to eventually wean myself off of it, but I'm not there yet, and honestly, I'm to the point where I'm okay with never being able to. Depression is an illness. It's every bit as physiological as diabetes, asthma, etc. For some of us it goes away or gets better, but for a lot of us, it doesn't without medical treatment. The important thing to understand about major depression is it often comes in episodes rather than being constant. You might not feel like it's necessary to be on an anti-depressant between episodes, but it's impossible to predict when you will have one, and once symptoms are present, it just takes that much longer for the medicine to do its job. Continuing to take medication even when you feel fine is just another way to make sure youstayfine.

I've taken Prozac, Citalopram, and I just started Escitalopram. I've been helped by all of them, and found switching to Citalopram from the ProzacI experienced way less side effects. Usually the side effects subside after the first week or two, and currently, I don't really experience any, aside from waking up at night once or twice. Taking them does not make me feel "different" or "high", for me it's like taking ibubrofenfor a headache, you just notice at some point that the headache is gone. I stop taking the meds after a period of time under my doctor's supervision, and will likely stop again in a few months. But, my brother takes Zoloft all the time, that's just better for him. By all means engage in other healthy activities, such as exercise, therapy, diet change, etc. These all can help you maximize feeling better on the medication.

I just started taking citalopram because I decided enough was enough. I've been on it for 3 days - side effects haven't been too bad except the nausea. It's too early to know if it will make a difference but I thought I should try. Do you have a doctor you can talk to that you trust?

I was against going on medication at first, but finally got to the point where my depression was impossible to manage without it. I've been on citalopram for 3 years now and just last year also started taking the generic of Xanax. (The xanax I don't take daily. I only take it when I have a really rough day to help shut down my brain and help me sleep.) Both medications have really helped me a LOT.

My husband can actually tell when I haven't taken my citalopram because I have severe mood swings and start lashing out over the stupidest little things. I notice a difference as well. If I have skipped my pill for the day I find it difficult to focus at work and have a hard time staying on task. So yes, for me, medications have helped.

If it has been mentioned before, apologies, but as a previous sufferer of depression and was on medications I think I have some value. Google search 'non violent communication' and see if you can grab some audio books from the founder - they are amazing and show a way to deal with depression without medication. I wish I knew this before.

I'm currently taking medications to help and it has really improved my quality of life. But I'm always up for checking things out that are more natural. Thanks for the suggestion!