Help with husbands meds

[Shinypink]

My husband was diagnosed with depression last year. He started taking Lexapro and it made a huge difference in his mood and anger levels. Unfortunately, the Lexapro made him loose his appetite and become very nauseous . He also felt like it was loosing its potency after a few months. His doctor tried to raise his dosage to combat the diminishing effects, but his stomach couldn't handle that. He was switched over to Prozac (after a few weeks of titration). At first, when he wasn't all the way off of the Lexapro, the combination of the two drugs made him feel euphoric, but also made him more up tight and quick to anger. Once he was only on the Prozac he became out of control. He would loose his temper and be thrown into a rage that he could not calm down from. He was very worried about what was happening to him so he called his doctor and was told to go off of the Prozac immediately(with no titration). He took just 5mg of Lexapro a day while he was waiting to see his doctor again. Now he is starting on Zoloft, and it seems to have similar symptoms of making him feel uptight and anxious. His doctor questioned him thoroughly about his side effects to make sure that he is not bipolar and being thrown into a manic fit by the SSRIs. I don't know what would be the best course of action for him from here. He needs something to help him with his mood, but I am worried that he will tire of trying so many different meds. Please help. Thank you.

[Chelstar]

I have depression also.  I had a similar experience when I was on Prozac.  I am the most passive person you will ever meet.  But when I was on that medication everything made me angry/irritable.  I also was on pretty much every other antidepressant there was.  Many of them made me feel anxious.  From what my psychiatrist told me, antidepressants are hit and miss, you just have to keep trying and failing until something works.  Frankly, regular old counseling did much much more for me than medication ever did.  I took classes called DBT (Dialectical Behavioral Therapy) that taught different skills on how to deal with the distorted thoughts that propagate the feelings of sadness.  Also how to be more assertive, and not be so hard on yourself, etc.  I swear by it.  I use those skills every single day and I have been off medication for 4 years now doing perfectly fine without it.  I know everyone isn't the same, and supposedly some people really need this medication.  But maybe your husband could look into therapy if he's not in it. I highly recommend a therapist trained in DBT.  I'm sure you could find classes in your area, there are classes where I live and it is pretty rural.  I think everyone in the world should take the class.  I honestly believe there is no way antidepressants alone can help a person.

[Roger Gould, M.D.]

Is your husband going to a primary care doctor or a psychiatrist/psychopharmacologist...that's where he should be, this is a complicated case and you need an expert in these medications...ask for a consultation.