Actions of antidepressants

[Peaceful1]

What exactly is the action of Zoloft and Lexipro as apposed to Wellbutrin?  What do they affect?  I took Zoloft for almost a year and had blurry vision, shaking all over, and increased confusion, and memory loss.  I finally asked my doctor to change from Zoloft to Lexipro, and have taken it for 2 months.  The doctor was wise enough to make the transition slowly, but I felt suicidal the first 3 weeks on the Lexipro, and became obsessed with eating food that I know are not healthy...and couldn't stop.  While on the Zoloft I lost 30 pounds-as I just didn't have any desire for eating all the time.  On Lexipro, I gained 20 pounds back, in 2 months.  Today, I asked my doctor if there was an anti-depressant that would help my depression, and not make me obsessed with food, and suggested Wellbutrin instead.  She said it had a different kind of action than Lexipro and Zoloft-and something about them being seratonin reuptake inhibitors and Wellbutrin had a different action and worked on dopamine (if I am remembering correctly).  What exactly do these terms mean-what do each of these antidepressants do to the body.  I add that about 9 years ago, a doctor tried prozac on me, and stopped it abruptly, as it was giving me tremors, and I became suicidal.  This doctor replaced that with paxil, which made me feel like I was on cloud 9, but gave me the shakes again.  So, the doctor put me on effexor-all antidepressants had worse symptoms than I started with.  I read once that if you have shakey reactions to these types, you may have Parkinsons, which runs in my family. As it was taking a lot of time from work to go to the doctors, and the neurologist I saw said it sounded like I had more problems with medications than I started with, and by the test that had been taken on me-an EEG that was suspicious for epilepsy, I decided to try the ketogenic diet that I had just heard about, and tried to help myself without doctors, and reading about what may help.  I spent quite a few years trying to manage my depression 5-htp with (I had tried SAM-E, and started the shakes again) and St. Johns Wort.  It came to the point that my body seemed to override and become immune to any treatment I tried for controlling the pain and urgency, and it seemed I just needed more and more.  I have interstitial cystitis, and this health problem leaves me in chronic pain, and always on pain killers. Anti-depressants are commonly taken for people to cope with chronic pain, combined with the pain killers, slow my abilities to pass a stool, and even though I still feel the extreme pain of the bladder, and the urgency, the anti-spasmodic drugs like pyridium and urelle and detrol LA left me completely unable to go to the bathroom (also with an extremely dry mouth).  For the dysfunction of the bladder, my urologist gave me cyclobenzaprine to help me relax when I tried to use the restroom, and said it would be acceptable to stop taking the detrol LA since by this time, I was disabled and staying at home, close to a bathroom, since my usual amount of urinating was around 60 times a day, waking every hour, if I was even able to sleep.  I am now taking clonazepam to sleep, as well as something called knock out (a mix of melatonin, theanine and other sleep aid herbs) which helps me fall to sleep.  The anti-depressants are a key point in my pain and depression managment. Oh-I forgot to mention that for the cystitis, I take other medicines that my doctor recommended-amatryptaline and benedryl.  When I can't get control of the pain, my husband catheters lidocaine, or marcaine, and I have a TENS machine.  Each of the anti-depressants gave me different and additional problems, but since the loss of my job left me in a physical, emotional, and mental breakdown (I was the housepayment) I didn't want to stop taking them, as they kept me from crying all the time.  I was completely exhausted on most of them.  I am not as upset now that I have been approved for social security and will be able to pay my bills, but, I would like to know what each of the anti-depressants do, and what is the main function on the brain.  Answers and suggestions appreciated.  Peaceful1

[Peaceful1]

You may be right about my having been on too high a dose of zoloft...it did stop my crying...my doctor is now having me try out wellbutrin.   (No side effects so far -except I think my appetite is back to being more normal, and I am not eating everything I can get my hands on, especially chocolate and sugar based foods.)  She said to keep taking the lexipro at night, taking wellbutrin in the a.m...I was on 10 mh..the lexipro I have different symptoms on-or may be the same, but less prominent.  I don't know if this is going to go to the 2 doctors here online, also, but I hope they read it too as well as my first entry.  One of my physical therapists was a retired doctor, and he was the one that named all my symptoms within about 5 minutes, and said it was lymes disease.  My doctor gave me antibiotics, the first was doxycycline 60 days, the second zithromycin, 28 days.  Within a couple of days of starting the first antibiotic I started to having dystonia.  Oregon is really strict about having antibiotics only for a certain amount of time, and she was treating me by empirical evidence.  I was really upset when she took me off because the retired doctor said it is very normal for people who have lymes disease to get very sick.  When the antibiotics were stopped, it did not make a difference, and I still have the dystonia, more spacifically, the dysphonia, and chorea, and I am now taking herbs to continue trying to treat lymes naturally.  I have been checked for parkinsons and sent to a parkinsons clinic, and here is where come back to anti-depressants.   I was on the zoloft and antibiotics when the neurologist thought I had parkinsons, and on lexipro when I was diagnosed with chorea. Sorry to go on and on... I think it odd that doctors don't recognize the effect of the antidepressants the first day you take them, and they very much do affect the appetite and thinking processes where obsessive compulsiveness is concerned.  For others it may be different, anyone put on antidepressants should be watched the 1st 3 weeks or quitting very carefully.  Switching from zoloft, which I had tried to stop myself, made me became very angry, and, when switching to lexipro, the first 3 weeks was suicidal.  After quitting the prozac and effexor, I was suicidal.  I can actually say I feel better with the wellbutrin.  My hands shake like a person with parkinsons, when I relax still.  The doctors say it takes a few weeks, but it doesn't for me.  It happens the very first day on all of them that I have had.  Thanks for answering me.

[bud2532]

hi, i'm not a doctor, but i have tried all the above for depression. i hope i spell some of this right. ssri ,lexepro, zoloft, re-uptake seratonin instead of it going out of your body as waste. seratonin they believe is a nuroetransmitter in the brain that along with other transmitters help to enhance happiness. it works for some people but not for all. i wonder, if it helped you not be so sad or cry, if it was working but at too high a dose thus the side effects. dopamine is a transmitter that also enhances happiness and excitement. many things kick up dopamine in your system. sex, nicotine, a roller coaster that gets you pumped up, an exciting ending to a movie or sporting event. i know that meth is a very strong dopamine enhancer causing people to become addicted because when the come down they are then low of dopamine and their brain needs more to level out. then they do more meth to compensate for the loss sending them into a circle of addiction. i smoke, i know dumb me, therefore about every thirty minutes i'll have a cigarette because of the withdrawal or lack of dopamine the cigarette helped to increase earlier. i also am going to try wellbutrin . it might be the key to balance the transmitters. i guess with so many chemicals at work it takes a minute to figure out which one each individual needs. good luck to you, and your family. i hope i helped and not confused you or anyone who reads this. if i am wrong about any of this please correct.