Antidepressants/Depression

[claudicakes]

Hi guys

CAN WORRYING ABOUT YOUR DEPRESSION IN TURN MAKE YOU MORE DEPRESSED? iM SCared that ADS will just stop working for me one day, And I ll have no choice but to live like this forever, and that im hopeless:(

Just curious if anyone has  weined off AD'S and had their depression come back about a month later and then started back on the same meds again? Does it take longer for the AD'S to kick in for the second time around especially if its the same drug? bc its taking about 6 weeks and Im not seeing much changes..only a little...sighs**

[claudicakes]

I really appreciate everyone,s advice
Thanks to all of you, Ive learned a lot from all of you. Wise words! I agree that life is too short to suffer, and I know nothing is worth stressing about, but I cannot help but to feel this way! Depression is ugly, and i suffer from the two-headed monster dep/anxiety !! I wish I could change, and I will be seeing my Doctor about a change bc I want to feel better soon!

[whodunnit]

Hi Claudia,

I disagree somewhat with the other people who have offered comments.

Firstly though worrying is indeed the very core of depression. When you have depression you worry about everything but mostly it turns in on you and focuses on you all the time. So you worry about how depressed you are which increases your anxiety which increases your depression which....

And so it goes. It just keeps building so having faith when you know a med is not working is not the way to go at all. As soon as you know it's not helping go back to the doc and say that. Don't wait for another 6 weeks and find yourself in dire straits before you do it.

With our illness we must learn to be proactive (I hate that term but it's relevant). The absolute last thing we should do is sit there and hope and have faith. That's what depression causes us to do so we must do the opposite.

When you are given a med, research it, ask here of others how it was for them, read the doco you get with it, find out what to expect, how long and what side effects so you can recognise what is going on.

Never, never, never let it drift. I speak from very bitter experience as I drifted for decades actually. Drank my way through it and ended up ... well you don't want to know. Don't you go there, it's misery.

My experience is when I go off meds my depression comes back, sometimes up to 6 weeks feels really great and I enjoy that but when I feel the cracks widening I get a new med. I never go back on the one I was on. Never. Always change to another at least for a while.

I have been back on Effexor, my current one, 3 times in 10 years so you can see there were long periods trying other meds. None were as good for me but Effexor waned for me so I had to change.

In your case you say the meds are taking longer to kick in. I say they are not working and you need a change. Ask your doc though and be honest about how you are. Any day you can cut out of the depths is worth the effort. Don't wait, act.

Most AD's do stop working for many over time but many just keep taking what they were prescribed, sometimes for years not really knowing if it helps or not. I suspect placebo is the winner there.

You know when it stops helping don't you? Another thing you may not be aware of is that AD's do not cure depression. They reduce the symptoms for us so we can think more rationally and maybe do therapy and fix problems causing us misery. But they don't cure it.

[j7653]

As William Shakespeare once said -  "There is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so".

I have found that worrying about my depression increases my anxiety which in turn makes me depressed.  So in a round-about way I would say YES worrying does make you more depressed.

I have worried in the past about the AD's not working any longer.  But as I got better I realized that those worries were part of my depression.  You have to have faith.

And I think you shouldnt only depend on taking the drugs to feel better.  You need to have a whole tool kit.  Each person's could be different - meditation, medication, exercise, yoga, religion, therapy, family, friends, etc...

You may need to up the amount that you are taking if it is not working for you, or change drugs.  There isnt any reason to suffer.  Life is too short.  My motto after going thru a deep depression became - Your trouble is that you think you have time!

[gofio]

Certainly can, had it happen several times. Drugs affect people in different ways & there's no 'fixed time' for them to work, 6 weeks is not unusual in my experience. Just got to hang on & hope that they will work. If you quit too soon then that predisposes you to relapse. No doubt the unwanted side-effects are already present?Try to forget about how long they take, just take them if they're likely to work. Not easy to accept, but the drugs do work, as long as you are on the 'right' ones. There's an almost unlimited number available for prescribing. When they do work you'll feel good again, don't think about quitting & going cold turkey ~ have a chat with Doc.Psych if you're distressed. Best wishes, George