I have not needed any for about 4 years but an event requires that I get a prescription on Monday or potentially at the drop in centre in the morning if it is open.
I have previously been prescribed Fluoxetine or Citalopram but to be honest I don't find them to be effective.
I have seen other people on Citalopram go from deep depressions to improvements in a few days and to fully functioning, happy and active individuals in a matter of weeks but have not had real results with either of the medicines so either they don't work with me or I am being misdiagnosed?
I have mentioned this to the doctors but they refuse to provide any alternatives.
Any advice welcome!
Last edited by: zippy on Sat 17 Sep 16 at 23:33
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Sorry to hear you've hit a bad patch, Zippy - or so I'm inferring from your post.
In my last episode, of about five years ago, I was prescribed both the medications you mention (not at the same time, I hasten to add!). I did not find them helpful and one had unfortunate side-effects.
My understanding is that such medication takes a while to kick in fully - maybe several weeks, and I'm thinking that if your problem is severe you might want to consider a face-to-face consultation with your GP. There is also the question of the dosage, and if you didn't find them effective in the past maybe a different dose is required.
The two medications you mention are not the only ones available - there are plenty of others.
The only treatment that worked for me was counselling (psychodynamic psychotherapy), which took 15 months and was expensive, private, one-to-one, weekly sessions.
I wish you well.
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A family member of mine is on Citalopram, has been for a number of years and they find it very effective.
Usually when they feel the pills aren't quite covering it at times of high stress, it is often accompanied by poor quality sleep and some sleeping tablets for a week seem to bring everything back on track.
On initial diagnosis it was the sleeping pills which had the most immediate effect ( they were strong ) and it smoothed the period until the anti-depressants kicked in properly.
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I can't pontificate on this because I've never suffered from clinical depression, although my mother did.
My own experience, such as it is, is that anti-depressant drugs are more harmful than 'feeling a bit depressed'. That is just a normal part of human experience surely?
I hope zippy and Stu won't take this amiss. It's kindly meant.
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>> My own experience, such as it is, is that anti-depressant drugs are more harmful than
>> 'feeling a bit depressed'. That is just a normal part of human experience surely?
There's a world of difference between 'feeling a bit depressed' and Depression.
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As ever the NHS site gives balanced and useful information.
www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Depression/Pages/Introduction.aspx
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>> I hope zippy and Stu won't take this amiss. It's kindly meant. <<
Not at all - until I experienced it with someone close to me, I held similar views.
I have suffered depression over the years but I found that rationalising situations that bugged me was the key, but then I am not an emotional person for the most part, so easier I guess than for those who feel everything more acutely.
I think for the person I know, several years of parents threatening to break up, multiple brushes with cancer with those close ( now terminal ), long term lack of sleep and 12 hours work shifts plus ongoing health worries just proved too much over several years.
Some of us are better at plodding through the difficult stuff than others, much as we would all like to be robust.
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My sisters husband (my uncle) suffered with depression/ anxiety (closely linked) for most of his life after having a nervous breakdown in his twenties.
He had a spell in a couple of psychiatric hospitals, one of which was Bexley ISTR. He self-medicated with strong alcohol every single day until he died from a ruptured aortic aneurism at the young age of 77.
He was a 'worker' though, working even in his seventies. The bookies and the breweries relieved him of most of his remuneration, alas.
His 'problems' didn't stop him from having a ful life, and doing everything he wanted to do. He was very, very *selfish, everything had to revolve around him and his wants - more fool my sister, she was too soft/silly, and he was lucky to have her - she's still going though at age 84, 20 years older than me!
*My brother used to call him the Ayatollah :o)
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Drugs can help the symptoms.
Getting back your confidence/self-esteem/self-worth is the actual cure.
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>> Drugs can help the symptoms.
>>
>> Getting back your confidence/self-esteem/self-worth is the actual cure.
>>
Indeed, but often so difficult to help with. One of my brothers has struggled with depression, possibly most of his life but certainly since his late twenties. Despite being academically brighter than me his life has consisted of a series of jobs that he's held down for a while, convinced himself he's not doing as well as he could, and that he's being judged for it. Then stretches of time off sick before moving on to the next job. Inevitably many of his friends / old colleagues have moved up their respective career ladders and despite what everyone tells him that matters to him and reinforces his view that he's not doing as well as he 'should' be, impacting his self esteem further. And so the cycle continue.... He's had employer, NHS and privately funded counselling. And still does (or at least so he tells us). But breaking the cycle seems impossible. So terribly sad, and I really feel for my parents who, perhaps inevitably but entirely without cause, keep asking what they could have done differently :(
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>> Getting back your confidence/self-esteem/self-worth is the actual cure...
aka "getting a grip" ?
We all face problems in life, sometimes big ones. Attitude is is the key. If you want be a victim you will be one. If you want to win you will. And before anyone suggests that is insensitive, I've been to hell and back a few times in my life but the only person who dragged me back was me, not drugs, not counselling, not doctors, just me.
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Life can be tough, some can hack it, some can't. I have had four life thretening events, two involved a two year recovery, I still have two of five years of cancer checkups to go. At any time I could have thought stuff this I give up. I did have a little help from morphine for the painful ones but after the medics had fixed me, the recovery was down to me and family support. I know that some can't "Get a grip" but it definitely helps if you can whatever the problem!
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>>aka "getting a grip" ?
A total misunderstanding of what depression is. It's akin to telling someone with a broken leg that they don't need pain killers as the pain is "just in the mind".
I don't produce enough serotonin and cope without it most of the time. It is a chemical problem, not an emotional one.
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What if you want to win, and passionately don't want to be a victim but, for whatever reason, can't. What if you just don't have the natural ability to have the right attitude?
I'm about as far away from being a 'completer finisher' as its possible to be, but it doesn't bother me...I'm always looking forwards and moving on to the next thing. Good enough is, usually, good enough. Imagine I was a perfectionist though (don't laugh...). I'd have to finish everything perfectly. I wouln't be able to. But I'd want to. What is perfect anyway? Pretty sure that would soon lead to self doubt and lack of confidence. And a downward spiral.
The real me would see it and go stuff it, what's the worst that can happen... But what if I didn't have the ability to do that either...?
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I have so been there. Believe me. And while ever I could allow myself to be convinced by myself and others that it wasn't my fault, that it was a medical condition, that I wasn't in control, it continued. Then one day I decided to take back that control. I got a grip.
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"... the only person who dragged me back was me, not drugs, not counselling, not doctors, just me."
That's fine, Humph. If that is what worked for you - it worked.
But we are not all the same and dealing with life is a complex process. Some really do need the medication to get them off the floor before they can begin to do anything else. And some need help to progress from there.
In my case, I found the counselling helpful because the whole approach was to put the onus on me to work things out; I was not told or recommended anything. The counsellor was a facilitator.
I do realise that there was probably a lot more to it than that, and my counsellor may well have had a different take. But in the end I felt that I "owned" the process and I think that's why it was helpful to me.
Last edited by: Focal Point on Sun 18 Sep 16 at 21:06
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>>whole approach was to put the onus on me to work things out; I was not told or recommended anything. The counsellor was a facilitator.
In other words, you took back control? You decided to take back control, you decided to win?
Sounds a bit similar to my experience. 🤔
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"In other words, you took back control?"
Yes, but with help.
Some of us need it, some don't.
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My wife has just reminded me that her mother used to suffer with depression before I knew her. She was on all manner of pills and potions aat the time, but one day she decided ENOUGH!
She threw all the pills into the fire and, took back control. I didn't know her for long because she died at the grand age of 45 from an inoperable brain tumour.
What I do remember about her is that she worked 5 days a week and showed no signs of depression at all.
Last edited by: Dog on Sun 18 Sep 16 at 22:29
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Does anyone really knows what depression is?
The majority of us have moments in our lives that nothing makes sense.Maybe a smoke of pot might relax a bit or keep taken the tablets.
My old man used to drink a bottle of Genever not a cure either.
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My (prescribed) Tramadol makes me happy.
I really ration it though - a day or two "on", followed by 2,3 or 4 even days "off". I will NOT allow myself to get dependent on a drug of this sort, even though the days "off" are rather characterised by aches and grumpiness!
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>> My (prescribed) Tramadol makes me happy.
Interesting, it's an opioid and also acts as an SSRI (ie like Citalopram etc):
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tramadol
I was on Codeine after surgery when I broke my hip. Coud see how easy it would to get hooked.
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Just looked that stuff up. Sounds pretty potent and potentially lethal. Glad I don't have to mess around with stuff like that. Don't even like taking an aspirin.
Last edited by: CGNorwich on Mon 19 Sep 16 at 17:45
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Yeah - aspirin doesn't work for gout ;-)
Hope the toe/foot is back to normal.
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Yes, Tramadol can be abused, I guess, possibly by addictive personalities, or just stupid people.
The maximum dose is eight a day, and I never take more than four and that is if I know I'm likely to be doing physical work - like giving the shed its weather treatment, which I did last week, or if I'm likely to be walking a bit of a distance.
My prescription is for 100 tablets every 2 months, by agreement with my G.P. and after reassuring him that I know the potential dangers, so there is medical regulation by quantity available.
Luckily it does not give me the more unpleasant side-effects, such as drowsiness or constipation. I NEVER drink alcohol if I've taken it. Cuts down on the booze bill and must help in my current diet as I've lost, as has my wife, 3 stones of flab. (Weightwatchers)
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>> I've lost, as has my wife, 3 stones of flab. (Weightwatchers)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJaaTHdHp8Y
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It is thanks Lygonos, but being stubborn I only took the one Naproxen and once the pain started to ease it was bearable. I shall hang on to them though for any future flare ups!
I also have an appointment with my own Doc on 7th November at 7.40am:) Apparently she does a 'long' day on Mondays to try and catch up a bit.
It will be the first time I have seen her in 9 years so I haven't cost the NHS too much.....yet!
Pat
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>> We all face problems in life, sometimes big ones. Attitude is is the key. If
>> you want be a victim you will be one. If you want to win you
>> will. And before anyone suggests that is insensitive, I've been to hell and back a
>> few times in my life but the only person who dragged me back was me,
>> not drugs, not counselling, not doctors, just me.
Fair enough, and I have no doubt that there are people whose reaction is more likely to be to seek a diagnosis of 'depression' that to 'pull themselves together'. Equally I think there are people who live with a degree of depression but are unaware of it and become inured to their condition, leading to difficulties for themselves and those around them.
However I consider myself fortunate that I have always been able to drag myself out of my own 'downers'.
I don't know what you mean by "I've been to hell and back a
>> few times", - depression itself, , or great personal challenges? - but I have seen a friend hit by depression - from pretty well nowhere, a normally self-reliant, successful, intelligent, capable man with no history of mental illness who found himself unable to make the simplest decisions and was certainly incapable of working. No obvious trigger such as divorce, bereavement, financial difficulty. He did recover, with drugs and talking therapies, over 6-9 months, and has been fine. since.
Unless one has experienced it, or seen what I saw happen to my friend, it can be very difficult to accept that it isn't always possible simply to decide not to be 'depressed'. To the lucky ones, it is virtually incomprehensible.
I have no doubt that it is a serious and dangerous disease for many sufferers who might never get better without help.
Last edited by: Manatee on Mon 19 Sep 16 at 23:53
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You can't say to someone don't be depressed it happens.It is often out of the persons control.
Talk to someone with a sycosis and try to shake it out of them It doesn't work.I've been there worn the tea shirt hell and back..Live is a roller coaster ride for some except it.Or get out of it.
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Crikey! - reading that lot it would be easier to list who hasn't suffered with depression.
Many creative types can succumb to depressive episodes in their lives, or does depression stimulate creativity?
I've known more than a few creative types in Cornwall during the last 30 years, most if not all of them had a slate missing. My friend Lauri the leather craftsman used say "you'll never get anywhere in this world being normal" Maybe he was right going by that list of achievers!
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A lot of buttons are depressed.
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And, a lot of things we regard as embossed, are in fact, debossed. Hard isn't it, life? ;-)
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Humans become deceased. Like, un-ceased, no longer ceased. Resurrected.
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That's going to bother me now. I've only just got my head around things being inflammable when they're actually really flammable. Hurts you know, stuff like that.
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I'm pretty sure that it always used to be "inflammable" as in "highly inflammable".
All such signs now say "highly flammable", presumably because somebody thought that inflammable is susceptible to being misunderstood.
A bit like those level crossing signs that no longer say "wait while lights flash"...
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Didn't really scan all that well in Yorkshire did they?
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Effective Antidepressants - Focal Point
