are you on anti-depressants?

Nurses General Nursing

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  1. are you on anti-depressants?

    • 116
      i couldn't make it without them!
    • 42
      no but i think i need some
    • 48
      no but i know a lot of nurses who are
    • 13
      no way, dont want to be labeled crazy

219 members have participated

With nursing being such a high-stress career, and the constant problems with understaffing, overworking and being underpaid... did this drive you to start taking some type of anti-depressant? I know for a fact that probably 2/3 of the nurses I work with are on meds.

Originally posted by caroladybelle

I have friends that think that I am too"strong" to be on meds

Caroladybelle, your a great example of what it TRULY means to be strong: to understand that you need help, to find it adn to accept it. Good for you.

Dreamon, I was on Lexapro, the purer isomer of Celexa. The biggest side effect for me was the most horrible effect on my libido.

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I was on them for a while after a friend of mine was killed.

I went off them AMA (I'm a bad girl!) because I was sick of the side effects.

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Specializes in LTC, assisted living, med-surg, psych.

I've been on Paxil now for almost 2 years. It works well for me, although I did have to increase my dosage last winter due to being fired from a horrible job and succumbing to my annual bout with seasonal affective disorder. I haven't been able to go back to the lower dose, but otherwise I'm happy with this medication, as the side effects have been few and the benefits tremendous.

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i began taking paxil 2 years ago at the start of my third year of nursing school. i believe i have a chemical imbalance and tried to self medicate for years with alcohol and drugs. paxil made a huge difference and i don't think i would have made it through nursing without it. that being said, i feel extremely sad and anxious lately on my 20 mg daily dose and don't want to increase it due to bad side effects. tried effexor once for 6 weeks, i honestly believe it is a placebo drug as it did absolutely nothing for me- i felt like i was losing it big time. any ideas for possible paxil substitute??

thanx!

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Specializes in Oncology, Emergency Department.

I was on Paxil for about 5 years 50mg. It worked very well except that I was constantly tired. I switched to a combination of zoloft and wellbutrin which has been working great for me for the past 3 years or so. I also tried Serzone but it made me suicidal. Effexor worked for a bit but made me extremely anxious.

There are so many different combinations of anti-depressants that eventually you will find a good mix. It just takes a good doc and patience :) Good luck to you.

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I am on Effexor XR and I think it doesnt work anymore, the withdrawl is awful if i miss even 1 dose. I just feel so bored. Like is this all there is to life. It sure isnt what it is suppose to be. Big problems with hubby, just needing space and cant get it. My eyes get swoolen from crying. I think I will ask my doc for something else?? I at first thought the effexor was like a miracle drug, but not anymore:(

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Originally posted by itsme

I am on Effexor XR and I think it doesnt work anymore, the withdrawl is awful if i miss even 1 dose. I just feel so bored. Like is this all there is to life. It sure isnt what it is suppose to be. Big problems with hubby, just needing space and cant get it. My eyes get swoolen from crying. I think I will ask my doc for something else?? I at first thought the effexor was like a miracle drug, but not anymore:(

Please see your doctor. I was so frustrated when trying different meds, because it seemed like nothing really worked well without side effects. I now take Xanax XR 1 mg and seem to be doing well on just that.

Be sure to wean yourself off the Effexor if you switch to another med. From what I've read doctors don't understand how awful the withdrawl is. You may even want to break open the tablet and count out the little balls and put them on your tongue. I went through 2 weeks of withdrawl and it was awful. But I couldn't put up with the sexual dysfunction and muscle twitches it caused me.

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Specializes in Oncology, Emergency Department.

I agree with Mel D as well. When switching medications you should never go cold turkey even if the doc says it is okay. There are severe withdrawal symptoms associated with Paxil in particular. I also had withdrawal symptoms when I went off Effexor XR. Besides from feeling just plain sick you may also experience a buzzing sensation in your head and definite balance issues.

In addition to those, please be aware that if the medicine was working to some degree even if you didn't think it was, the sudden lack of chemical may put you in a tailspin as far as the severity of your depression or even suicidal feelings. I have been on antidepressant therapy for about 10 years now and have had experience with many different meds. In particular if you have a bad reaction to a med switch it can hit you like a ton of bricks anywhere from paranoia to suicidal feelings and anywhere in between. It is very important that when you are put on a new medication that you let your doctor know immediately if you are feeling anything that you normally would not have without the medication.

I do however discourage you from opening timed release medications as the sole purpose of a timed release med would be defeated. If your doctor recommended you to do so then I would have more confidence in doing it.

I can only relate on my personal experience with many meds as well as my running a depression support chat group for the past 8 years on IRC. I've spoken with many people about many meds and reactions are never the same for each person.

I hope that this information helps you and anyone else that is reading the board about antidepressants. Should anyone ever need support and understanding about depression and other mental illnesses, and if you have knowledge about how IRC works, my support group is on Undernet.org and is #depression. Please feel free to visit the support group at any time :)

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I too am taking anti-depressant. Sure hope the mega numbers have used the meds as only a part the tx for depression. Mine is a chem. imbalance along with hypothyroidism and is hereditary. And by gum, if there was a better way, I'd sure be doing it. Kind of like migraines(which I also have) if you don't get them you have no clue how much a person suffers with them

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Specializes in critical care.

I have been on & off zoloft for 6 years. I am also in therapy on and off thru these years. My depression started post partum.I went to counseling ,went on zoloft,felt I was better .Then bam .It had hit me again. back to therapy,back on zoloft. felt I better. And this last time I went to my primary about 2 years ago and said I hate

Therapy but I know where I am heading again(sleeping all day insomnia all night) eating myself to death.He Rx me zoloft. And I did fine with just that until about 2 months ago I started down that long winding dark hole again and found myself hopeless, irratable,eating,insomnia,sleeping, and just sad. This is the worst I hav been , cant concentrate ,and scared to death, SOOOOOOOOOOO back to therapy where now I have been dx with major depression. What an aweful disease. Kinda just creeps up on ya.

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Wow gizelda!! Can't believe how much you sound like me. I really have to push myself. Am in a rut now, but am working on it. Don't want to change meds, so I add some positive thinking. HA some

days not even that works. Hang in there girl, one day at a time. May even be one hour or minute at a time. But we will get through it all.

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Specializes in critical care.

LOL I feel better. Thanks

:D

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