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antidepressant for anxiety

Posted , 4 users are following.

jeremy79962
jeremy79962

Ive asked something like this before but are antidepressants good to take for anxiety? How do they make you feel? Do they just make you feel worse because of the side effects? Are they worth taking or are they just a placebo effect? I dont want tto feel like a zombie. And i dont like the fact of taking a pill to make me feel better.

0 likes, 14 replies

14 Replies

  • phRN
    phRN jeremy79962

    Posted

    When first starting an antidepressant there is what's called an "activation period" for couple or 3 days. You feel a little jittery but kind of energized at the same time. This passes. Also you may have some nausea, perhaps have diarrhea for a couple days, but that also passes. The medicine might need to be lowered then increased over a period of weeks to solve those issues if they last longer than a few days.

    In about two weeks after starting an antidepressant you should feel the real effects, which are like night and day ... in other words your world around you is brighter and your thoughts are organized and you are able to do your normal activities of daily living, compared to your well-being prior to taking the antidepressant.

    Everyone is different, though, so initial symptoms vary. Often though, the effect of the antidepressant tapers off after a month or two, which is a sign to increase the medicine. This is very common.

    At around 3 months (some say longer) the full effect of the medicine is reached.

    For the first 10 to 14 days, hang in there! And read the materials regarding adverse side effects (such as an increase in thoughts of self harm). You might need to switch medications.

    • phRN
      phRN

      Posted

      Oops. Forgot to answer your other question. Yes antidepressants are used for anxiety, and are usually the medicine that doctors or psychotherapists will prescribe.

      Other medicines they can use are mild mood stabilizers approved for anxiety.

  • a18842
    a18842 jeremy79962

    Posted

    I have anxiety.....I tried for months to "fix" it through diet, exercise and doing mindfullness classes I attended my gp for regular progress updates but unfortunately no matter what I did it didn't help so I decided myself to take something I'm lucky I have a very understanding gp who never once forced me she really tried to get my through it without anything .......in the end I went onto 10mg of citalopram and I'm happy I did.....I'm only on day 34 and I'm feeling anxious but I'm seeing gaps in it but when I go get a gap I feel like myself again I don't feel like a zombie at all......hope this helps xx
    • jeremy79962
      jeremy79962 a18842

      Posted

      Does it mess with your sleep? Im never able to go to ssleep as it is because my thoughts never stop which causes my anxiety. Probably gad but i havnt went to the doctor for it yet. my biggest fear is having to be on it for ever or getting dependant on it.
    • phRN
      phRN a18842

      Posted

      You can increase your citalopram to 20mg to target those gaps. Although I do not know if they come in a 15mg dose. The highest you can go is 40mg.

      As I noted in my reply to Jeremy, antidepressants can taper off a bit and warrant a bit of an increase.

      I had to do this with Lexapro (escitalopram). Started at 10mg, went to 15mg, then 20mg.

    • a18842
      a18842 phRN

      Posted

      That's reassuring I was beginning to think they had stopped working I've a gp appt later in the week so I will see what happens....I'm struggling ATM with sore muscles in my back I'm wondering can I get something for this or with an increased dose will this ease 
    • a18842
      a18842 jeremy79962

      Posted

      I've gad and So far it doesn't but b4 I went on it I struggled with thoughts and never slept - my gp has told me they are not addictive but there is a process to come off them so they can't just be stopped suddenly...she's also told me she wants to take me off them again in 4 to 6 months......for the thoughts at bed time try utube for meditation for sleep and if ur able to get a long one try playing it when ur in bed as distraction is the key 
    • jeremy79962
      jeremy79962 a18842

      Posted

      Thanks for the replys. I always feel like im making myself anxious for no reason t all. Do you feel that it actually helps with racing thoughts? The more i try to fight it, the worst it gets.
    • a18842
      a18842 jeremy79962

      Posted

      Anxiety makes u feel like it's ur fault........but I found the more I tried the harder it was....exercise helps but as soon as I stopped it crept back I was exhausted trying to overcome it and wasn't happy at all....the citalopram I take by no means has it abolished the anxiety yet but I can relax a bit more and think clearer......I think u should speak to ur gp and see if they can recommend anything for u....there's cbt therapy a lot of people have... I didn't have this as the waiting list was to long so I went to mindfullness classes which helped 

       

    • phRN
      phRN a18842

      Posted

      I'm not certain about muscle soreness. You may want to ask your doctor on that one. The most common side effects of anti depression meds are nausea, nervousness, insomnia, sexual dysfunction, headache, and sometimes fatigue. Not everyone has these, and if so the body often accommodates.

      I had to switch from an SSRI, to bupropion (Wellbutrin) to relieve my symptoms of sexual dysfunction. Glad that's over.

    • phRN
      phRN a18842

      Posted

      I did CBT. As a nurse I had already seen its use in group therapies. I didn't ever think I would actually need it. It works best if you adopt a positive attitude when learning it.
    • phRN
      phRN jeremy79962

      Posted

      One if the side affects is insomnia for some ppl. That's not a reason to avoid starting them. Although that's why they are taken early in the morning and not later. In my case that was a problem. I was prescribed trazodone for sleep. Ambien messes with your production of melatonin which is the hormone that regulates day/night cycle. Trazodone was recommended by both my GP and my psychotherapist.

      SSRI antidepressants work on increasing the amount of serotonin in your brain. Side effects can also be headache, nausea, nervousness, at the beginning. More troublesome are insomnia and sexual dysfunction which the body might not accommodate.

      I no longer take SSRIs for anxiety due to sexual side effects. I had to switch to bupropion, which was a good choice. Bupropion is commonly prescribed in conjunction for sexual side effects. I just needed more help so I tapered off SSRIs completely (My psychotherapist told me that bupropion works just on norepinephrine and dopamine).

    • jeremy79962
      jeremy79962 phRN

      Posted

      Thanks for the knowledge. Yea, the sexual dysfunctions and insomnia is my biggest scare. I also drink alcohol about one or two times a week with friends....
    • phRN
      phRN jeremy79962

      Posted

      Alcohol is not recommended with antidepressants, since alcohol is also a depressant itself. But how much alcohol do you drink with your friends? Binge drinking and getting plastered is not great with antiDs but a couple drinks a couple times a week is much better.

      The most common male complaint with SSRIs is difficult ejaculation but no problems with erection. Perhaps talk to your doctor about starting bupropion, then. It works very much for anxiety, and minimal loss of libido or erectile dysfunction.

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