Medication

[Holly]

Hi all!

I was on fluoxetine from age 18 to 30 (about 3 months ago.) At first it really really helped and I was able to make friends, survive (and enjoy) uni. Then, on leaving uni, I spiralled into a pit of self destructive thought processes and sabotaging behaviour. I increased my dose to 60mg (double dose) and could feel things getting better again, then after about 6 months to 90mg and could really feel a difference in myself and my outlook. The drugs gave me the energy and motivation to really get on with and improve my life - although I have to say, the core issues with meeting and maintaining relationships were still there to some degree. (Not like at uni, where I was far more positive - but think that was an environment factor. Coming back to my hometown afterwards and facing the "real world" was awful!)

Anyway, in the past few years, I've really felt like the pills aren't doing their thing any more. I reduced my dose very slowly and now am completely off them. I feel that the balance of highs and lows in my life is pretty much the same as it was in the last few years I was on them. But I'm wondering now whether it would be worth trying another form of SSRI - cipralex for example.

One of the side effects I got with fluoxetine was lack of libido - this really influenced me in coming off them. So if I were to go onto another SSRI, there would always be the risk that this would be a side effect again. But I'm going through a bed spell right now and am again sort of sick of waiting for my life to start. Maybe I'm looking for a quick fix, which isn't really realistic for me? CBT and other counselling methods didn't really change anything I'm afraid.

Any input would be appreciated - I'm at the end of my tether right now!!

Cheers.

[caughtbythefuzz]

If you no longer get on with SSRI's, it's possible to try another group of antidepressants such as NASSA's (noradrenergic and specific serotonergic antidepressants). I take Mirtazapine which works well after having previously tried Prozac, Lustral and Citalopram with no joy. Mirtazapine shouldn't affect your sex drive but it might make you put on weight.

You could always try CBT again, just because it didn't work first time - it doesn't mean it never will, I guess.

Good luck with it, hope you start feeling brighter soon.

[Holly]

Hi Blip - and I love your profile pic by the way.

Trying another group of anti-depressants wasn't something I'd thought about to be honest. I did try a different one -one of the older ones but can't remember it's name - but it gave me such an unbearabley dry mouth I had to come off it. (I was doing teacher training at the time so this was not an option what with the amount of talking you have to do!)

To be honest, I don't really want to go back on the old "AD"s but know a few people who have had nothing but praise for Cipralex. And this is supposed to be more engineered towards social anxiety, so maybe would be quite helpful. At the same time, I'm not prepared to lose all feeling "down below" - if you know what I mean!!

I really think I've come to the end of the road with CBT - it's taught me in some ways not to veiw every set back as a major disaster - but at the same time it hasn't changed any of my core beliefs / fears...and at £80 a pop, I can't afford to give it a go again!!

[wobbly]

Hi Holly

I was on Venlafaxine for a few years and they caused me significant dry mouth and yet did nothing for me. So I took myself off them and was without meds for about 2 years. However, the fears, doubts, insecurities etc., etc got worse and worse until I took myself back to my GP in January of this year who prescribed Cipralex. Well what a change. I think I've now become a 'normal' human being again (as normal as I can be) and can do all the things I want to without the sickening feeling in the pit of my stomach. I still have all the usual doubts and fears I had before but now I can manage them and my life without turning into a whimpering wreck. I know we are all different and my 'problems' may have been more chemical then psychological but I can only praise Cipralex. I think my labido's been reduced but everything still works ok (sorry about mentioning that) and I don't have any other side effects at all.

Good luck to you and I hope I may have been some help.

[Holly]

Thanks for the replies Wobbly and Hippo.

Wobbly - your experiences with Ciprelex are pretty much what I've heard from others. I'm really glad it's doing it's thing for you!

Pink Hippo - mmm, not encouraging to think that most of these pills have the loss of libido effect. Don't know whether I want to risk it really - I think I'm only just getting mine back a little after a long time without!!! And I'm positive it affected the few fleeting involvements I've had with men over those years - how could it not? Sex is the thing which initially brings two people together - everything else often follows and builds on that foundation. I'm 30 now, and don't want to further decrease my chances of meeting someone (I have issues over the whole realtionship thing anyway - don'y want to put up another obstacle!)

CBT - I think I'm going to give it a miss to be honest. You know when you feel you've come to the end of the road with something? It took me a long time to find a therapist as good as the one I had - and he did teach me to look at things from another, more rational and objective perspective. But I honestly don't think CBT is something that has or will essentially change the way I feel about myself and life. IT helped, yeah, but it's not the answer.

Anyway, I think I've decided I'm going to miss out on the meds for now. My mood swings are unbelievable - on Thursday, I was in a pit of depression - yesterday I was practically on a high. Today, I'm too hungover to even know how I feel!!

Sorry for rambling and cheers again for the replies folks. xx

[Starrfin]

Hi Holly,

I've been taking Cipralex (it's marketed as Lexapro over here in the States) for a few months.

I'd recommend that you give it a try. My sexual drive hasn't diminished at all.

When I was on Paxil a few years ago, I was usually unable to achieve orgasm (I feel embarrassed saying that word to my little British sister). :embarass: That plus other side effects led me to give up on Paxil.

I haven't had that problem at all with Lexapro ... nor have I had any decline in my sexual urgings :embarass:

As for my SA and depression etc, it's probably helped a little bit so far, I'd say.

I think taking Cipralex and partaking of caffeine and tobacco was a bad combo ... so this last week I cut way down on coffee and smoking in the morning after breakfast. I was like a new person for a few days at work ... I was laughing at everything and joking around ... made the mistake of telling a friend at work who also takes Cipralex that I thought I'd found the answer ... but today I don't feel good, so ... I don't know!!

I'll keep doing the same for a few weeks and see if I feel better most of the time. It's frustrating when you have a good spell for a change and suddenly it ends for no apparent reason.

It seems you and I have similar SA brain wiring, so maybe Cipralex won't dampen your sex drive, either.

I don't put too much stock in CBT or counselling, either.

Hope all else is going as well as possible for you.

Starfin (P.S. Die Jerry !!)

[wobbly]

Originally Posted by Holly

. Today, I'm too hungover to even know how I feel!!

S

Holly - not wanting to be too puritanical but I found that I needed to kick the booze habit to finally complete the link. Alcohol and my SA didn't go well together and I couldn't cope with the 'downs' that it always brought. So, out it went and I must say that life's a lot better for it. In fact, I wish I had done it 20 years ago and I would be have been a rich man by now!

[Shy_79]

Hi there, wondering if anyone can offer some advice? I went to see my doctor a few years ago to see if they would prescribe medication for SA but he was really dismissive of my condition and passed it off as just a phase! and advised to basically get on with my life. I just left it because i dont really like to confront people and felt really down. Im still coping no better now and really think that medication would help - any advice on approaching my GP again or if i can go to another source like a councellor who can prescribe ?? thanks :embarass:

[Holly]

Hey Starrfin! You're doing a fair bit of posting recently! Good to hear you're doing ok on Cipralex and that the - eherm- "downstairs department" is not affected by this!! I know it's hard, but don't be discouraged by a setback when overall you seem to be doing so well. Could it be that at the back of your mind, you can't really dare to believe that things seem to be getting better? So hey presto, your brain creates a self fulfilling prophesy in that once you admit to someone else that things are on the up, you get panicky that it may not last and come back down again? Maybe not, but that's often how it works with me.

Saying that Starrfin, I think you're a little like me (what with our sharing the same genes and all!) in that you have a lot of highs and lows? Maybe that's something that can me lessened with meds / time / whatever...but I think with me, it's something that's pretty much part of who I am. I'm a rollercoaster girl! Don't disregard all your progress with one downward journey. You'll be up there again soon enough.

Wobbly - I know what you're saying, but honestly, usually I'm fine. I've got to a stage now where I'm not half so reliant on alcohol and I hardly ever feel the need to sit in on my tod with a bottle of wine and get obliterated - a few years ago I did, and I'm fully aware it did not help in the least! Now,I'll have a couple of wines on my own some nights then switch to tea / water. But drinking socially is something I've always enjoyed and there's no way I could or would remotely want to give it up!! I just got a little carried away the other night - mixing drinks and the like - was not a good plan, but hey, no point beating myself up about it.

Shy - you really must summon up the courage to see a different GP. Don't let his insensitivity and incompetence impede on your chances of getting some help! Honestly, if you are going to see him with a problem you see as significant, he has no business dismissing it out of hand. I saw a doctor the once who asked me what antidepressents I had tried in the past (I was off them at the time) - when I told her, she responded with a snort of laughter and a totally inappropriate comment about what an expert in this field I was! I mean, she actually laughed! This was while I was practically having a nervous breakdown in her surgery, shaking and tears streaming down my face.

The GP I see now is totally different and takes me and my opinions on my mental health seriously. Please don't let this one experience put you off. Good luck.

[Holly]

Starrfin, by the way, I'll bear the Cipralex in mind if things become worse for me. Out of all the SSRIs, this one seems to get the most praise. At the mo, I'm going to stick it out and see how it goes. xx

[Ithink]

Cipralex did very little for me and I have just come off it.

I saw my fourth GP (from the same practice) today for a change of meds. He said he considered Cipralex the best and wouldn't prescribe anything else.

Maybe I shouldn't have told him his practice and GP's were a waste of time...