New med
Guest
Thread Starter
Join Date: Oct 2014
Posts: 699
New med
Another med to take for depression, my citalopram treatment has stopped, now on venaflaxine and already I'm feeling it's doomed . Perhaps it's because I felt like I wasted nearly 8 weeks on the citalopram.
I'm feeling nothing, not even many feelings you may call side effects.
The only thing that seems very real is this horrible depression which has now been with me for over 2 months.
I'm filled with dread and can't see light at the end of the tunnel
I'm feeling nothing, not even many feelings you may call side effects.
The only thing that seems very real is this horrible depression which has now been with me for over 2 months.
I'm filled with dread and can't see light at the end of the tunnel
Member
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Texas
Posts: 478
Stewy-please don't bump up the dosage without your doc-- when meds change, especially ssris etc., they DO take time to work and you have to break yourself in slowly. Call your doctor and tell him/her how you are feeling--see if they can suggest something to help--if you feel suicidal (possible side effect) get help immediately!
Administrator
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Australia
Posts: 211,391
It's understandable you should feel that way but, give this new med a chance Stewy - you've only just started it 
I also agree that unless this was previously OKed you really need to consult with your Dr before you change dosage.
I'll re-iterate what others have previously said too - try a little exercise - I know it's probably the last thing you want to do, but it really has worked wonders for me in the past.
D
I also agree that unless this was previously OKed you really need to consult with your Dr before you change dosage.
I'll re-iterate what others have previously said too - try a little exercise - I know it's probably the last thing you want to do, but it really has worked wonders for me in the past.
D
Guest
Thread Starter
Join Date: Oct 2014
Posts: 699
I have done a high intensity cardio work out for the last 6 days and my rest day was today.
I do t know what to do guys, I'm so sorry for bringing my issues to this board again, I don't know where else to turn.
The clock and time are standing still for me, I'm trying to change things up, exercise , diet etc
It's extremely disheartening to feel this way still
I'm sorry
I do t know what to do guys, I'm so sorry for bringing my issues to this board again, I don't know where else to turn.
The clock and time are standing still for me, I'm trying to change things up, exercise , diet etc
It's extremely disheartening to feel this way still
I'm sorry
Forum Leader
Join Date: May 2012
Location: Wisconsin, USA
Posts: 16,945
It's only been a few days Stewy, don't mess with your dosage without talking to your doc. You could make things worse.
What did you learn about therapy? Pills help but not on their own.
What did you learn about therapy? Pills help but not on their own.
Member
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Texas
Posts: 478
Is your rx prescribed by a general pract MD or a psychiatrist? May want to consider the psych if you haven't already. I had an issue with my OB/GYN prescribing me Prozac which I took for 6 months, and then depressions slammed me. She immediately sent me to a psych who has figured out the best RX route for me. Please continue the exercise/working out--I agree that plays a huge part .
Member
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Los Angeles, California
Posts: 8,326
Stewy, some things take time. We didn't get like this overnight. We need to give ourselves some love and be gentle. Please do not mess with your prescription. Make sure to consult with your doctors before changing the dose, adding "things" or quitting altogether.
Right now, stay sober. AA may be useful for you. It will help pass the days while your meds start to work. read as much as you can about sobriety. I recommend reading Rational Recovery, the Small Book. Also, you might consider getting a sponsor and start working the Steps of AA. I am not a fan of AA but working the Steps with a good sponsor helped me immensely.
you might ask your doctor about CBT (cognitive behavior therapy). And please be patient! It does take time. My first year was hard. But I did the work, stayed sober and got better. having sober friends helped too. Try to keep yourself on a stable schedule. I love it that you're working out. you might want to add some self hypnosis or meditation.
I'm glad you're here, Stewy. youve shown some good dedication to your sobriety. You're gong to be OK. Just hang on, keep coming here.
Love from Lenina
Right now, stay sober. AA may be useful for you. It will help pass the days while your meds start to work. read as much as you can about sobriety. I recommend reading Rational Recovery, the Small Book. Also, you might consider getting a sponsor and start working the Steps of AA. I am not a fan of AA but working the Steps with a good sponsor helped me immensely.
you might ask your doctor about CBT (cognitive behavior therapy). And please be patient! It does take time. My first year was hard. But I did the work, stayed sober and got better. having sober friends helped too. Try to keep yourself on a stable schedule. I love it that you're working out. you might want to add some self hypnosis or meditation.
I'm glad you're here, Stewy. youve shown some good dedication to your sobriety. You're gong to be OK. Just hang on, keep coming here.
Love from Lenina
Member
Join Date: Oct 2013
Location: Canada
Posts: 750
Stewy84, I'm right there with you buddy. No pink clouds for me here. Sobriety was hard physically at first now I am feeling decent in my body but the depression and anhedonia is a real battle. I have to admit, if I wasn't doing high intensity cardio and eating healthy I would feel a lot worse. I have just kind of accepted that this is something I cannot go around, I have to go through it with hopes of coming out better on the other side. If sobriety was easy, we all wouldn't be here for support and too support each other. Thank goodness for this place as well. I am just going to keep on trucking.
I agree, with what the others have said. Run your dosage change and medication concerns past your doctor. The new med should start working, just give it some time and try stay strong.
I agree, with what the others have said. Run your dosage change and medication concerns past your doctor. The new med should start working, just give it some time and try stay strong.
Administrator
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Australia
Posts: 211,391
Drinking won't solve this problem Stewy - it will only create more.
I'm sorry this has been a protracted process. Do check with your Dr about the doisage thing, and maybe ask them if they have any other suggestions because you're still upset.
I know it's hard not to imagine the worst but try and be patient.
D
I'm sorry this has been a protracted process. Do check with your Dr about the doisage thing, and maybe ask them if they have any other suggestions because you're still upset.
I know it's hard not to imagine the worst but try and be patient.
D
Do your best
Join Date: Aug 2014
Posts: 67,047
Dont throw the towel in Stewy that will just set you back big time you can msg me we can chat bud i know your feeling crap and i know your trying lots & lots
i think its time to revise if CBT isnt helping have you thought about speaking to a counsellor or a psycologist
Or group therapy .. stewy i done this and i done it 3 times a week volentry for ages it really helped
Stewy i just want you to know your not alone bud i know your sobriety is important to you
if i can help just send a pm bud pls dont give in this preserving will make you so much stronger overall
Here for you friend try and stay focused
i think its time to revise if CBT isnt helping have you thought about speaking to a counsellor or a psycologist
Or group therapy .. stewy i done this and i done it 3 times a week volentry for ages it really helped
Stewy i just want you to know your not alone bud i know your sobriety is important to you
if i can help just send a pm bud pls dont give in this preserving will make you so much stronger overall
Here for you friend try and stay focused
Guest
Thread Starter
Join Date: Oct 2014
Posts: 699
I really honestly truly do not know what to do anymore. The counselling I'm having hasn't really hit the spot.
I feel I've done so much talking about it, There is really nothing left for me to say.
It's like all my cards are on the table, everyone is willing me to get better , I just don't feel better.
Surely I'm not just destined to feel miserable all the time, I'm pushing myself each day, forcing things and seeing people.
None of it seems to be helping
I feel I've done so much talking about it, There is really nothing left for me to say.
It's like all my cards are on the table, everyone is willing me to get better , I just don't feel better.
Surely I'm not just destined to feel miserable all the time, I'm pushing myself each day, forcing things and seeing people.
None of it seems to be helping
EndGame
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: New York, NY
Posts: 4,677
Hi Stewy.
I identify with your struggles.
Not giving you medical advice here, but sharing my knowledge and experience from my personal life, my training and my work.
Your drug's trade name is Effexor, a very powerful NSRI. Unlike the more common SSRIs, Effexor works on both serotonin and norepinephrine, both of which are implicated in depression. I've taken both SSRIs and NSRIs, and am currently taking Celexa, an SSRI. I haven't had a major depressive episode in years, and the last time I had a meds change was over three years ago, when I moved from, I don't remember what (Lexapro?), to Celexa.
You made an unfortunate but avoidable start with your new meds by apparently consulting with Dr. Google and doubling your dosage without consulting your doctor. Again, it's a powerful drug and, as impatient as you've become, your body and your brain need time to adjust to it. This is true of even the "milder" antidepressants. It's also true that some people benefit from lower doses of antidepressants than higher doses, and this needs to be addressed early on in treatment. In effect, you're setting yourself up for the failure that you regularly refer to, and you're essentially forcing a negative outcome.
As is true of both SSRIs and NSRIs, it takes a great deal of time for our bodies to adjust to them, and most of us typically experience only side effects in the beginning; Effexor is known to have a relatively powerful side-effect profile, and this was true for me as well. This is only one reason why so many of us give up on antidepressants before they have time to work for us. The "zombie" feeling that many people report is generally transient, a weigh station between deep depression and clarity of thoughts and feelings, but many of us drop out at this point.
I'm wondering whether or not you've consulted with your regular MD or a psychiatrist for your medication, if only because there are newer versions of NSRIs, such as Pristiq and Cymbalta, that carry a milder side-effect profile than Effexor. Though many MDs are well-meaning in prescribing anxiolytics and antidepressants, they are often unhelpful and ignorant in comparison to their colleagues in psychiatry or psychopharmacology.
Finally, your negative thoughts and comments are only sustaining and exacerbating your depression. You expect negative outcomes and, volia, that's what happens. It seems you're cooperating with your illness rather than with your recovery. Antidepressants can help with this, but only to a certain extent. I don't recall your complete history but, again, as was true with me and many others suffering from depression, I needed to learn to rethink and work on the way I had learned to live my life as a depressed person, my thinking and my behaviors, in order to get to a better place.
My therapist helped a great deal with this, such as in challenging my negative beliefs and my false (negative) assumptions, and she taught me to do this on my own. We often assume that the worst will happen, yet being depressed does not endow us with special powers for predicting the future. We convince ourselves that things will always work out against us, and we protect this belief as if our very lives depended on it. We also tend to overlook the reality that it is we who can influence outcomes in our lives, even when things don't always work out the way we'd planned.
For me, predicting negative outcomes was a way to avoid responsibility for myself. I was much more familiar with failure than success, and failure asked very little of me in terms of living a better life or in terms of taking care of the people I loved and pursuing my goals. Alcoholism only made my "choices" more valid. If I started to care about myself and how I lived my life, then I'd suddenly have something to lose, and I could only tolerate loss when I carried the delusion that it was I who decided how, what and when I would lose people and things I cared about. Caring about people and things is a risk, but then, at some point, I could no longer "manage" all the pain and suffering of living an incomplete life.
It took a great deal of time, patience and perseverance on my part, but I worked my way through multiple episodes of major depression while I was sober long-term many years ago. When I relapse three-and-a-half years ago for three years, I was able to draw on my struggles with depression to work my way through achieving sobriety. Just taking on those two challenges, with no guarantees for success, were life-changing processes for me. I needed to take a leap of faith in both cases that there was a better life for me, and that this depended on the choices I made and the work I was doing to get there. There's no reason you can't do the same.
I identify with your struggles.
Not giving you medical advice here, but sharing my knowledge and experience from my personal life, my training and my work.
Your drug's trade name is Effexor, a very powerful NSRI. Unlike the more common SSRIs, Effexor works on both serotonin and norepinephrine, both of which are implicated in depression. I've taken both SSRIs and NSRIs, and am currently taking Celexa, an SSRI. I haven't had a major depressive episode in years, and the last time I had a meds change was over three years ago, when I moved from, I don't remember what (Lexapro?), to Celexa.
You made an unfortunate but avoidable start with your new meds by apparently consulting with Dr. Google and doubling your dosage without consulting your doctor. Again, it's a powerful drug and, as impatient as you've become, your body and your brain need time to adjust to it. This is true of even the "milder" antidepressants. It's also true that some people benefit from lower doses of antidepressants than higher doses, and this needs to be addressed early on in treatment. In effect, you're setting yourself up for the failure that you regularly refer to, and you're essentially forcing a negative outcome.
As is true of both SSRIs and NSRIs, it takes a great deal of time for our bodies to adjust to them, and most of us typically experience only side effects in the beginning; Effexor is known to have a relatively powerful side-effect profile, and this was true for me as well. This is only one reason why so many of us give up on antidepressants before they have time to work for us. The "zombie" feeling that many people report is generally transient, a weigh station between deep depression and clarity of thoughts and feelings, but many of us drop out at this point.
I'm wondering whether or not you've consulted with your regular MD or a psychiatrist for your medication, if only because there are newer versions of NSRIs, such as Pristiq and Cymbalta, that carry a milder side-effect profile than Effexor. Though many MDs are well-meaning in prescribing anxiolytics and antidepressants, they are often unhelpful and ignorant in comparison to their colleagues in psychiatry or psychopharmacology.
Finally, your negative thoughts and comments are only sustaining and exacerbating your depression. You expect negative outcomes and, volia, that's what happens. It seems you're cooperating with your illness rather than with your recovery. Antidepressants can help with this, but only to a certain extent. I don't recall your complete history but, again, as was true with me and many others suffering from depression, I needed to learn to rethink and work on the way I had learned to live my life as a depressed person, my thinking and my behaviors, in order to get to a better place.
My therapist helped a great deal with this, such as in challenging my negative beliefs and my false (negative) assumptions, and she taught me to do this on my own. We often assume that the worst will happen, yet being depressed does not endow us with special powers for predicting the future. We convince ourselves that things will always work out against us, and we protect this belief as if our very lives depended on it. We also tend to overlook the reality that it is we who can influence outcomes in our lives, even when things don't always work out the way we'd planned.
For me, predicting negative outcomes was a way to avoid responsibility for myself. I was much more familiar with failure than success, and failure asked very little of me in terms of living a better life or in terms of taking care of the people I loved and pursuing my goals. Alcoholism only made my "choices" more valid. If I started to care about myself and how I lived my life, then I'd suddenly have something to lose, and I could only tolerate loss when I carried the delusion that it was I who decided how, what and when I would lose people and things I cared about. Caring about people and things is a risk, but then, at some point, I could no longer "manage" all the pain and suffering of living an incomplete life.
It took a great deal of time, patience and perseverance on my part, but I worked my way through multiple episodes of major depression while I was sober long-term many years ago. When I relapse three-and-a-half years ago for three years, I was able to draw on my struggles with depression to work my way through achieving sobriety. Just taking on those two challenges, with no guarantees for success, were life-changing processes for me. I needed to take a leap of faith in both cases that there was a better life for me, and that this depended on the choices I made and the work I was doing to get there. There's no reason you can't do the same.
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