# Struggles and Support > Medication >  >  How many medications did it take you to feel better?`

## Cheesehead

How many tries? 
What was the right medication?
Did  it last long?
What was the side effects?

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## Keddy

It took me 6 tries: Prozac, Abilify, Zoloft, Lithium, Risperdal- and then no meds.
Lithium and Risperdal (I took these 2 at the same time for anxiety, depression, and moods) seemed to be the right fit, for a while at least.
I was on Prozac for 3 days in middle school, Abilify for a few months in high school, Zoloft for a year, Lithium and Risperdal for 4 years. I recently went off.
Prozac made me hallucinate, I don't know how common this is as a side effect, but it was enough to get me hospitalized and I went right off it. Abilify made me extremely physically aggressive (toward myself, never other people). Zoloft gave me all kinds of weird pains and things that my doctor couldn't explain otherwise and also made me feel "flat" and emotionless. On the Lithium and Risperdal combo (I don't know which one caused which side effects), I had constant sweating, poor temperature tolerance, bad sunburns, dry mouth, constant thirst, increased appetite, and nightmares. I also went from 170 to about 185 lbs. over the course of the 4 years I was taking both meds. 
On no medications, I'm constantly depressed, have bad anxiety, and have angry outbursts but I'm managing all of that with DBT (dialectical behavior therapy) which has been really helpful so far. I'm still trying to lose the extra weight I put on when I was on meds but it's not really going anywhere :/
Of course, not everyone has the same side effects on every med and sometimes you just get weird ones that no one else seems to have. Sometimes you don't really have any.
Hope this helps  ::): 
/Keddy

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## Otherside

It's taken a few changes. They've upped the dose a few times and then downed it. It's taken about one and half years of trying but then they're useless at prescribing in this country. At the moment I'm on Depakote, Zoloft and Propranol. I have Zopiclone prescribed to me as well which I can take as needed for sleeping.

*Edit*-Oh, side effects. Errr...okay. If you want. This may freak you out, but I seem to have a weird sensitivity to side effects of meds sometimes.

Propranolol-None. And it really helped my anxiety. They took me off it though because they decided I'd been on it too long. Idiots. 

Celexa-Felt Irritated all the time, agitated, and had the suicidal thoughts one. (It's odd they'll prescribe a drug that makes you suicidal when you're suicidal already, but there's no other choice sometimes, and it begins to feel like you have to try anything) I was taken off it by my GP. 

Prozac-Not much until it was upped to 60mg daily. I was asleep. All the time. I could not stay awake. It took my idiot of psych eight fucking months of me having mood swings up and down up and down all the time to realize it wasn't working. Even after I ended up in hospital. By that time I'd just about lost patience with him and switched psychs. But when I was on a low dose I realized it had had some effect. Just not much. Oh, and the whole sexual dysfunction thing. I had that as well. A lot of people do on SSRI's. Gotta be one of the main reason people come off them. 

Depakote-Works wonders. Then again, I'm on that for bipolar. I feel a lot more stable on it, have less mood swings. Slept a lot the first few days on it, felt sick all the time, and I have a lovely rash on my backside because of it.

Zoloft-Haven't really been on it for long enough to really say anything.





> It took me 6 tries: Prozac,* Abilify,* Zoloft, *Lithium, Risperdal*- and then no meds.
> 
> /Keddy



Do you have bipolar? Some of those are anti-psychotics or mood stabilizers. 

Not saying you're lying, I'm just curious. And surprised they'd prescribe them if it was depression and not psychosis/bipolar.

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## Keddy

> Do you have bipolar? Some of those are anti-psychotics or mood stabilizers. 
> 
> Not saying you're lying, I'm just curious. And surprised they'd prescribe them if it was depression and not psychosis/bipolar.



I'm not diagnosed with bipolar but I do have some serious mood/anger issues.

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## SmileyFace

I don't take any medication, and I don't plan on ever doing so. I just feel like it'll just make me feel worse during times I'm already going through enough. I just don't like medication overall really lol, no matter what it is for.

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## Inscrutable Banana

I have an aversion to pharmaceuticals and I plan to avoid them until I feel it's my last resort.

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## L

How many tries? - Lexapro, I was threatened to be sent to the unit
What was the right medication? Meh, don't know
Did it last long? Took it for just under a year and I have never been back to the dark place that out me on them
What was the side effects?Short term: dizzy, loss of concentration, headache, sleepy for about a week, no long term side effects while on medication

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## Kory

I tried I think seven medications, including the one I am on now.
But I've only tried three medications for anxiety. Others were antipsychotics.
I tried, Celexa, Seroquel, Remeron, Risperdal, Abilify, Vistaril and Invega. So far, Vistaril and Invega have been the most helpful.

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## Rawr

I've taken Paxil (anti-depressant), Divalproex (Bipolar) & Seroquel (Bipolar). 

I have depression, anxiety & Bipolar Disorder so yeah. First I was on Paxil for a year. It worked pretty well for awhile but then I started to become frustrated with taking medication so I stopped for awhile. Had TERRIBLE side effects for a couple of weeks. I became worse so I decided to talk with my doctor about something else. He then put me on Divalproex. I took it for about a couple of months but felt like it wasn't working at all. Plus I felt sick a lot which lead me to think I was pregnant but it turned out I wasn't. It was a bad side effect to the Divalproex. I just couldn't cope so I asked to try something else. He then put me on Seroquel. It was the WORST. I felt like a Zombie 24/7 & stayed pissed off at the world. I only stayed on it for a week since the nurse told me to stop taking it since I was having a severe side effect to it. 

Finally I gave up & decided to try the 40 mg of Paxil again a few months back. So far so good. It's the best I've ever been on. I still have bad days but he told me that's normal. I just feel pressured at times when I have ONE bad day & my mother is like "Your medicine has stopped working! Tell him to switch!" while I'm like "No. It's normal he said". I'm only human after all.

I just find it odd that anything for Bipolar I've tried makes me sick & yet anti-depressants don't. Only 2 things I hate about my anti-depressant is that I sweat more & my sex drive is crap.

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## Kirsebaer

I started with Fluoxetine when I was about 18.. It worked fine in the beginning but after about a year it became ineffective so I switched to Escitalopram and I've been on it ever since.. That makes it ten years. It works really well for me and the side effects are bearable. I tried to stop taking it a few times throughout the years but only for a few months cause depression would always come back full force

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## IllusionOfHappiness

Six or seven years ago I tried Effexor, and some other antidepressant that I don't remember the name of. I never wanted to be on meds like that (ones taken daily) so I made up some excuses to my doctor why they didn't work / why I felt it would be better if I stopped. Next in line was Ativan, which I guess wasn't strong enough. Not sure what my dose was but I don't remember it helping at all. After that I was given what I had wanted all along: Clonazepam (Klonopin) which has been an absolute life saver. I was also prescribed Propranolol which I was recently re-prescribed. I don't take them every day, they're simply there if I need them. As far as I can tell I don't get any side effects from Propranolol, but Clonazepam did a number on my memory. Everything's got a downside. It's enabled me to do a lot of things that I would otherwise never have done, i.e. find employment.

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