Medications

Wondering if there is an interest in starting a thread on: 1. what meds. we take 2. what they are intended for 3.how did they work for you?


If possible, maybe we can keep this short and simple so that it is an easy read. It seems like every other day someone has a question about a certain med. Maybe condensing it here will help?? Keep in mind that side effects are different for everyone. These will just be our experiences . . .


Lexapro: for anxiety & mild depression. Worked for anxiety, but my side effects were a little nausea starting off, muscle tension, jaw clenching & total labido killer.


Zoloft: for anxiety and mild depression. Worked much better for me than Lexapro. Still had some muscle clenching. Labido was better, but not great. Had to get off of it VERY slowly as in 1/2 dose, regular dose, 1/2, reg., 1/2, 1/2,reg, 1/2, 1/2, 1/2 and so on.


Wellbutrin: anxiety, mild depression & adult ADD. I really like Wellbutrin. Only problem is that it can give you a "boost" which I mistook for anxiety. That fixed itself though. Has worked great for everyday depression and anxiety. Dunno on ADD. It's not much better. I'm still on it. No real side effects other than it curbs my appetite.


Celexa: anxiety. This was to control the anxiety I had with Wellbutrin. It is closely related to Lexapro & I had the exact same side effects, so I stopped it.


Lorazepam aka Ativan: panic! I only take this if I feel a panic attack coming on. It works fast and very well. It often causes drowsiness, but that is not my experience. It is very addictive, so you can ONLY TAKE THIS WHEN ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY. It's a great back up for someone that doesn't panic often.


Kava Kava: anxiety. I used to take this "herbal" pill for anxiety. I found that it worked great as an "as needed" relaxer. It got a little bit of bad press, so it's hard to find. I had great success with it.


Ginger Capsules: upset stomach and nausea. Works for me.

Over the years I have taken:


Prothiaden: Antidepressants with sedative effects. Helped me somewhat with anxiety and depression but I had to take large doses of it for it to help. Slept well on it but felt drowsy during day and hated other side-effects it had like dry mouth, shakiness and made me stutter sometimes when I was talking to strangers which was so embarrassing.


Stemetil: Anti-emetics. Didn't do much for me, but I was on a low dose. Didn't notice any side-effects.


Diazepan: Valium. Only short dose for insomnia. Still couldn't sleep too good after taking these and I would advise to steer clear of drugs like this if you possibly can as they are very addictive.


Propranolol: Beta-blockers. Helped me with anxiety to an extent but not a great deal. Didn't notice any side-effects.


The other drugs I have tried are anti-spasmodics (they were supposed to help wih my churning, knotted stomach -caused by nervesbecause of worrying about vomitting!) I can't remember the name of the ones I took but I couldn't mix them with anti-histamines so had to come off them as I have so many allergies and need my allergy meds.


Seroxat: Antidepressants (Paxil in US). These have literally given me my life back. Before taking these I was soill with anxiety and depression and my life was so restricited. Now I am like a different person. The worst side-effect is insomnia which does drive me nuts at times, but I'm willing to put up with this for the advantages the meds bring. Other side-effects lack of libido and yawning all the time!


Just as a by the way, I haven't just relied on meds to try and help with my phobias (I've battled agoraphobia too), anxiety and depression. I have alsoseen a psychologist, psychiatrist, cognitive therapistand even tried things like hypnotherapy, meditation and yoga. It's important to keep trying as many things as possible that may help!


And remember regards meds, as everybody is different, what works for one may not for another and vice versa, and as turtleiam said side-effects may be different for different people.

Xanax:</span> for anxiety; made me sleepy. Also either had n* as sideeffect or I just drove myself into a worry induced n* the first time I took it, so I never took it again

Celexa</span>: for anxiety; first 20mg, some effect, then break, then 40mg with great success. Only side effect is some weight gain (20lbs) but maybe because I was able to start eating again. Difficult to get off though. I have gotten myself down to 30mg but no lower.

Edited by: qpaulina42

Stemetil - They seem to work well for me, but like tcsarah said, people are different, i had it in hospital when i was v* and it seemed to stop the v* and n*.

Risperidone - Which is an antiphyscotic to help manic depression and other disorders, i find these help quite a bit with my mood, but sometimes it takes a while for them to help calm me down, but im on quite a low dose.</span></span>

I forgot to add that I'm also seeing a therapist. We haven't gotten as far as dealing directly with emet, but we're working out a lot of other things, which has helped my anxiety. In a round about way has helped my emet.


- Susan

over the past few years i hane taken


amytriptiline: Anti depressant really horrible side effects but it did work eveneually


Dosulepin: Another anti depressant this didi not work for me idf anything it made me more depressed


Zispin: This is yet another Anti depressant i am currentley on and seems to have helped a bit


metroclopramide: Anti emetic work really well for me


Cyclizine: Another anti emetic also found this works quite well i think it is actually an anthistamine


stemitil: I did not think this worked that well for me but as roofus and tcsarah said everyone is diffrent


proprananol: I find this actually helps quite alot as i get palpatations alot it really helps being on it cos it slows my heart rate right down


diazepam: good for really bad panic but as tcsarah said very addictive so i try not to use it very often


Temazepam: sleeping tablet works well but agaian i became relaint on this to sleep and took a while to ween myself off them


there is more that i have been on but i am now begining to think ther e are too many to mention these are the most recent ones currently i am on Zispin, metoclopramide, cyclizine, and proprananol

i also forgot to add that i have seen counsellers had hypnosis seen a pscyatrist and psycologist andcurrently on the waiting list for psycology but it is really long and i cannot afford to go private so it could be a long wait last time it was nearly a year before i even got a assesment appointment and then about 6 months before i saw anyone again don't ya just love the NHS.