Which anti depression pills work the best for you..?

Answer 1

As a pharmacy student who also suffers from depression, I have studied the different pharmacological treatments for depression.

The list of medications I have tried:
Celexa (citalopram): titrated up to 60mg/day
Zoloft (sertraline): titrated up to 100mg/day
Imipramine: I dont remember the dose, as I couldnt tolerate it and only lasted about 9 days on it.
Effexor XR (venlafaxine): Currently on 150mg/day

Let me offer some advice from personal experience as well as from the perspective of a student pharmacist. There are many antidepressant therapies out there, Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SRI's), Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRI's), Serotonin-Norepinephrine Reuptake Inhibitors (SNRI's), Monoamine Oxidase Inhibitors (MAOI's), Tricyclic Antidepressants (TCA's), Atypical Antipsychotics, and even more investigational agents out there. As far as effectiveness goes, they are basically equivalent to a point. The main differences lie in the side effects of the medications. You will get antidepressant activity from a MAOI, however you will have to limit your diet and risk a severe spike in your blood pressure. TCA's cause severe dry mouth, urine retention and dizziness. SSRI's may cause nasuea, diarrhea and insomnia. Atypical Antipsychotics can cause severe weight gain (talking 50+ lbs of weight gain!)

The one thing that has been found, proven time after time... the people with the best outcomes undergo counseling at the same time they begin their antidepressant medications. Counseling+medications is best, but counseling alone is better than medication alone! Part of the action of these medications is to help you get your brain back on track. Many health professionals believe depression is caused by a reduction of neurotransmitters (a decreased amount of some combination of serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine). During this time of chemical imbalance, though, you have also been in a negative cycle of thoughts, and just like learning math or a foreign language, practice makes perfect. If you have strengthened the negative connections adding more neurotransmitters will only help to a point. You need a health care professionals help to get your brain back on track.

Another word of caution: If you go on an antidepressant medication, give it an adequate trial. Unless you are having SEVERE side effects that make you feel like harming yourself or are interfering with your everyday function, stop the medication and call your doctor IMMEDIATELY. All of the classes of medication I have mentioned above may take up to 4 to 8 weeks before a maximum effect is noticed. Some of the side effects I mentioned above, however, will start right away. The good news is this: most of the side effects will go away with time! Therefore dont get discouraged!

Another point that someone touched on is that these medications work differently in each individual. Just because you dont feel better after 2 months of one medication, dont give up! The dose may need to be adjusted or a different medicine may be better for you. The SSRI's and SNRI's are on a spectrum of effect on neurotransmitters and maybe you need more serotonin influence than your neighbor who needs a little extra norepinephrine.

Personal experience: I am happiest on my current regimen of Effexor XR 150mg. I tried lots of other medications, and this one, for whatever reason is right for me. I still may need a little bump up in dose, because I may have hit a plateau, but I have only been taking it for about 2 months so far. I also have been seeing a counselor for about 4 months and i feel tons better after every session. The first time I went to the counselor I felt like I was being analyzed and that she thought I was falling apart. After a while, though, I realized that this was something I needed to do to get myself back on track.

Good luck with everything, be patient in your treatment, and take good care of yourself!

Answer 2

I have coped with depression for ten years now and tried a huge array of different anti depressants. Currently I take efexor 375 mg per day and 300 mg Trazodone, this combination has proved to be one of the better ones for my depression.
Having said that, it's not going to be much use to you or anyone else coping with depression to ask for help on a place such as this. All we can do is give you our experiences. What works well for one person can be disastrous for another, depression is notoriously difficult to treat for that reason. Even once your doctor finds you an anti depressant that suits you, the next thing he has to work out is which dose will be better for you.
Ignore all these people on here who posted that it's all in your mind and take supplements and blah blah blah, they're dangerous and they don't know what they're talking about. Depression, left untreated can be fatal, the suicide rate amongst depressives is high, and whilst talking therapies are the best way forward, often they aren't available and if an anti depressant can make you feel more able to cope with the difficulties, you have every right to take them. No-one writes to a diabetic, 'don't take your insulin' no-one has the right to say to a depressed person 'don't take your medication'

Answer 3

I hate to be a little brutal here but you dont have a good enough excuse for depression, you just keep on creating them because they only exist inside your head.

Any SHAMAN using drugs that take days even weeks to fully cooperate then require another drug of lesser potency to help "move away" from the previous drug is simply un eductaed and trusting their brain with someone who frankly makes rude amounts of money from selling you A L L THIS S H I T!!!!!!!!!

Seriously........if you know that you have had a good time before and you think its possible to go to a party, dance, socialise and generally smile then id suggest you read some of aleister crowley's work for "REIMPRESSION" and find yourself a source of quality LSD.

You may only need one or two doses to move away from such a mindset. Also here in Australia clinical trials have just been approved for pscilosib (oops spelling i know) mushrooms.

The first thiing I would suggest is that you do much more thorough research "neo shamanism" and reclaim your life from a bunch of doctors who are all sitting under a coconut tree funded by the drug companies that have you "Hooked".

move away from pharmacuticals and investigate ethnobotany, ayahuasca and natural sources of inspiration. Short of that become an artist and get over it!

Power to the people!!!!

Answer 4

Venlafaxine at 375mg/day...had to stop it though,due to chronic,severe night sweats.Also Olanzapine,an atypical anti-psychotic worked well for me,but I had to stop that too,as I was developing diabetes.

Of the newer antidepressants,I believe Venlafaxine and Mirtazapine have the greatest efficacy.

Answer 5

First use yoga , Pranayam .You may use an Ayurvedic pill called BRAHMI VATI,Ashwagandha power and see the result,Take care of your bowel movement ,should not have constipation and appetite is good.

Answer 6

Everyone responds differently to different drugs. I take Lexapro & it works pretty well. I was on Prozac for years & it worked well too.

Answer 7

A pill called "PLUS" It's safe,natural and no side effects.

Answer 8

Try a supplement instead. It will actually help more then the drugs.

Answer 9

Whether it’s a holiday, anniversary, birthday or a time in your life where the rug of life itself seems to have been ripped out from beneath your feet, and you feel the kind of depression where you pray to not wake up, take heart. I have been there, and have learned how to come out of it to the other side of beaming joy, and want to pass this information on to you.

You have a view, a perspective that is in your mind about your situation. So the “cure” and key to feel happiness again also exists within your mind.
No matter what has happened, it is your thoughts about it that are contributing to your sadness. Needless to say, your situation is “on your mind” a lot. If instead of asking “why” the situation happened, ask what you can actually do in your life, from this moment forward to bring life renewal both to yourself, and anyone else you may know, either near or far away, that has also gone through the same thing.

You probably know that the cure for a snake bite is actually contained within the snake venom itself. So too is the renewal of your mind, and your forthcoming happiness contained within the seed of the tragedy, or situation from which you are about to lift yourself up from – with purpose.

When I went through severe injustice, and cried in the depths of despair for over two years, the only thing that made me come back to life was to do something about the injustice both for myself, and for the countless other people that had gone through the same experience.

I have known parents that have lost their precious children. The only thing that brought them back to life was to do something about it, whether it was to find a cure, create new laws, join an existing cause, write a book, and share their experiences coming from a place of really wanting to make a difference in this area, that they found their sense of life come back to them.

Really ask yourself if there is something that you can actually DO that will help to create positive change in the area of your life that has been shifted. Picture in your mind HOW you can truly make a difference for yourself, even if you are shaking inside, you CAN take one tiny step at a time to bring faith, hope, and resolution both for yourself, and possibly for so many others that are also in your shoes.

Once you begin to see that you DO have a purpose in this area, your mind will begin to focus on THAT, and the emotional misery will begin to slowly dissipate. I promise you that pain DOES END over time.

Many people that go through emotional agony where they view death as an awaiting joy MUST LEARN that the pain really does end! It does NOT last forever. We ADJUST to the new situation. Adjustment comes over time. Faster adjustment comes from being fueled with a positive sense of purpose that will re-ignite hope, and replace despair.

Don’t try to “get over it,” go into it! Honor your pain. Honor the reason why you have the pain to begin with! Do not argue with your new reality, however catastrophic is feels at this time. Say yes to what is happening now, and see where you can move yourself into a Higher place from this moment forward.

We all go through deep pain. That is how we learn deep compassion. Have more loving compassion for yourself, rather than pity. Understand that if this situation is in your life, then it is here for a higher reason. Your job is to find that higher reason, and fly with it. It will bring you a new feeling of life, because with “death” there is still no escape for our feelings. Love endures forever.

You came into this life to face what is most painful, and find the inner courage to actually create positive and lasting change both for yourself, and for others as a result of your experiences.

My own personal catastrophic pain lasted from 1996 to 1998. If only someone would have taught me that within the seed of my deepest life tragedy, was the actual seed for life renewal, and to take that situation and create positive change because of that situation, I would venture to say that my pain would not have lasted that long.

This is why I am sharing this with you. There is hope, and it exists within the new decisions you can now make within your mind. Find a new direction, and move into the area where the core of the pain exists. There is your core seed and indicator as to what you can actually do that will uplift you, as well as others.

As long as you are alive, you have a purpose. Part of your life purpose sometimes includes going through the “dark night of the soul” to bring you to the other side of it, so that you can also help others that are going through the same thing, after you have gotten yourself to the other side of your grief, and into a place of authentic empowerment that shows how via this situation, you can make a difference, and feel a difference after all.

If I could, so can you, and so can anyone. There is a new life awaiting you, now just ask yourself what that new life can be, and you will discover the answer.

www.borntoinspire.com