I Would REALLY Appreciate Input- Anti-depressant

Is there anything they can do with your hormones to try to reculate your mood? There is nothing wrong with taking a mild dosage, I've taken them and so have a number of my friends. A small dose will stop you from getting really low lows which can help if you need a boost to get motivated and then maybe you'll pick up exercise and pampering and that will naturally give you a boost and you won't need them anymore. Depending on the dosage you may get a bad tummy, headache and some head rushes for the first week or so but then you should settle down and wake up one morning and feel much better. Keep an eye on side effects that you don't think are normal for you and go to your GP if you have any questions. And with the sex side of things, I'm sure the hormones/severe lows are affecting your love life already, so no harm in giving these a try. Don't let the internet scare you, a lot of people go on them and come off them just as easily and it really is up to you whether you want to explore other treatments first. Best of luck hun x

I would suggest trying to increase your vitamin B intake. All of them. I get these really great drops at Whole Foods and they really give me a boost when I need it. Mentally and physically. Go on line and see what vitamin B can do for you. It might be a better alternative.

My daughter's doctor recommended B Stress Complex supplement (Walgreens), 1 to 2 mg of folate, 14x amount of vitamin C

As someone who was on perscription anti depressants for near 6 years of her life, all I can say is they helped, but the cons were more than the pros in most cases with me. Yes it depends on the person. I'm an artist and all of those mind altering drugs killed my creativity. I was more depressed on them because I couldnt create. I got off of them against everyone's wishes and I learned to change my lifestyle to addapt it to my depression. I'm a better person for it and I think you can try to learn too before you resort to drugs.

My mother unfortunately still thinks she's helpless without the drugs, and pays out 300 dollars a month for her anti depressant/ ADD pill cocktail. They just want your money, most cases, and if its a doctor I wouldnt trust him when it comes to mental health as much as I would a psychologist or psychotherapist.

take 2kidzlater's advice and try with some vitamins, particularly B. One of my best friends' wife has been depressed, fat and self hating for years. She wouldnt clean or cook, wouldnt get a job to help support them, and all she would do is stay up late on the computer, skip her college classes and eat taco bell. She thought she was too ugly to leave their appartment. She just started taking vitamin B-12 supplements and she's turned into a completely different person. My friend is amazed with the change, he says its like night and day.

My take on it is mind over matter.

It could also be hormonal, so have your hormone levels checked. This is more common than you think, most the females in my family have some type of thyroid condition which effects mood, weight and just about everything.


Edit: Forgot to mention..I was on Effexor, Zoloft, Cymbalta and Wellbutrin. Effexor gave me "brain zaps" a phenomenon reported with numerous antidepressants. It also made me sick, act like a zombie and it gave me withdrawal symptoms if I took the pill a few hours later. Miserable. Zoloft just made me into a very irritable, quiet person. Cymbalta did absolutely nothing to me, and Wellbutrin worked but again, it sapped my creativity. I was also relatively emotionless...IE, yes I was happy, but I was neuturally happy. I could never feel "overjoyed" or anything like that. Sex drive? I didn't notice much of a difference, but that's probably because I was a teenager. I know Wellbutrin kind of inhibited it, but none of them have ever been good for my sex drive or my eating habits.

At such a low dose, you may experience minimal side effects.

When your body is getting used to the med, you will have some wonky-ness during an adjustment period (too much or too little energy, nausea, dizziness all are normal, but should pass)

I have been on several in my life (none right now) and some caused weight loss, but others can encourage weight gain. When I needed them, they were life changing (indeed, perhaps life-saving).

For me, the sexual side effects were minimal. Again, I think these increase with your dosages.

HTH.

This is pretty much exactly what I was going to say.

I take Lexapro for anxiety, but it is used for depression as well and very similar to celexa. For me, I did have some nausea the first week or so while adjusting. I also clenched my teeth and had trouble sitting still (like constantly bouncing my leg and fidgeting), but both of those have subsided as well. I still have extremely vivid dreams which my doctor said is normal on lexapro. I did have some minimal sexual side effects, but nothing my husband and I weren't able to work through.

I'd definitely say that the side effects were/are minimal for me compared to the improvement in my quality of life.

My wife had to deal with the same symptomes after our daughter's birth 4 years ago and has been on the medication for just over 3 years now and it worked out great for her!

there were some mild side effects when she first started (I remember dizziness for one....) but they did go away after a little while.

She lives a 100% normal life, she even passed the medical to be a schoolbus driver, the doctor saying that the dosage was to negligeable to mention.

I only have a warning for you : If you start DONT TRY TO STOP ON YOUR OWN!!!! You'll be feeling better and think you dont need the medication anymore...if you stop on your own after a couple of days you'll feel worst than ever. You have to see you doctor to get gradualy withdrawn before you can stop taking it.

Hope that was the info you were looking for...my wife is really happy with the medication, it might even have saved our marriage!!

P.S.: Dont feel ashamed....depression is somthing you can't control, do it get the control of your life back!!

I would suggest trying to increase your vitamin B intake. All of them. I get these really great drops at Whole Foods and they really give me a boost when I need it. Mentally and physically. Go on line and see what vitamin B can do for you. It might be a better alternative.

totally agree, and let me add this: i have exactly the same problem...it runs in my family. i have been put on different anti-depressants since i was 15, and the last one i was prescribed was celexa. now...full disclosure...i hate pharmaceuticals and am a weird freak about chemicals and stuff and i lean towards the organic/granola/hippie way of life. there is a great website www.doctoryourself.com where there is some information on this subject (and a lot of other subjects). in addition to a multi-vitamin, i take b-complex 3 times per day, 10,000mg vitamin c/day, evening primrose oil 3 times per day, fish oil twice a day, and a calcium/magnesium/vitamin d once a day...this combination has helped me tremendously. a lot of people would not advise taking the amounts i take, but for me-it works, and that's all that matters!!! this is not to say that i never feel like throwing a lamp at someone, but i can control myself now, and that lamp-throwing feeling is a rarity now, instead of the norm that it used to be. check out that website...see what works for you. and if the celexa is working and you're happy with it, keep taking that!!!

I currently take a low dose anxiety/anti depressant and it works great because when I get anxious I would usually over eat or eat something that had loads of sugar and fat...with my anxiety in check I am not as easy to pick up any old thing and eat it. It also helos you feel better about yourself and paired with exercise you will be feeling great. Just keep in mind that the first 3-4 weeks of taking the medication may have some side effects, they usually wear off in this time and maintain levels at this point. I also encourage you to take a mulivitamin every day, which took me months to get into the habit of, and also drink lots of water, it helps keep all of these chemicals and vitamins in balance, all of these things help me soooo much...b/c I have 95% good days and a few bad here and there where I have NO energy and feel like lying in bed all day eating donuts. After awhile these behaviors become your normal routine and you don't have to try as hard...I take my pills/vitamins every day around the same time with lots of water and make sure that I exercise everyday, even if it's only a 20 minute walk....you will find that it gets easier all the time.

Keep in mind that 20mg on celexa is a very minimal dose....just a little something to help your hormones get in line. My wife has been on the same dosage for 3+ years and never needed to increase the dose

I've also been on celexa for a little over a year at 20mg. 10mg worked somewhat and 20mg has been perfect since. When I tried to go up to 40mg it was too much and I found I had trouble sleeping and felt like my head was in a vice.

I've noticed some negative impact to my libido, but for now I'd rather be emotionally stable than worry about the other. As for weight gain, celexa is supposed to be weight-gain/loss neutral, and this seems fairly true in my experience.

It's important to remember that it might not work with your body chemistry and finding something that does might be a bit trying. But since you know exactly why you're getting depressed that by itself should help.

Since it's related with your period, have you considered going on the pill? There is one which allows you to have 4 periods a year. I'd probably try that first before the other pills. Also if it's every two months, why are you taking a pill daily??
I know that anti depressants have helped a lot of people, but I am still weary of them.
Have there been any other more natural solutions at least discussed or tried out?

I read a number of the posts before replying, because I too started out on a small dose of anti-depressants. What I found was almost everyone I knew was on them. I could'nt beleive it. Everytime I went into the doctors about getting off them, seriously he put the dose up. I too like one person mentioned was walking around like a Zombie. One day I just said to f with this and I threw them all away. Not recommened, because of withdrawl, but I knew I was done. I realized I had to deal with some underling issues and get in the real world. I did and will never go back. Get your b vitamins and cod liver oil.