Depression and medication

Contributor: kitty1949 kitty1949
I'm one of the people who cannot control their depression without medical intervention. I have PMDD, anxiety disorder and major depressive disorder. Oh, how could I forget the lovely insomnia?

I take 40mg Celexa and 300mg Wellbutrin to manage my depression and PMDD. I take 1mg Xanax as needed for panic attacks, and 10mg Ambien as needed for insomnia. They all seem to be working well, but, as most of us know, some days are better than others.

So, if you're comfortable sharing, what's your med cocktail and how well is it working for you?
07/30/2012
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Contributor: solitudinarian solitudinarian
I stopped taking medication a while back because it had no effect on me. I'm doing a lot better now, mostly due to life changes and therapy. I took 50/100mg Sertaline, then changed to 50mg Desvenlafaxine. I still sometimes take 25mg Oxazepam when my anxiety gets really bad. It works, but it's addictive, so I try to only use it when I really need to. I only experience severe anxiety once or twice a year, which is a lot better than before.
07/30/2012
Contributor: kitty1949 kitty1949
Quote:
Originally posted by solitudinarian
I stopped taking medication a while back because it had no effect on me. I'm doing a lot better now, mostly due to life changes and therapy. I took 50/100mg Sertaline, then changed to 50mg Desvenlafaxine. I still sometimes take 25mg Oxazepam when ... more
Glad to hear that. I agree, it's really easy to get hooked on the anxiety meds so I try not to take them unless I'm in a really bad way.
07/30/2012
Contributor: voenne voenne
I've been on and off medication for years, never found anything that worked for me. My insomnia is all over the damn place, and I'm miserable. I take Ambien also, more often than I should. I've started taking natural supplements to regulate my adrenal stress, hoping that the insomnia/depression/ anxiety lessen with it. Klonopin was amazing for a while when I was having crazy anxiety attacks, but after a half hour, it knocked me out. So, I stopped taking it unfortunately, and I stopped taking depression meds because they all made me feel like a zombie...
07/30/2012
Contributor: Anne Anne
I feel a little embarrassed that I take so many medications. I'm diagnosed with Borderline Personality, occasional Idiopathic Hypersomnia, Bipolar, Bulimia Eating Disorder, Panic Disorder, ADD, Stress Seizures, and OCD. It's terrible. I've been on lexapro the longest, my first one, when I started feeling anxiety attacks just out of the blue. The terrible ones would come first thing in the morning in the shower. I would feel so dizzy, about to faint from my heart throbbing so fast, I would hyperventilate. I would run out of the shower and into my bed without washing the suds off my body (good thing I lived alone then). I tried all sorts of medications to make that subside, and lexapro seemed to calm me down, so I feel I'm on it for life. My adderall I have to take for attention. Lithium for bipolar (which I'm starting to dread, but I hopelessly need it, or I act like a different person), and topamax for my seizures and bulimia.

Man I'm a mess.
07/31/2012
Contributor: K101 K101
Quote:
Originally posted by kitty1949
I'm one of the people who cannot control their depression without medical intervention. I have PMDD, anxiety disorder and major depressive disorder. Oh, how could I forget the lovely insomnia?

I take 40mg Celexa and 300mg Wellbutrin to ... more
I am really sorry to hear that. I can somewhat relate as I too have PMDD & endometriosis and have since my very early teen years. It's pure misery, I know that. I did deal with anxiety really, really badly when I first became ill and when my weight kept dropping (70 lbs at lowest) the anxiety got WORSE! So I finally had surgery which didn't totally remove the endo May 2010. After the not-so-successful surgery, my OB/GYN prescribed pain killers & anxiety meds and happily sent me on my way! I said "these pills aren't gonna make me all crazy are they?" He said "I would never give you something that made you feel that bad." Wrong! He told me to take four of the anxiety pills a day. It's a year later and I've never been able to take more than 2. They turned me into a major zombie.

However, I started taking aloe in pill form almost instantly after being on the pills that caused me the yucky side effects. I was so desperate. I ended up quitting the aloe after a few months, but they made A HUGE diff. I quit though because they were about $30 for one month's supply. I had to stretch them just to last 3 months. I began feeling sickly again about 3 months ago and decided I was going a different route: grow my own aloe and eat it. That has been 100x's better than the expensive pills! I have 3 aloe plant now, 2 are babies I'm waiting for them to mature (immature plants have far less benefits) My first plant was medium and was plenty potent enough. I've almost eaten all of it, but it's grown super large now.

Anyways, my point is, after using aloe, I'm a new person. I now am at a healthy weight (93 lbs) and feel pretty fine. I do take injections that stop endometrial growth, in turn also stopping menstrual flow and some symptoms of PMDD & endo pain. The aloe is what helps my extreme pain the most though. But the shot keeps my periods away, but I still have extreme symptoms, especially this month since it's my 3rd month, meaning I'm due for the injection again. Things get crazy and horrible around this month. I no longer even get my prescriptions filled and haven't had but one panic attack since I began the aloe! It also heals IBS, Candidiasis and literally thousands more horrible health problems.

I would truly recommend trying aloe, as long as you aren't strangely allergic or something, which is very rare. I prepare one huge stalk and refrigerate and it'll last me about a week or so, depending if my other family members take any. It only takes minutes to "prepare" and can be chewed up or swallowed right there. I don't even bother mixing it in food or making some dish out of it. I chop, rinse and swallow a few chunks like a pill. My mom chews it. It has no taste and feels similar to soft cantaloupe in your mouth. It's worth it! Not sure where your located, but you can get a good sized aloe plant almost any garden place for around $9-10. I paid $9 for my medium sized plant and that was 4 months ago, it's doubled in size, but I've nearly eaten it all. I paid $3 for my babies. I got mine locally since I do prefer to buy local, but I have highly considered buying the $10 aloes from Amazon. They seem like good deals and seem like a great size. I'm hoping to just find another decent sized plant locally, but having trouble finding mature plants lately.

I've tried a thousand different things. I still use other "ayurvedic" little things here and there, but nothing quite does it for me like aloe. I didn't have any of my plant prepared tonight and since I'm on my worst month due to my menstrual cycle kind of coming back right before my injection, I just took an aloe pill. They're the $5 aloe pills from Wal-Mart. They actually do help quite a bit, but since I have such intense problems with my stomach and digestive system stuff around this 3rd month, any I can get helps. I forgot the brand, but if you're looking for a cheap way to just try it, I would recommend them. They aren't going to benefit like your own plant, but are great for digestive and menstrual yuckies. They say something like "for digestive health" on the bottle. Looking at the ingredients though, I do wonder just how much aloe the pills contain. Mine are gel capsules. I have busted one open to test it and see if it tastes like my plant, and it doesn't. Not at all. It does help though.

Aloe has calmed my anxiety and I tried coconut oil first with herxheimer crap, so it was so hard to continue. Plus it's far more expensive and I had side effects that I simply could not handle. Of course the side effects are just the herxheimer or "die off" and clearly happened because I was in such bad shape, but I do prefer aloe.

I would absolutely look into homeopathic, ayurvedic, natural rememdies. Look all of them up and really do some research. It took me years to learn so much about my own conditions, but it's paid off. I don't suffer like I used to.

If you're interested in more about the aloe or other natural choices that I personally felt were beneficial, don't hesitate to message me. I'd be happy to tell you everything I can about what has helped me personally.
07/31/2012
Contributor: GenderSexplorations GenderSexplorations
Bipolar disorder, anxiety disorder, and OCD here. Fun stuff. Gotta love the ups and downs and ups and downs and... well you get the point. I'm on Abilify 15mg and Wellbutrin XL 150mg for the moment.

It helps, but there are still definitely good days and bad days. Bad days that are usually depressive but sometimes manic. Honestly I prefer the manic days over the depressive. I'd rather feel a little on top of the world than down in the dumps. Even if both are illogical.
07/31/2012