BusynMember
Well-Known Member
list your medications, if you don't feel unsafe doing so.
Has anyone, like me, felt worse on certain medications that the psychiatrist swears will make us feel better? Anyone feel they were overmedicated sometimes or not listened to?
Don't go into any more detail than you feel comfortable doing, but I'd like to talk about psychiatric drugs and how they do not often do what they are supposed to do and even make us sometimes worse t han before...until/if we find the right medication, which can take ten years.
If you are on a good medication combo, how many years did it take you to find that combo?
Anyone quit taking psychiatric medications altogether because of how they made you feel?
Again, just post to the degree of your comfort level. I am fairly open, but realize not everyone does. Here's a list of the medications I can remember and what side effects I got from them until my journey to the medication combo that has changed my life for the better for over twenty years.
Ritalin--a bust. Made me very high until I was shaking then I crashed into a long depression caused by one little pill!
amitriptylene--I had an unusual reaction that is very much like an LSD trip. Colors blended together. I heard things like they were on slow or fast speed. I couldn't speak coherantly. My throat was closing up (this was dangerous), I hallucinated and know what it feels like to be psychotic.
tofrinil=worked at first, then had a reaction similar to amitripytilene, but much, much, much faster done and milder.
senoquen--depressed, caused some hallucinations
Lithium--scared me. Dulled me. Made me feel as if I was unreal and walking in a dream. Extreme depression and cognitive dulling.
nortiptylene--Did not give me side effects!!!! Worked against my depression about 50%. I still had my depression symptoms, but was bascially able to function some of the time.Val
Valium-killed any panic attack, but took 30 minutes or so and the effect didn't last. No side effects.
Prozac--Lifted me out of my depressed quickly and in a few days, made ma a little manic. I felt great until two months later when it pooped out, leaving me more depressed than before. Upping the dose just made me more depressed. Prozac never worked for me after it pooped out. Gave me nightmares and ,although this is not supposed to be a side effect, I could hardly keep my eyes open while taking it. Fell asleep at work.
Zoloft--After two weeks on this drug I was in the hospital with a heart racing so quickly they couldn't count my pulse, extreme agitation, akathesia, and other not-fun symptoms. Never will touch that one again. This was on only 50 mgs.
Clonazapan--Fantastic medication that gave me no side effects and tempered my panic attacks to the point that I don't have any anymore.
Tegretal--Spacy, sleepy, out-of-it, that dream like state I felt on Lithium but not as bad, depression, I didn't like it. I felt funny on it.
Inderol--spacy, dream-like, depressed, no thanks.
Paroxatene--my magic pill that made almost all of my symptoms go away. They have not come back. My miracle pill. I LOVE PAROXATENE!!!! But a lot of people can't take it.
I have been on Paroxatene and Clonazapan since age 40. I am almost 60. I will never go off of them. My life on these medications has been great, as opposed to chronic depression/anxiety/panic attacks without them.
Note: Every time I would tell a psychiatrist I felt a medication was making me feel worse, he would poo-poo it and say I actually needed MORE of the drug. After trying that a few times and feeling even worse, I learned to trust my own instincts and to say, "No. I'm right."
Don't know what kind of response I'll get. Not sure people want to share this. But I put it out there because many of our kids complain about their drug side effects and often we don't listen...
Has anyone, like me, felt worse on certain medications that the psychiatrist swears will make us feel better? Anyone feel they were overmedicated sometimes or not listened to?
Don't go into any more detail than you feel comfortable doing, but I'd like to talk about psychiatric drugs and how they do not often do what they are supposed to do and even make us sometimes worse t han before...until/if we find the right medication, which can take ten years.
If you are on a good medication combo, how many years did it take you to find that combo?
Anyone quit taking psychiatric medications altogether because of how they made you feel?
Again, just post to the degree of your comfort level. I am fairly open, but realize not everyone does. Here's a list of the medications I can remember and what side effects I got from them until my journey to the medication combo that has changed my life for the better for over twenty years.
Ritalin--a bust. Made me very high until I was shaking then I crashed into a long depression caused by one little pill!
amitriptylene--I had an unusual reaction that is very much like an LSD trip. Colors blended together. I heard things like they were on slow or fast speed. I couldn't speak coherantly. My throat was closing up (this was dangerous), I hallucinated and know what it feels like to be psychotic.
tofrinil=worked at first, then had a reaction similar to amitripytilene, but much, much, much faster done and milder.
senoquen--depressed, caused some hallucinations
Lithium--scared me. Dulled me. Made me feel as if I was unreal and walking in a dream. Extreme depression and cognitive dulling.
nortiptylene--Did not give me side effects!!!! Worked against my depression about 50%. I still had my depression symptoms, but was bascially able to function some of the time.Val
Valium-killed any panic attack, but took 30 minutes or so and the effect didn't last. No side effects.
Prozac--Lifted me out of my depressed quickly and in a few days, made ma a little manic. I felt great until two months later when it pooped out, leaving me more depressed than before. Upping the dose just made me more depressed. Prozac never worked for me after it pooped out. Gave me nightmares and ,although this is not supposed to be a side effect, I could hardly keep my eyes open while taking it. Fell asleep at work.
Zoloft--After two weeks on this drug I was in the hospital with a heart racing so quickly they couldn't count my pulse, extreme agitation, akathesia, and other not-fun symptoms. Never will touch that one again. This was on only 50 mgs.
Clonazapan--Fantastic medication that gave me no side effects and tempered my panic attacks to the point that I don't have any anymore.
Tegretal--Spacy, sleepy, out-of-it, that dream like state I felt on Lithium but not as bad, depression, I didn't like it. I felt funny on it.
Inderol--spacy, dream-like, depressed, no thanks.
Paroxatene--my magic pill that made almost all of my symptoms go away. They have not come back. My miracle pill. I LOVE PAROXATENE!!!! But a lot of people can't take it.
I have been on Paroxatene and Clonazapan since age 40. I am almost 60. I will never go off of them. My life on these medications has been great, as opposed to chronic depression/anxiety/panic attacks without them.
Note: Every time I would tell a psychiatrist I felt a medication was making me feel worse, he would poo-poo it and say I actually needed MORE of the drug. After trying that a few times and feeling even worse, I learned to trust my own instincts and to say, "No. I'm right."
Don't know what kind of response I'll get. Not sure people want to share this. But I put it out there because many of our kids complain about their drug side effects and often we don't listen...