Meds are not a miracle cure
I started taking Lexapro a couple weeks ago. This past week I really started to see a difference in myself. All the little things that usually get me worked up were just rolling right off of me. It was the first really great week in a very loooong time. I was so hopeful that it would carry over into SD5's visit. The meds might be helping with my everyday mood issues but it is not the miracle I was hoping for. I was told the full effect would take a few more weeks to happen so part of me is still hopeful but most of me knows I'm never going to stop hating these visits.
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An antidepressant that treats
An antidepressant that treats GAD and MDD.
Its a selective serotonin
Its a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI).. it is not like Xanax... Lexapro takes time to build up in the system... Xanax works quickly on an as needed basis, and has a short half life (doesn't stay in the system long).
I have taken Xanax found that when I halved the Dr's. prescription I was all good.. too much and too loopy didn't work for me... so .25mg worked--to take the edge off and let my body settle down. I took them at night when I went to bed. I also did breathing meditations... Still do that... Xanax free for three years...
I have found that .5 is also
I have found that .5 is also too much for me but the .25 is not enough. I waas thinking about splitting a .5 in half and taking .25, then just lick the other half until I'm where I want to be hahahaha
I take it daily. I have xanax
I take it daily. I have xanax too but it really doesn't do much to help on these weekends. I have to work 3rd shift on weekends so I can't take enough for it to help lol...
I've been on several different antidepressants. Effexor and Celexa were two others that were very helpful at one time or another. I've always hated the withdrawls of coming off of them, it makes you feel just aweful.
"Brain shakes"...That's the
"Brain shakes"...That's the perfect way to describe that feeling. I got the same feeling coming off the Celexa too.
Wine works. Small quantities
Wine works. Small quantities can be enhanced by sitting by yourself with no disruptions. Or with people who make you laugh.
Well... then... you have
Well... then... you have friends...
cheers!
You have friends here! I
You have friends here! I don't know what I'd do without all the great people on ST.
No, the meds won't solve your
No, the meds won't solve your problems but hopefully they help you to be able to cope with them and find solutions rather than wallow in them as most depressives do.
Quippers01, you say that
Quippers01, you say that these drugs are starting to make things 'roll off you' I have taken Wellbutrin for past 6 weeks and Alzam (tranquiliser) when necessary, yet things still don't roll off me. I explode at everything and anything 99% of time only with SS14 who has ADD.
My relationship is now on the end of the cliff and I really don't know what to do. FH is desperate that our relationship doesn't end and I am desperate to not have to take so many meds just to cope with his son!
I suffer from MDD and have had it for 24 years. My only solace is my bedroom, sleep and my pc (where I pop in on this site from time to time).
I wish that I could find something for this kid to do so that he doesn't spend so much time around me.
If anyone finds a way to let things 'roll off them' PLEASE, PLEASE let me know because in my case meds is just NOT doing it for me...
Sorry to butt in...
MG
I have been on and off meds
I have been on and off meds for almost 20 years now. Most times I never noticed a difference. Probably because they were forced on me more times than I volunteered for them but there have been a few times they have helped. Anxiety is my biggest problem and that has usually been the catalyst for the depression. Effexor, Celexa, and now (so far) Lexapro have been the most helpful. Coming off of them is always the worst thing, especially with the effexor. This last time I went in for meds my dr said I was probably someone who shouldn't go off meds. He basically compared me to a diabetic who can't live a healthy life without them.
When I said things are rolling off of me I was referring to everyday irritations but so far there has been no change whatsoever in my emotional response to SD. I still can't stand her. The sight.sound of her makes my stomach turn, my skin crawl, and my ears bleed (not literally but feels like they might lol). I think that some of us are just not cut out for the step parenting thing.
My saving grace is that SD is only here EOWE. It used to ruin my whole week the week before she came but this time was different. I had a great week and was fine right up until I woke up to the sound of her screechy, whiney voice. Then I felt like I was right back to square one. I didn't expect the drugs to make me love or even like her but I was hoping they would help me tolerate her. So far I can't even get that. It doesn't help that she's a brat.
I truely feel for you all who have there skids more than EOWE with all my heart. I don't know how you all cope and survive it. I'm certain I wouldn't.
Wellbutrin is in a different class of antidepressants than the Lexapro, maybe you need a different kind. Here is a link to the different kinds and classes of these drugs and more info on them if you are interested. If what you are on isn't helping I would suggest you talk to your Dr about it switching.
http://www.healthyplace.com/depression/antidepressants/list-of-antidepre...
Quippers01, I was on and off
Quippers01, I was on and off generics of Prozac for quite a few years after stopping Effexor. Then for about 6 months I didn't take anything due to financial restraints (we do not have insurance - just too expensive in this country). About 6 weeks ago I was suicidal and very tearful almost everyday and I begged FH to take me to the local mental hospital and have me admitted because I felt that I would do something to myself. We then decided to see a psychiatrist and he put me on Wellbutrin (which also has the advantage that it does not affect your sex-drive like other anti-d's do). I was supposed to see him last month again but we couldn't afford it (R1000 - rands ...would be about $7000 if the rand is 7 to the dollar). But at my first visit he said he would put me on 150mg and increase it to 300mg later if necessary, so I have done that on my own and it seems to be helping, except that I still need the extra help from the Alzam (tranquiliser) when I know I am going to have more than usual interaction with SS (like Wednesdays when he lies around here at home because his home-school is closed).
I was also told that I would have to be on anti-depressants for the rest of my life due to circumstances/events that I have lived through which have mentally affected me. FH doesn't get it. He also insists on being at any future visits the the psychiatrist....Why?
Generally I do have good days and bad days and am worst before my period. My GP has put me on Minesse (a low dose contraceptive) to help with the mood swings. I think that this helps a little too.
But as you say, these interventions do nothing for the emotional responses to these kids. I also cannot stand the sight of this child and when he is near me I am extremely irritable. Which is hard because I have to fetch him from school every day, be in the same house with him, alone, for an entire day every week (Wednesday, when his school is closed). But we don't talk to each other unless we have to and I stay in my room and keep out of his way. It's sad, I know and I have many times told FH that he deserves a woman who is more suitable to being the SM of his child, but he only wants me and he doesn't seem to care about anything else but that I must not leave him. He would rather send his son away than lose me.
Wow I read this and I have
Wow I read this and I have never related more to anything I've read on ST so far. Some days I feel like such a piece of shit for despising his kid so much. Some days I'm so angry at DH for handling several situations so poorly that it got me to where the resentment I have for this kid is eating me alive. Honestly, I think DH might even walk away from SD to keep me from leaving. Some of the things he has said during some of my emotional breakdowns over her visits has made it seem likely. A tiny part of me thinks how great it would be to have her out of my life but I know the guilt would destroy me and DH would be miserable over it.
I have also been having many suicidal thoughts...mostly I just keep getting the picture of me with a gun in my mouth popping into my head many times a day. NOt so much a plan just more of a "Christ that would be so much easier than having to see that kid again" thought. I just knew I had to try something so back on meds I went. I'm angry about that too. It was always so hard coming off them in the past, the last thing I wanted was to have to be back on them.
I don't see SD nearly as often as you have to see your SS and I am so sorry for you. I hate feeling this way, it's physically and mentally exhausting. I would not be strong enough to endure it as often as you have to.
My meaning for MDD is Major
My meaning for MDD is Major Depressive Disorder. But I may be wrong. My moods do go from one extreme to another sometimes but more from peaceful to highly irritable, as opposed to happy to sad or happy to angry. I just never seem to be happy lately. Can't really explain it, except that I live in a house with a skid that totally irritates the sh*t out of me in every way and form. Can't explain it really...even to FH who now says that nothing makes me happy. What would make me happy is if he co-parented the bio & skid MORE with me. I am the sucker that has the kids in my face all the time! Granted he has to work his 3 jobs and I have more free time because I run my business in the afternoons only (not to say I don't have admin work to do in the mornings along with the housework, fetching & babysitting kids etc.
Yes I do 'lose it'more violently when I am in PMS, but it seems sometimes that my PMS lasts the whole month!!!
MG
My period is on the same
My period is on the same schedule as SD's EOWE visits. God has a great sense of humor. For one of her visits I'm a PMSing lunatic and for her next visit I'm in heat worse than my cat but can't do anything about it cuz SD is here. Not to mention when she's here I can barely stand the sight of DH as well. There aren't enough drugs in the world to make me normal
magoose is right, it's Major
magoose is right, it's Major Depressive Disorder. Extreme ups and downs is usually diagnosed as Bi Polar disorder and requires antipsychotics instead of antidepressants.
I also get MUCH worse around my period but this time wasn't so bad until SD showed up but PMDD is different than the other issues because it seems to only occur during PMS. Most often the meds prescribed for that are only taken during that time instead of all the time.
I know someone who's been on
I know someone who's been on Lexapro for a couple of years without side affects.
He was on effexor first and after 2 weeks was nearly homicidal. He reacted VERY badly to it and had to be confined to bed with valium for 3 days until it got out of his system.
Nasty stuff.
I was on it for a couple of
I was on it for a couple of months a few years ago with no side effects but since there was no generic for it my insurance wouldn't cover it so my Dr switched me to Celexa which she said was pretty much the same thing. My only issue with Effexor was coming off of it but I've heard stories of people having tha same reaction to Lexapro as your friend had to the Effexor. They say all these drugs affect everyone differently.
Has Prozac gone out of
Has Prozac gone out of favour?
The last thing I heard about
The last thing I heard about Prozac was it's patent ran out so they modified it to a once a week or month pill or patch or something like that but that was years ago and I haven't heard much about it since. Drug companies are pushing the newer stuff on Dr's pretty haard and they get perks fof prescribing their meds...bonuses and such I think.