Anything to do with mental illnesses/disorders
Meds question
I have a friend who is dealing with depression, and has been for years now. He's not suicidal, but he's definitely depressed. He's been reluctant to seek help...trying to figure out meds and therapy is a little overwhelming. (Hell, a LOT of things are overwhelming when you're depressed...) Personally, I've been on 50 mg of Zoloft for a decade now, and it has helped me reach a much better quality of life, and I'd love for my friend to find some light in his darkness, too.
So here's my question, what guidance would you give regarding meds? Just cross your fingers and trust your doctor? Are there any meds that are "milder" than others? Meds to avoid? It's been years since I did my initial research about Zoloft, and it just happens to work really well for me.




My biggest guidance is that meds and therapy do not change YOU. This is often peoples biggest fear and it just isn't the case at all, especially for depression/anxiety meds. Rather than change you, that help eliminate some of the parts that are currently making you not you. Some of the most amazing things about meds are when you realize you are feeling like you used to feel, before the badness.
This is a GREAT reminder. This is often what I tell people--that I felt more like myself after beginning meds than I ever did when I was dealing with depression and anxiety.
I might think too try to pressure your doctor to give you as much info as possible on it as well as possibly get a second opinion/do own research on it as even the best doctors are going to have a rather limited level of knowledge based off their own experiences and how they were educated.
Although a lot of that can be supplemented for trust and really good communication with the doctor as well.
I think it's also worth talking to your pharmacist. It's been my experience that pharmacists understand medication and various interactions much better than the doctors who write out the prescriptions.
I'm in the same situation as your friend, so any advice here would be good
when I went to doctor last week for meds They took some kind of Dna test from me to Let me know what meds would not work for me at all. I think that would help finding the right med faster.
It can take a while to find the right medication for your friend, but once the correct cocktail has been hit upon, he will feel so much better. The important thing is not to give up. The brain is a black box, and what works for one person doesn't necessarily work for the next. You have to give it time.
I actually go to the crazymeds site a lot to help with research. I look up other places as well, but crazymeds has certain information that you normally have to go trawling through forums to find.
I tend to take both my doctor's advice and my own research into account. Because honestly, sometimes doctors mess up, or don't give you all the information. Like when I started Effexor. I had no idea how bad it would be if I missed my dose even by 30 minutes. When I had to get off of it, the withdrawal was the worst thing ever, and I've heard it likened to coming off of heroine. I was never told about that.
Let me look some stuff up for ya.
I would consider an SSRI first, if that helps.
Yeah, that's what I was thinking, but I didn't want to think it just because an SSRI is what I'M on.
I just wandered the crazymeds website a bit, and it's an AWESOME resource! Thanks for sharing it!