The Depressed Mind Vs. The Undepressed Mind

[evergreen]

I started an antidepressant about a year ago because I felt I was drowning in sorrow. Quickly after taking it, I started to feel more comfortable. I felt safer. So I have been not taking the medicine occasionally because it interferes with my ability to have sex. And I notice a difference. If I don't take the medicine, the old mind set of not even having a mindset because emotion completely takes over comes back. I feel like I am completely buried in bad emotions of sadness, rejection, bad girl, hated and any type of conscious thought I try to use to feel better does not work. I take the medicine regularly for a few days, and there is complete order in the world. It is so strange and so annoying! Why can't I control this?

 

[Vee Lagrome]

Yeah, unfortunately, the sex drive thing is affected by some medications. You should speak with your psychiatrist about this to see if maybe there is something else you could try. I am on sertraline/Zoloft and that doesn't seem to interfere with me too much, but you definitely need to take the meds regularly. You can't skip days, and you should be taking them on some kind of schedule. It's definitely difficult to need these stupid little pills that kill one of the most fun things you can do in a bed, but not all meds will have the same effect, and hopefully you will either be able to find a new one that doesn't do the same thing, or you'll be able to find ways around the meds to still be able to get in the mood. Good luck to you!

 

[Nicolette]

While I can appreciate your frustration evergreen, I understand with most antidepressants that you can really do harm to yourself if you stop and start them. With some, if taken over a longer period of time, I understand you even have to wean yourself off them and can't stop dramatically.

Have you tried a different family of antidepressants like Moclobemide which I understand is different to the Zoloft family? Looking at Wikipedia it is not approved in the US but used effectively in Australia.

Also, maybe your dosage may just need adjusting?

 

[anthony]

This is the problem... medication numbs true emotion, which is why at some point you have to go off them, in order to deal with any residual aspects lingering around. Most of it is actually just withdrawal... ie. stop taking meds for a day or two, suddenly your body goes into withdrawal. Maybe you might want to start decreasing the dose and keep it regular vs. dropping it for a day or two at a time, thus sending your body into withdrawal chaos. When I say decrease, I mean slightly... ie. if on 40mg per day, drop it by 5 - 10mg per day only, and keep it that way for a good month or two, so not only you can measure emotions as they arise, but give yourself adequate time to deal with them as the medication begins to slowly evade your system.

I think you are tempting fate though to just drop it for days at a time, as meds just don't work that way or play nice like that. Its not even so much that the emotion you suddenly feel overwhelmed by has been hiding, but more a combination that some of it has been hiding, yet some is being forced by sending your body into withdrawals.

Tapered is the approach... and if quite honestly, you taper over a year, who really cares... just find what works for you, that also gives you time to deal with any residual emotion + give yourself time to sort it out... which will happen quick enough if you have done trauma therapy already... then you should be ok.

The problem though is depending on your lifestyle, ie. whether you can manage your now life without meds, regardless the symptoms from playing russian roulette with withdrawals as you have... that will be another factor to whether you need to remain on them, change for sex drive, or tapering will be sufficient inline with your lifestyle.

 

[evergreen]

Thank you for replying friends. I just came back and saw these responses. :)

 

[evergreen]

I take the Celexa regularly now because it helps me so much. The doc recommended every other night I take a half pill if I want to try to go off of it. I haven't felt ready yet. Yes, it is very important thing to take the medicine regularly.