What Drugs Are You Taking For Depression ?

[joeylittle]

Thought I’d throw that in for people who are finding benefits from Effexor but hate the side effects.

I'm glad you brought this up - I need to ask my current prescriber about this. When I first went on venlafaxine, there was no generic option in the US for desvenlafaxine. There was only name-brand pristiq, and it was definitely not going to be covered by my insurance unless I did another trial of an SSRI, which would have been a difficult waste of time (basically repeating something I had to do a few years before). There's a generic available now, and I should see if my psych wants to think about switching. Not sure it would be a 'go' for me, as I'm on an extremely high dose of effexor, and I don't think pristiq has been cleared yet to be used at an equivalent dose. Then again, there's not necessarily any clinical reason for the high effexor dose, except for I think one study that showed some increased efficacy for ultra-rapid metabolizers at higher doses.

the meds you’ve trialled seem really light on atypical antipsychotics. Is that for any specific reason?

I had a very problematic response to Abilify. Psychiatrically, it was wonderful. Worked amazingly well. Didn't lift my mood, but absolutely took care of lifting up the bottom of the depression.

And, I had a continual significant weight gain that would not stop, despite trying multiple ways of dealing with it. I'm pretty confident it was the medication, simply because there was nothing else that changed in my food or exercise patterns - I just started gaining weight. Ate less, exercised more, still gained weight. Tried dropping the med, tried some alternatives, but they had other problems....So I was on it for about 2+ years, give or take, until I was able to stop work for a significant period of time and try something else.

Since then, there's been some interesting research into atypical antipsychotics and metabolic changes. The frustrating part (of course) is that abilify is supposed to be weight-neutral. The percentage of people affected by weight gain while on it is very very low. So...it's not something that anyone is really actively working to correct in some other formulation.

Sigh.

 

[TruthSeeker]

Smoking pot. does ithelp with depression or does it make it worse...

Don’t laugh- one well endowed pot cookie made me paranoid, but I’ve heard both good and bad about pot- increases paranoia- decreases triggering. I take 1/2 hydroxyzine as needed for sleep and low dose lorazepam only if I’m so keyed up I’m continually looping or have internal conversations that are upsetting and grounding/distracting myself is totally ineffective.

 

[Sideways]

Since then, there's been some interesting research into atypical antipsychotics and metabolic changes.

I think Saphris is one of the newer ones that has less impact on weight? I’d have to double check. But it was one of the last ones I tried (had similar issues with Abilify, and I take extended release seroquel to manage the weight gain but stay on a high dose).

Both my sister and I were on Saphris, and she’s super susceptible to side effects and took it for quite a while. I personally couldn’t tolerate the taste (I refer to it as the Devil Wafer because it tasted so bad).

Apparently it’s about half and half in terms of people that can live with the taste. But another option up your sleeve if the time comes to experiment or your current meds start to lose their efficacy.

 

[EveHarrington]

I think Saphris is one of the newer ones that has less impact on weight?

Geodon is supposedly weight neutral too, and I can vouch for that, for me anyway, although I micro-dose so my “data” should be taken with a grain of salt!

 

[Lionheart]

I am presently taking Wellbutrin, Abilify, and prazosin for depression. The Abilify was added to help combat irritability and prazosin for PTSD -related nightmares.

 

[The Albatross]

None. No meds for depression or anything relating to PTSD.... BUT I had to work my ass off to be able to say that.

 

[SandA1]

What type of Prescription Drugs are you taking for Depression ...
Maybe we'll see different lists of names of Drugs for Depression ...

Mirtazapine

I heard there's a DNA test to show what medications that may be best for you. This is what my therapist told me. Might be worth looking into. I requested for her to look into it.

 

[bellbird]

I heard there's a DNA test to show what medications that may be best for you

Personalised medicine hasn't developed enough yet to be able to give any meaningful information regarding which antidepressants would work best for someone.

Be wary of getting duped.

Genetic Tests with Unapproved Claims to Predict Patient Response

 

[EveHarrington]

I heard there's a DNA test to show what medications that may be best for you. This is what my therapist told me. Might be worth looking into. I requested for her to look into it.

I’ve had the test done, and the results show how well we metabolize each drug. It’s not a sure fire thing, but it can help you get on drugs that work well with your system. It doesn’t predict which drugs will work for you specifically, just which ones have a better chance of helping you given your genetic make up.

 

[Rev douglas]

Smoking pot. does ithelp with depression or does it make it worse...

I do as well but doctor added Wellbutrin

 

[Sharon Morris]

Baclofen, Pregabalin (also known as Lyrica) and Sertraline. And am hoping to come off soon.

 

[cntrymom08466]

I'm on effexor and topamax and busiprone. I mainly take it to help me sleep. Trying to get p doc to prescribe something else to add to effexor. No energy to do much and when I do have a bit of excess anxiety, I take 10 mg. of busiprone and I really struggle to do anything..it's like blah. I don't know what to say to my doc to get her to give me anything else. I just know it's not working for during the day.