re: Citalopram

[1v0ry_k1ng]

does anyone have experience with taking Citalopram? I'm reading the side effects and nothing about this seems like a great idea

[Das Bruce]

SSRI's are notorious for side effects. How depressed are you? Or is this recreational?

[Licho]

I use chocolate, but i'm already suffering its side effects..

[1v0ry_k1ng]

SSRI's are notorious for side effects. How depressed are you?

fairly, I work with kids and its affecting my ability to do my job.

On the other hand, taking a drug with common side effects including loss of sex drive, erectile dysfunction and failure to orgasm sounds like a great way to lose the will to live entirely

[smoth]

Ugh, you are asking here, when even psychiatrists cannot figure out meds?

Here is the short form:
Medications effect brain chemistry, something which is dynamic, you could go from one shift to another and they really don't know what it is going to do. There is what happens for most fairly typical humans and somethings which are known to effect common aberrations in the brain. Such as how Ritalin(which was a dietary drug) has a calming for add people. Such side effects vary wildly, I have take more than a few with side effects of death.

I will not get into my personal experience too much, suffice to say I have no limiter on my engine and I have a strangling overabundance of thought. Whatever it is, it is uncommon/rare and I have not met a single neurologist who has found a definitive diagnosis. What I have learned is that any of this stuff is a very big science experiment with the pool need for testing being so huge that most medications take decades to become proven. So most of it is a best guess, take this, it might help some, oh wait, nope, try this.

As far as the sexual stuff. What you may experience is a sort of ennui, you won't feel depressed or much of anything else. Hence, lack of excitement which can translate into really not being interested enough for sexual arousal or lacking enough excitement to reach sexual climax. We are talking a sort of calm melancholy. Which is good, it gives your mind a chance to calm it's self and then you can step back off the meds to recover.

The most important part of all medication is to see it as a helper, a handicap to aid you through the moment and help you recover. Depending on your level of depression and income I would advise coupling the medication with therapy to help you work out some mental defense against the thing depressing you. The medication is not like an antibiotic, it merely suppresses the symptoms of whatever mental affliction you have. You need to use the medication as a way to buy time so you can work on defense against the things depressing you.

Don't know if it helps, but there is some wall of text feedback for you from a random guy on the internet.

[1v0ry_k1ng]

thx smoth, and that is what I was looking for by posting here

[BaNa]

Have you been in therapy? That would be my choice over meds, probably group if you are ok with it.

[Panda]

I've heard that regular cardiovascular exercise has been show to often be of great help to a person suffering from depression as well.

I often dislike medications, especially the ones with bad side effects, but they can be helpful as well.

[FLOZi]

Bullshit on 'SSRI's are notorious for side effects' - they are the safest anti-depressant available.

I was on Citalopram for about 2 years, starting on a 10mg and moving onto 20mg dose, 40mg was considered but I ended up coming off htem instead.

In my experience:

At first, yes, I felt pretty horrendously crappy after a week or two.
But, after that, it really helped level me out and bring my mood to a place where I could function - In my particular case it was also an issue of anxiety comorbid with depression, the citalopram helped me more there which I believe had a knock on effect mentally; with the barrier of extreme anxiety lessened, I was able to function more, and that helped my depression. A virtuous circle.

FWIW, didn't have any sexual issues arising from taking it; certainly no more than the lack of interest in sex (and everything else) stemming from my illness anyway. My suggestion is try it out and if you feel it is an issue, discuss changing to another type of medication with your GP.

If your GP is offering medication, ask about having a course of counselling along with it. Depending on the severity of your depression and other possible symptoms of a wider issue like an anxiety disorder, you may want to ask for a psych referral too (I got one, had an interview with a social worker. Result was that they felt they couldn't do anything for me at the time - but much of that was due to timetabling issues, I was in my 3rd year of university), counselling helped but is unfortunately quite limited on the NHS, at least in my experience. Most likely a postcode lottery in that respect.

edit: Smoth's description of ennui is quite similar to my own experience, though I rather felt that way already being depressed. The medication can make you feel pretty good for a while, but you become accustomed to it, it peters out, and you need to go up another notch to keep the same effect - that's really a long term issue, though.

[scifi]

kudos smoth +1

[Forboding Angel]

In my experience with friends taking anti depressants basically you end up feeling sorta numb. Neither happy nor sad. The loss of sex stuff is more the fact that you just get kinda non-interested. I'm sure if you really wanted to you could rub one out.

About the ED stuff... My best friend was taking zoloft for a while (long while actually), and when he came off of it we were going to a college town basically to get laid, so we stuffed him full ginseng and it more or less did the trick.

Imo it would be better to force yourself out of the depression by any means necessary. You would be surprised how supportive people you know will be if you just talk to them. Of course, medication is sometimes needed, but I would strongly advise making medication the last step.

If you could figure out the root cause of your depression, maybe you could do something about it and get yourself out of it. Drugs may make you functional but they won't fix anything.

Regardless, here's to you and hoping that you feel better soon. Depression is an ugly bitch, and I think most people alive have slept with her at one time or another.

[gajop]

the way i see it, depression is a choice, regardless of the status of your life, you can always imagine life being worse/better, and it's up to you if you want to feel bad or good about yourself
me, i only let myself feel depressed if that would urge me to be more productive (f.e when being late/unsuccessful with classes), usually i'd rather just be content

[FLOZi]

The last two people have never been depressed and know nothing of it, ignore their 'advice' at all costs.

You may as well say you can 'force yourself out of cancer' or just decide not to have it.

[Sabutai]

Consider a high fat, low carb diet. That helped me a lot. My depressions have been reduced from about 2 weeks length to about 2-3 days max.

[Azhukar]

The last two people have never been depressed and know nothing of it, ignore their 'advice' at all costs.

You may as well say you can 'force yourself out of cancer' or just decide not to have it.

Their opinion is different than yours therefor it is wrong?

[AF]

The last two people have never been depressed and know nothing of it, ignore their 'advice' at all costs.

You may as well say you can 'force yourself out of cancer' or just decide not to have it.

Their opinion is different than yours therefor it is wrong?

Depression is most certainly not a life choice, else there would be no demand for medication or solutions, nobody would ever seek help, and it would be talked about freely:

"Oh Marjory you'll never guess what, I'd decided to become depressed! What you too? Bloody marvellous I say, I hear Agnus is already depressed, lets ask her advice"

I think actually hearing people who have or are suffering from depression should be enough to put that theory to rest, but clearly it isn't.

Eitherway someones uninformed opinion vs someones personal direct experience is not a fair comparison

[Hoi]

Stay away from psychiatrists and their drugs. Their methods, ideas and drugs are all destructive and will not do any good. If you are depressed you need to self-reflect and think about your life, in order to improve your situation and to be happy again. Poisoning yourself with chemicals is in no way a solution and will, in a way make the problem worse.

Instead of this, 'normal' council can help as in talking about your life and problems with someone. A friend, family member or someone else who does such a thing for a living. But no drugs or therapy designed to magically do things for you.

Source: experience and knowledge.

[PicassoCT]

If you are in the grey-zone, and nothing moves, like a rock sinking to a oceans floor, watching the surface-lights getting blue, you damn happy take those pills.

Giving other advice is close to murder. You dont have to stay on them for the rest of the live. That talk, and that will help was discarded by even the psychatrists for a reason.. it just didnt help. If you try to cure the depression by just "wearing it out" expect to sacrifice 3 years of your life or all of it.

However, its up to yourself to find the dose.. nothing gained if it turns you into a veg[#table]. Also never take them if its just society you cant fit into the way you are.. then instead find better company.

[Das Bruce]

ITT: Some people don't know the difference between depression and feeling sad.

[AF]

obligatory posting:

http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.co.uk ... ssion.html