I'm weaning off lexapro to start cymbalta

[vixnix]

I feel like shit. Now that the SSRI haze is wearing off, I get to feel the full emotional reaction to the 40 kgs I've gained since going on it. The new psychiatrist is putting me on cymbalta but I have to wean off the lexapro first.

I feel like crying, which is interesting, because I haven't done that in about a year. It's almost nice to be feeling like myself. A little holiday before I start the new numbing pills. I suppose even if I don't lose weight on the new meds at least I won't care as much about it.

Getting a lot of comments about my singing and piano/organ playing in the last couple of weeks. I have actual feelings to put into the music I guess.

Thanks for listening, mentalhealthphoria.

[Cool As Ice Cream]

if i had a child with you, i'd seriously consider harming it and offing myself. i don't think that's abnormal behaviour.

[vixnix]

Sorry to hear about your wife. I was nearly identical to your wife, and my husband prompted me to go on antidepressants. I went on Prozac and it helped me a lot. I handle motherhood much better on meds but I do put on a lot of weight. It affects my appetite so I can just eat and eat and never feel like stopping, and I get really apathetic about putting weight on, so it just piles on. It sucks.

I've been going on and off antidepressants for 12 years now. Probably not what you want to hear! It's the same pattern over and over, with weight gain. Everything goes numb. Which is nice, for the most part. But sometimes it's good to care a lot and be bothered by things, too. As soon as I come off I freak out and get obsessive about food and exercise until I'm a normal size, by which point my husband and kids are miserable because there's nobody taking care of them...so to stop being an irritable bitch all the time, and making my kids and husband cry, I go back on the meds.

I think she'll be much better off with them. When my second son was born I went in to the doctor after 2 days and asked for Prozac. We had a lot going on at the time but I would have asked for them anyway. I can't handle newborns without drugs. The way we leave mothers at home with their babies, so isolated, is so screwed up. We're not emotionally evolved to deal with that and most of us don't cope.

At the end of the day, women have to put up with a lot of shit from their kids and husbands. And if they stay at home like me, they live like slaves, cooking and cleaning 24/7 without pay or gratitude. Most people need Prozac to do all of that and greet their families with smiles and pleasantries, instead if a hiss and a glare.

[Order 66]

is your dad paying for that too

[Adult Head]

life is funny sometimes

and sometimes it isn't

[JokeyLoki]

Have you talked to a psychologist about the reason for your depression? Medicating is ok, but if there's a non-chemical reason for it, cognitive behavioral therapy can be very very helpful.

[Trotskilicious]

man what's up with the horrible spawn in this thread, someone kill it! kill it now!

[pavementtune]

That little one has a damn cute smile.

[Trotskilicious]

that smile says "i am yet another bloated consumer that will choke the life out of gaia until everything dies."

[hnibos]

Perfect specimen for the Obama liberal two minute baby blood spilling in the name of the lizard pedo satan god.

[hnibos]

khmer rouge nazi stasi cermony

[Trotskilicious]

FUCKING MINDFLAYERS YO

[yo soy el mejor]

Originally Posted by JokeyLoki

cognitive behavioral therapy can be very very helpful.

and how.

hated cymbalta

lexapro is the only one of these that ever did any good at all

[vixnix]

Originally Posted by JokeyLoki

Have you talked to a psychologist about the reason for your depression? Medicating is ok, but if there's a non-chemical reason for it, cognitive behavioral therapy can be very very helpful.

Yeah. Sadly I'm just too screwed up to get by without meds. I've been seeing several different psychologists for the same 12 years that I've been on medication. I've gone down the CBT route and I'm working through mindfulness now.

I also exercise regularly, don't drink, smoke or take drugs.

And without medication I hit my kids and yell at them and tell them they're horrible and ruined my life. So. Medication and weight gain it is.

And yeah. My dad pays for everything I do. I called him from the psychiatrist's office to pay for the appoint over the phone with via credit card, and after the receptionist had finished, she handed my phone back to me saying"I'll hand you back now". And I picked it up and said "thanks dad" and got a dial tone. It had happened the previous time there, too. But she hadn't said "I'll hand you back now" that time. Maybe she thought it would make a difference. I wish my parents took medication.

c and dbt don't really do anything for me
i try but it just doesnt take

radical acceptance
i can't accept things
i can't accept that my father was such a scumbag to me. i wont get over it until he's dead. so i tell myself but i'll probably be holding on to this for my entire life

[vixnix]

Originally Posted by Aeris Hilton

hated cymbalta

lexapro is the only one of these that ever did any good at all

Were you taking it for depression? Why did you hate Cymbalta? Lexapro has been good and I could take a little weight gain but it's out of control. It's starting to affect my life now, like i'm developing more serious injuries as a runner, and can't fit normal clothes, and then that in turn makes my depression and anxiety worse. So my GP doubled my dose, and the binge eating and apathy over binge eating just increased.

[reprise85]

guys, antidepressants aren't supposed to make you numb. that's a side effect that you shouldn't have to deal with.

cymbalta is the only drug in the SSRI/SNRI family that's ever helped me. i've been on it since like 2005 with a couple breaks near the beginning of that. i take other psych meds but it's the backbone of my regimen

[pavementtune]

guys, antidepressants aren't supposed to make you numb. that's a side effect that you shouldn't have to deal with

I don't think you can call it a side effect in general. Depends on what product you get. Some meds used as antidepressants are analgetic as well.

[reprise85]

yeah i agree with you.

[reprise85]

to me, antidepressants help my depression enough where i can live life without wanting to die constantly or be addicted to street drugs and so i can work on cbt/dbt/trauma stuff/etc.

when im not on them i feel nothing (besides anxiety) and numb - which, along with other things, makes me want to die.

i mean i'm numb a lot because of ptsd but not that kind of depression cant give a fuck who cares if i dont shower or see the sun or if i cut myself kind of depression

[reprise85]

not necessarily my story but a good comic nonetheless: http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.co...epression.html

[vixnix]

So you don't cry either way reprise?

I'm glad they give you so much. And really encouraged to hear cymbalta works for you. I'm really over all of this, again. It feels like an endless uphill slog right now. I'm hoping it will get better but being caught in between meds, obese and really irritable, sucks. Not just for me, either. My psychiatrist is going away on holiday fo a month and said I should go to my GP for some seroquel if I need it, while he's gone. Have you taken that reprise? At this stage I'm thinking about making an appointment for Monday.

And I am soooo excited about you starting at school!!! What have you enrolled for, and where abouts are you going? You are going to have such a great time.

[Trotskilicious]

dr. bongwater prescribes bong hits

[vixnix]

Originally Posted by MacGyver

btw- this is who you're talking about you 'would' harm too if you were my wife..

http://i1318.photobucket.com/albums/...psf018e0cb.jpg

http://i1318.photobucket.com/albums/...ps76df8c91.jpg

Keep forgetting to say what a gorgeous happy baby you have...so cute!!! Beautiful face and such a gorgeous smile.

[vixnix]

Originally Posted by Trotskilicious

dr. bongwater prescribes bong hits

I would love some bong hits but sadly the last time I used dr. Bongwater's prescription to cure my inner ailments I ended up with a long stay in hospital and that just isn't an option for me any more. If you get pregnant at 24 and keep your baby then your time in the care of dr. Bongwater & associates has come to an end. Though, my brother's still on drugs and has a daughter. Though...he doesn't live with his daughter now. . Sad times at vixnix high.

[reprise85]

Originally Posted by vixnix

So you don't cry either way reprise?

I cry. In therapy. I have to keep grief-type crying in therapy for now. Otherwise it threatens to make me unstable. Eventually I'll be able to feel more in general. We spent a lot of time getting it to where I could function and keep therapy stuff in therapy, not to say I can't talk psychology or trauma etc, but details and stuff that is crazy that I went through, I keep in my two hours a week. It's actually fairly amazing to be able to function and do deep level type trauma processing at the same time. I had to be very patient to get to this point.

I'm glad they give you so much. And really encouraged to hear cymbalta works for you. I'm really over all of this, again. It feels like an endless uphill slog right now. I'm hoping it will get better but being caught in between meds, obese and really irritable, sucks. Not just for me, either. My psychiatrist is going away on holiday fo a month and said I should go to my GP for some seroquel if I need it, while he's gone. Have you taken that reprise? At this stage I'm thinking about making an appointment for Monday.

I take Seroquel every day. It has helped me a lot with insomnia and anxiety. The way I use it is definitely off label. I haven't had to take it as a PRN (as needed) in a long time - but it is my go to med for that, the same way a benzo might be for someone else. I take 200mg in the morning and 200mg at night. Obviously, I have a tolerance. Most people could not function on 200mg of Seroquel if only for the drowsiness alone. It doesn't make me drowsy at all now, but I still sleep well compared to how I used to.

Is that how he is saying "need it" - as in, for anxiety? I also don't understand the having to ween off of Lexapro first. Does he want you to get to zero before you go on Cymbalta? Obviously, I'm not a doctor, but from what I know from independent research (lol), I don't think that's strictly necessary. Of course you want to avoid any nasty-ness from excess neurotransmitter transmission, but it seems to me like you'd also want to avoid withdrawal from SSRI nasty-ness. But like I said I'm not a doctor and I'm sure yours knows best. I just wish you didn't have to suffer from this.

Also, Seroquel makes most people super hungry. It's one of the most notorious weight gaining medications in psychiatry. I have a tolerance to that too, but most people who start it (and I did too) tend to go into weird Seroquel-induced drowsy gorgefests. But my sample size of like 10 people I've known isn't very big.

And I am soooo excited about you starting at school!!! What have you enrolled for, and where abouts are you going? You are going to have such a great time.

Hold on, tiger. I'm taking one class. PSY2012 which is General Psychology. I'm doing it first because it's available as a two month (Session 4) class, I have an F from getting sick before that I need to get rid of by retaking it so that I continue getting student aid, and because it should be super easy and fun. I was actually thinking of CLEP-ing it but decided to take it instead. It's an essay class that meets five times, so I don't think it really qualifies as a school experience. But it's a start. And it's at the Dont-Call-It-Community-College-We-Have-Two-Bachelor-Programs College. My major is Psychology, naturally - but the school has a generic "Bachelor of Arts" thing that I'm technically enrolled in. I'm also considering nursing, but really I feel cool just leaving it open for a little bit. I have to do all the junky prerequisites anyway.

Thanks for asking

[Future Boy]

just walk it off

[Trotskilicious]

Originally Posted by vixnix

I would love some bong hits but sadly the last time I used dr. Bongwater's prescription to cure my inner ailments I ended up with a long stay in hospital and that just isn't an option for me any more. If you get pregnant at 24 and keep your baby then your time in the care of dr. Bongwater & associates has come to an end. Though, my brother's still on drugs and has a daughter. Though...he doesn't live with his daughter now. . Sad times at vixnix high.

dr. bongwater thinks you're loaded up on ssris and you can't tell what's natural and good for you anymore, man

[JokeyLoki]

Originally Posted by vixnix

Yeah. Sadly I'm just too screwed up to get by without meds. I've been seeing several different psychologists for the same 12 years that I've been on medication. I've gone down the CBT route and I'm working through mindfulness now.

I also exercise regularly, don't drink, smoke or take drugs.

And without medication I hit my kids and yell at them and tell them they're horrible and ruined my life. So. Medication and weight gain it is.

And yeah. My dad pays for everything I do. I called him from the psychiatrist's office to pay for the appoint over the phone with via credit card, and after the receptionist had finished, she handed my phone back to me saying"I'll hand you back now". And I picked it up and said "thanks dad" and got a dial tone. It had happened the previous time there, too. But she hadn't said "I'll hand you back now" that time. Maybe she thought it would make a difference. I wish my parents took medication.

It sounds like you're taking good care of yourself... You're a good person for doing what you can to fix it. Sorry your parents are assholes.