A few questions about antidepressants

T

thefrogprincess

New member
I had a good clinic visit yesterday, pretty standard really. My weight is up a little, but I've never really had trouble keeping it steady, and I'm not too skinny. Talked to the doc about getting Brian tested for being a carrier. It was kind of funny, she acted like I don't know anything about how CF is inherited. She drew these little diagrams to explain it. Before she got done I was like "Yeah I know its 50/50 if he is a carrier. I want Ambry to do the test so can his doc handle that or do we come here?" She was like "Oh, how do you knwo about Ambry?" Hello???? I've only been a CFer my whole life, of course I know about Ambry!

I asked her about an antidepressant. She wants me to see my primary physician for that so I made an appointment with her. I was wondering how people who have been on antidepressants did with them. I know everyone has a different experience but I've never been on them and have to idea what to expect. What one(s) have you been on? How do you think it worked for you? How bad was your depression when you went on the meds? What were the side effects if any?
 
T

thefrogprincess

New member
I had a good clinic visit yesterday, pretty standard really. My weight is up a little, but I've never really had trouble keeping it steady, and I'm not too skinny. Talked to the doc about getting Brian tested for being a carrier. It was kind of funny, she acted like I don't know anything about how CF is inherited. She drew these little diagrams to explain it. Before she got done I was like "Yeah I know its 50/50 if he is a carrier. I want Ambry to do the test so can his doc handle that or do we come here?" She was like "Oh, how do you knwo about Ambry?" Hello???? I've only been a CFer my whole life, of course I know about Ambry!

I asked her about an antidepressant. She wants me to see my primary physician for that so I made an appointment with her. I was wondering how people who have been on antidepressants did with them. I know everyone has a different experience but I've never been on them and have to idea what to expect. What one(s) have you been on? How do you think it worked for you? How bad was your depression when you went on the meds? What were the side effects if any?
 
T

thefrogprincess

New member
I had a good clinic visit yesterday, pretty standard really. My weight is up a little, but I've never really had trouble keeping it steady, and I'm not too skinny. Talked to the doc about getting Brian tested for being a carrier. It was kind of funny, she acted like I don't know anything about how CF is inherited. She drew these little diagrams to explain it. Before she got done I was like "Yeah I know its 50/50 if he is a carrier. I want Ambry to do the test so can his doc handle that or do we come here?" She was like "Oh, how do you knwo about Ambry?" Hello???? I've only been a CFer my whole life, of course I know about Ambry!

I asked her about an antidepressant. She wants me to see my primary physician for that so I made an appointment with her. I was wondering how people who have been on antidepressants did with them. I know everyone has a different experience but I've never been on them and have to idea what to expect. What one(s) have you been on? How do you think it worked for you? How bad was your depression when you went on the meds? What were the side effects if any?
 
T

thefrogprincess

New member
I almost forgot!!! I learned today that I got the promotion I applied for!!! I work in a check cashing/payday loan store and I will now be a vault teller meaning I will be running and be responsible for the store's vault!! Its a huge responsibility but I'm really excited!
 
T

thefrogprincess

New member
I almost forgot!!! I learned today that I got the promotion I applied for!!! I work in a check cashing/payday loan store and I will now be a vault teller meaning I will be running and be responsible for the store's vault!! Its a huge responsibility but I'm really excited!
 
T

thefrogprincess

New member
I almost forgot!!! I learned today that I got the promotion I applied for!!! I work in a check cashing/payday loan store and I will now be a vault teller meaning I will be running and be responsible for the store's vault!! Its a huge responsibility but I'm really excited!
 
L

lightNlife

New member
Hey! Congrats on the promotion! Here's a *pat on the back* and a *high five* for you. What a satisfying feeling you must be experience. Treat yourself right and splurge a little on yourself.

Glad to hear of the good clinic visit as well.

As far as antidepressants go, that's not an uncommon thing for CFers. I've tried Lexapro, Risperdal and Celexa. I didn't have much luck with those, but there could be plenty of factors that kept them from working. I think one of the main things was that I was attempting to start the pill around the same time. I turned into a MONSTER (just ask my husband who was my fiancee at the time! God bless him for hanging in there with me through all of that...yikes) I was told by the psychiatrist who prescribed the meds and my CF doc who was in on the process too, that antidepressants can dramatically reduce the effectiveness of the pill AND of my CF meds. Long story short, I now take Clomipramine for OCD (which has some antidepressant qualities) and I have an IUD instead of using the pill.

This may sound silly, but something that also has helped me with the depression has been to make an effort to eat a banana at least every other day. They are a great source of seratonin, which help replace the seratonin in the body that has been depleted by overactive axons (the source of depression).

I hope you will continue to make excellent progress on all fronts. Starting an antidepressant can be a real challenge, because it takes awhile for your body chemistry to adjust. Give a new med a solid month before deciding whether or not it's working for you.

Warmest Regards to you!
 
L

lightNlife

New member
Hey! Congrats on the promotion! Here's a *pat on the back* and a *high five* for you. What a satisfying feeling you must be experience. Treat yourself right and splurge a little on yourself.

Glad to hear of the good clinic visit as well.

As far as antidepressants go, that's not an uncommon thing for CFers. I've tried Lexapro, Risperdal and Celexa. I didn't have much luck with those, but there could be plenty of factors that kept them from working. I think one of the main things was that I was attempting to start the pill around the same time. I turned into a MONSTER (just ask my husband who was my fiancee at the time! God bless him for hanging in there with me through all of that...yikes) I was told by the psychiatrist who prescribed the meds and my CF doc who was in on the process too, that antidepressants can dramatically reduce the effectiveness of the pill AND of my CF meds. Long story short, I now take Clomipramine for OCD (which has some antidepressant qualities) and I have an IUD instead of using the pill.

This may sound silly, but something that also has helped me with the depression has been to make an effort to eat a banana at least every other day. They are a great source of seratonin, which help replace the seratonin in the body that has been depleted by overactive axons (the source of depression).

I hope you will continue to make excellent progress on all fronts. Starting an antidepressant can be a real challenge, because it takes awhile for your body chemistry to adjust. Give a new med a solid month before deciding whether or not it's working for you.

Warmest Regards to you!
 
L

lightNlife

New member
Hey! Congrats on the promotion! Here's a *pat on the back* and a *high five* for you. What a satisfying feeling you must be experience. Treat yourself right and splurge a little on yourself.

Glad to hear of the good clinic visit as well.

As far as antidepressants go, that's not an uncommon thing for CFers. I've tried Lexapro, Risperdal and Celexa. I didn't have much luck with those, but there could be plenty of factors that kept them from working. I think one of the main things was that I was attempting to start the pill around the same time. I turned into a MONSTER (just ask my husband who was my fiancee at the time! God bless him for hanging in there with me through all of that...yikes) I was told by the psychiatrist who prescribed the meds and my CF doc who was in on the process too, that antidepressants can dramatically reduce the effectiveness of the pill AND of my CF meds. Long story short, I now take Clomipramine for OCD (which has some antidepressant qualities) and I have an IUD instead of using the pill.

This may sound silly, but something that also has helped me with the depression has been to make an effort to eat a banana at least every other day. They are a great source of seratonin, which help replace the seratonin in the body that has been depleted by overactive axons (the source of depression).

I hope you will continue to make excellent progress on all fronts. Starting an antidepressant can be a real challenge, because it takes awhile for your body chemistry to adjust. Give a new med a solid month before deciding whether or not it's working for you.

Warmest Regards to you!
 
A

anonymous

New member
Is Effexor an anti-depressant? Wait, maybe not. Well I am taking it for depression and I love it. No side effects at all just made me sooo much better. And it reminds me I have to take it now<img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0">

Sue 24w/CF
 
A

anonymous

New member
Is Effexor an anti-depressant? Wait, maybe not. Well I am taking it for depression and I love it. No side effects at all just made me sooo much better. And it reminds me I have to take it now<img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0">

Sue 24w/CF
 
A

anonymous

New member
Is Effexor an anti-depressant? Wait, maybe not. Well I am taking it for depression and I love it. No side effects at all just made me sooo much better. And it reminds me I have to take it now<img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0">

Sue 24w/CF
 
M

mic10467

New member
That is wonderful news about your promotion.  I worked as a
vault teller in two different casino's for about six years and
found the job challenging and fun.  I love numbers and
balancing things.  I wish you well in your new job.<br>
<br>
I have been taking different antidepressants for seven years.
 I started out on celexa, paxil, effexor, and again I am on
paxil.   I am a 38 year old female with Cystic Fibrosis
and I had been depressed most of my life.   Contrary to
what I had been told, I felt the difference within a day or two of
taking them.  Before I took antidepressants, I never seemed to
enjoy anything, got irritated with things so easily, lot my temper
at simple things, felt afraid of people and couldn't talk to them,
would cry alot getting stressed out over simple misunderstandings
and such, and would get very angry with people over simple things
and then couldn't talk to them anymore.  When I started taking
celexa at first, I felt like I finally was the person that I had
always wanted to be.  I enjoy simple things in life, like
talking to people, am able to blow off misunderstandings, don't get
cuss words angry over little things, and I have a positive outlook
on life.  My family background has alot of mental illness and
depression throughout and I've come to believe that chemically my
brain just doesn't work like healthy people's.  It really
feels like my brain works better.  <br>
<br>
Recently I tried to take myself off of the antidepressants fearing
what it was possibly doing to my liver.  I stayed off of them
for five months, but again I've been on them for the last two
months.  I went to counseling for 3 months because of personal
difficulties, but it wasn't until I finally decided that I needed
to take my antidepressants again, that life seemed to make sense
again.  <br>
<br>
<br>
Probably the worst side affect is your body not working sexually:
difficulties in arousal.  There might be some antidepressants
however that don't cause such a problem.  I think they can
cause you to eat alot more, but for me I always ate alot, so I
didn't notice.  I also believe that they can add weight to a
person.  I gained about twenty-five pounds in six years of
taking them.  I got off them, took up an exercising program,
and changed my eating habits and lost the extra weight.  I
don't know about you, but I'm different from most and have had
problems always with being ten to fifteen pounds overweight.
 So gaining weight might not be a bad thing for you.
 Each one has different side affects of course.  I would
encourage you to try one of them.  And if it doesn't leave you
feeling good, then try another one.  I think Zoloft leaves
ones feeling very sleepy according to my brother. So I wouldn't
recommend that one.   The pills don't really change
the person that you are as much as making you perceive things
differently, make better decisions, communicate better with people,
and mostly enjoy life, which can sometimes be highly
difficult living with CF anyway.  <br>
<br>
Best Wishes,<br>
Michelle 38 w/cf 
 
M

mic10467

New member
That is wonderful news about your promotion.  I worked as a
vault teller in two different casino's for about six years and
found the job challenging and fun.  I love numbers and
balancing things.  I wish you well in your new job.<br>
<br>
I have been taking different antidepressants for seven years.
 I started out on celexa, paxil, effexor, and again I am on
paxil.   I am a 38 year old female with Cystic Fibrosis
and I had been depressed most of my life.   Contrary to
what I had been told, I felt the difference within a day or two of
taking them.  Before I took antidepressants, I never seemed to
enjoy anything, got irritated with things so easily, lot my temper
at simple things, felt afraid of people and couldn't talk to them,
would cry alot getting stressed out over simple misunderstandings
and such, and would get very angry with people over simple things
and then couldn't talk to them anymore.  When I started taking
celexa at first, I felt like I finally was the person that I had
always wanted to be.  I enjoy simple things in life, like
talking to people, am able to blow off misunderstandings, don't get
cuss words angry over little things, and I have a positive outlook
on life.  My family background has alot of mental illness and
depression throughout and I've come to believe that chemically my
brain just doesn't work like healthy people's.  It really
feels like my brain works better.  <br>
<br>
Recently I tried to take myself off of the antidepressants fearing
what it was possibly doing to my liver.  I stayed off of them
for five months, but again I've been on them for the last two
months.  I went to counseling for 3 months because of personal
difficulties, but it wasn't until I finally decided that I needed
to take my antidepressants again, that life seemed to make sense
again.  <br>
<br>
<br>
Probably the worst side affect is your body not working sexually:
difficulties in arousal.  There might be some antidepressants
however that don't cause such a problem.  I think they can
cause you to eat alot more, but for me I always ate alot, so I
didn't notice.  I also believe that they can add weight to a
person.  I gained about twenty-five pounds in six years of
taking them.  I got off them, took up an exercising program,
and changed my eating habits and lost the extra weight.  I
don't know about you, but I'm different from most and have had
problems always with being ten to fifteen pounds overweight.
 So gaining weight might not be a bad thing for you.
 Each one has different side affects of course.  I would
encourage you to try one of them.  And if it doesn't leave you
feeling good, then try another one.  I think Zoloft leaves
ones feeling very sleepy according to my brother. So I wouldn't
recommend that one.   The pills don't really change
the person that you are as much as making you perceive things
differently, make better decisions, communicate better with people,
and mostly enjoy life, which can sometimes be highly
difficult living with CF anyway.  <br>
<br>
Best Wishes,<br>
Michelle 38 w/cf 
 
M

mic10467

New member
That is wonderful news about your promotion.  I worked as a
vault teller in two different casino's for about six years and
found the job challenging and fun.  I love numbers and
balancing things.  I wish you well in your new job.<br>
<br>
I have been taking different antidepressants for seven years.
 I started out on celexa, paxil, effexor, and again I am on
paxil.   I am a 38 year old female with Cystic Fibrosis
and I had been depressed most of my life.   Contrary to
what I had been told, I felt the difference within a day or two of
taking them.  Before I took antidepressants, I never seemed to
enjoy anything, got irritated with things so easily, lot my temper
at simple things, felt afraid of people and couldn't talk to them,
would cry alot getting stressed out over simple misunderstandings
and such, and would get very angry with people over simple things
and then couldn't talk to them anymore.  When I started taking
celexa at first, I felt like I finally was the person that I had
always wanted to be.  I enjoy simple things in life, like
talking to people, am able to blow off misunderstandings, don't get
cuss words angry over little things, and I have a positive outlook
on life.  My family background has alot of mental illness and
depression throughout and I've come to believe that chemically my
brain just doesn't work like healthy people's.  It really
feels like my brain works better.  <br>
<br>
Recently I tried to take myself off of the antidepressants fearing
what it was possibly doing to my liver.  I stayed off of them
for five months, but again I've been on them for the last two
months.  I went to counseling for 3 months because of personal
difficulties, but it wasn't until I finally decided that I needed
to take my antidepressants again, that life seemed to make sense
again.  <br>
<br>
<br>
Probably the worst side affect is your body not working sexually:
difficulties in arousal.  There might be some antidepressants
however that don't cause such a problem.  I think they can
cause you to eat alot more, but for me I always ate alot, so I
didn't notice.  I also believe that they can add weight to a
person.  I gained about twenty-five pounds in six years of
taking them.  I got off them, took up an exercising program,
and changed my eating habits and lost the extra weight.  I
don't know about you, but I'm different from most and have had
problems always with being ten to fifteen pounds overweight.
 So gaining weight might not be a bad thing for you.
 Each one has different side affects of course.  I would
encourage you to try one of them.  And if it doesn't leave you
feeling good, then try another one.  I think Zoloft leaves
ones feeling very sleepy according to my brother. So I wouldn't
recommend that one.   The pills don't really change
the person that you are as much as making you perceive things
differently, make better decisions, communicate better with people,
and mostly enjoy life, which can sometimes be highly
difficult living with CF anyway.  <br>
<br>
Best Wishes,<br>
Michelle 38 w/cf 
 
W

welshgirl

New member
sorry i can't help with the med question but congrats on your promotion and i love your quote . i always sing like no one is listening<img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif" border="0"> and i feel sorry for my family, poor buggers!!!!!!!!!!!
 
W

welshgirl

New member
sorry i can't help with the med question but congrats on your promotion and i love your quote . i always sing like no one is listening<img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif" border="0"> and i feel sorry for my family, poor buggers!!!!!!!!!!!
 
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