Blackscooby

Question !

How many Scooby-netters are on Prozac / Seroxat type of drugs (anti-depressants) ?

My hand goes up I am !

I don't want to know the reason why, just numbers cos my brother (Pharmasist)says its the most demanded prescription drug.

Just wondered !

MarkO

Not me.

Why did you accept it? GPs have a very bad record for prescribing it when it's not necessary at all. I know of at least 3 people who've been told they need it, and were prescribed it, but decided the GP was being lazy and declined.

If you're taking it because of this thing with your ex, I'd suggest you bin it and go out and have some fun with friends, etc. I'm sure that 80% of Prozac users don't need it at all....

GarnetFox

I was on them for 6 months earlier this year. There's a lot of stigma attatched to anti-depressents, I myself thought that I would be admitting defeat by taking the, but not so. The first 2 weeks were a bit hairy (the doc warned me that though), but now I am back to my old cheerful self!

GarnetFox

There we go, I'm disagreeing with Mark again...

MarkO

I'm not surprised. IMO, they're the easy way out for a lot of people in a lot of cases. Most people I've known who've taken them or been offered them could have sorted their lives out much quicker and easier without them. The drugs have just complicated the issue.

Luckily, you're off 'em, but in hindsight, do you really think you needed them, Garnet? If the same thing happened again, would you use them again?

GarnetFox

Yep Mark I really think I did. It's a personal matter so I will spare you the gory details, but basically I was a complete mess and needed help. The drugs helped enough to get me interested in life again, and then I resumed living. As I got back into the swing of thing, I found that I was forgetting to take the pill every day, so unconciously weaned myself off of them.

Now I know what depression is like, I am fighting to stay out of it. If I feel myself getting down, I tell people that I am worried and think about things. A good sleep or 2 usually helps aswell. I would not take the drugs again lightly, but if I felt as bad as I did then, then yes I would go back on them. Life is too short to live in darkness.

BS: You do whatever you need to make yourself feel better, you are the only judge of what is right or wrong for you. You are allowed to be happy, so go and find that happy thought.

MarkO

Fair enough then. It must have been pretty bad, I guess.

I would say to BS to avoid taking the drugs whenever possible though. You're clearly rational, lucid and able to have a bit of a laugh on here, so you're not totally down in the hole. Which is a good starting point.

GarnetFox

Was bad, tis getting better now.

BS: Yes, don't take the prozac uinless you feel that there is no alternative. I wouldn't really advise the herbal stuff either as this is sposed to take 6 months to work and has a higher percentage of addiction. If you do take them, I'd only do a month at a time, like my doc gave me. Then you can go back to him after each lot and he can check how you are going on.

You could always eat chocolate, that cheers me up if it's consumed in large enough quantities!

MarkO

Typical bloody woman.

Crapaud62

I've cut down to only one 20mg of seroxat a day now. Used to be on 40mg per day for years. Much safer than Prozac, which I was on before, that turned me into a complete nutter.

Funny how non-suffers are all experts on treatment of depression

You don't get advice telling people not to take insulin cos they don't need it do you??

GarnetFox

Hey crap, I had it. I'm very glad that I only had a nasty but short dose, believe me!

Blackscooby

GF ~ like yourself I was in a bit of a mess (its discussed on here in a different thread !) Believe me I wouldn't have gone near em as I read about the side effects first, but I really wanted to get better.

Shall we say that "personal circumstances" shakey telecomms industry, mates etc all turned me into a quivvering wreck. It was all getting me down quite seriously, in fact VERY seriously. I'm much better since taking the Seroxat (3 weeks or so), but I don't like the side effects much (nausea, crap sleep pattern). Feel much better about myself though now.

Several trips to docs, breakdown each time got me on them...

My mind is focused on passing my Direct Access Motorbike route now, so at least its occupied constructively, rather than destructively which it was previously.

MarkO

Yep. It's 'cos we're experts that we avoid suffering from it.
No, but there's a difference - if a diabetic doesn't take the insulin when necessary, then it can be fatal. However, although depression can lead to other fatal conditions (suicide, etc) it's not physiologically damaging in itself.

GarnetFox

All that matters is that you are on the road to recovery. No one really likes to spend their life taking drugs to feel better, so the soon as they do their job you can hopefully wave bye bye to the little capsules.

The prozac side effects I had were disturbing. I had panic attacks to start with and couldn't breathe, but the worst thing was going to the cinema and coming out totally convinced that I would die in my sleep that night. I had to talk to my boyfriend about it on the drive back because I was so upset, but that rationalised it and I remembered that the doc said that it might make my mood worse fdor the first couple of weeks. Phew!

Oh, just remembered the other side effect: Lunatic happiness! That could have been very emparrassing! I woke up 2 mornings after my first pill, feeling as if sun was shining out of my pores. I looked at my face and saw greyness, so, after singing in the bath, I went into my wardrobe and found all my brightest coloured clothes and wore them all at once. Luckily the mood stopped before I left the house and I realised what I was doing! I was lucky it was a mild session, a friend of a friend vanished during college and was found 100 yards away: Paddling in the sea on a chilly September afternoon. Oops!

MarkO

That happens to me all the time, but only because I've got a dreadful fashion sense.

GarnetFox

Typical bloody man. Am off now, watching Jurassic Park 2. *Waves*

Blackscooby

MarkO,

No, but there's a difference - if a diabetic doesn't take the insulin when necessary, then it can be fatal

Hey I'm diabetic.... easy with the comments !

MarkO

Sorry mate - didn't mean to depress you more than you already are.

So you need to have a Pils lager and a curry, right?

Blackscooby

<snigger mode on>

<snigger mode off>

Don't worry it didn't upset me ~ just 'aving a laff !

ahhhh the comfort of a lovely cold bottle of Stella... true happiness....

MarkO

Better than prozac any day of the week.

Grottbags

I work in the field of Mental Health and whilst I've never suffered from depression and don't know this first hand I've seen people on both Seroxat and Prozac.

Both are fine, but seem to take ages to work which means you're on them longer. There are faster acting antidepressants available.

Call me cynical, but I think the reason GP's don't prescribe them is because the drug reps for the faster acting stuff don't give them incentives to the same level as Seroxat/Prozac reps do.

And some of the side effects I've witnessed with those 2 drugs are scary.

MarkO

Ah, but I don't think coke or speed is prescribable, is it?

Crapaud62

I find seroxat washed down with a nice bottle of Chablis works well

Scooby Dooby Blue

I stuck Seroxat(20mg), after my surgery, for about 2 weeks but found the inability to ejaculate hard to bare so binned it altogether.
Back to 30seconds flat now

Paul

Rich Tee

I have been on seroxat for over 2 yrs now, and find it very hard to wean off them

dont have real problems with the side effects except bad sleep, but this is probably to do with depression anyway

cant say whether they are working well or not, started off on 20mg a day, now on 50 !!!

Mark O - study your facts, depression is a chemical imbalance in the brain which anyone can suffer from not just getting in bad moods which you can lift with a curry or bright coloured clothes !!!!

Rich

logiclee

I was on Seroxat for nearly a year. Took me ages to get off the bloody things, weeks of being light headed etc every time I cut down the dose.

Have to agree with Mr Blue about the effect on the sex life, never agian will I take Seroxat.

Lee

ssubaru

scoobysnacks are better and you get a good sleep
ssubaru


ps for anyone that wonders what scoobysnacks are its the american name for vallium

Sith

Currently on a non-addictve Anti-depressant. For the first week I would go light headed and feel tingly all over. But that is long gone.

You can't just snap out of depression. It is a self feeding state.

P.

Blackscooby

I know what you mean about unable to errr ejaculate..... However that is better than my self induced downward spiral. The more I thought about things the worse I got, the worse I got the more I thought... >>>>> Rapid loss of reality. So much so that I wouldn't go and see my parents cos I knew they'd be upset if they knew I was upset...

I think the worst bit is hopefully behind me now. I saw what was happening and so did a couple of collegues at work, recommended I took steps before things got really bad.

ssubaru

girlfriend been on them for 2 years got horrrendous side effects when coming of them so she just stays on them also her sex drive has gone out window ,good thing is my arms are getting bigger , so i will say to a docters who say there non adddictive , **** YOU ALL YOU DONT KNOW WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT YOU SHOULD LIVE WITH SOMEONE TRYING TO COME OF THEM ITS A TOTAL NIGHTMARE
don
NON-ADDICTIVE IS BALLCOCKS