Posted by morganpmiller on June 20, 2009, at 3:11:20
In reply to question about antidepressants/depression, posted by sam K on June 19, 2009, at 19:54:06
> Im confused. Are antidepressants supposed to make you happy? because pristiq doesnt make me happy. But it does keep me from falling into severe depressions (as far as i know for now).
> so question for you. Does your antidepressant make you happy?
> Because what i know about myself, if I dont take meds. I get overwhelmed after about a week and I fall apart. Like my emotional immune system just falls apart and I become depressed, fatigued and feel hopeless.
> Well anyway...... idk what to think
> my regimin is pristiq 50mg at night and .25 klonopin a day for now. Thinking about adding a stimulant. But idk.
Instead of adding a stimulant, I would see how things go with pristiq and try to drop the klonopin. Or, try another a drug that works better on depression and anxiety and drop the klonopin.God I wish psychiatrists would just ask their patients to stick out the anxiety and see if the antidepressant alone takes care of everything. When you get on something like klonopin or xanax at the beginning of your trial with an AD, you never get to know if you would have been fine just taking the AD. In your case, Pristiq could possibly be giving you anxiety as it inhibits the reuptake of norepinephrine. Then you may need klonopin to calm you down. If you took another AD that is known to work on both depression and anxiety, like Prozac, Zoloft, or Paxil(or even lexapro-I just think lexapro is overhyped and too selective), and the AD significantly improved anxiety over time, you would not need klonopin. Besides, the longer you stay on drugs like klonopin, the more you build up a tolerance and need to increase the dose. Obviously I'm anti benzo, with the exception of severe cases. Benzos are way over prescribed. I've had a few doctors who felt the same way.
So you're taking Pristiq, which could give you anxiety(as any AD could of course) due to the stimulating effects of noradrenalin boost, your taking .25 mg klonopin for anxiety(I know this is a low dose and your probably taking it in the evening or before bed), and then you may add a stimulant. I have a gut feeling that if you wanted to, you could find one AD that simply made you feel better in general. If you are not exercising and stretching or doing yoga and meditating, you may want to consider these as ways of getting you where you need to be without adding any more medication.
I bet if I were to first have an episode the way I did when I was 22, most doctors would put me on some benzo and prescribe something like prozac. Thank god, when I was 22, putting someone on a benzo was not the first knee jerk reaction. Believe me, my anxiety was through the roof. The first 3 weeks of prozac were just a continuation of the hell that I had been experiencing. It may have been worse in some ways. Then, one day I woke up, took my prozac, went to class, and I felt totally normal for the first time in a long long time. I had no issues with anxiety, none. I was young and having fun so I think that helped.
I do know that there are some p docs out there that believe benzos interfere with the efficacy of antidepressants. This goes alone with the same reasoning that alcohol interferes with the efficacy of antidepressants. Benzos are central nervous systems depressants, just like alcohol. Your at depressing your nervous system while trying to stimulate it in some way with AD's. If you were on a benzo from the beginning, how will you ever know how good you could have felt on the AD alone?
Hopefully Pristiq alone will work for you at some point. If not, I would consider Zoloft, Prozac, or maybe Paxil(turned me and many others into a zombie) Most likely, if you stick it out and find the right dose, your anxiety will become manageable without having to use a benzo like klonopin.
poster:morganpmiller
thread:902145
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20090611/msgs/902210.html