Quote:
Originally Posted by nekokami
Lilac_jive, I had that problem with a different SSRI when my doctor had me try Lexapro. Awful side effects. I know exactly what you mean. I called it "the zaps." Lexapro is a fast-metabolizing SSRI. Prozac is a slow-metabolizing SSRI, which is why it's easier to start and stop (and can be used to mitigate the zaps), though it takes longer to know if it's going to help.
The one I'm now on is sertraline (a.k.a. Zoloft), which is a medium-metabolizing type. I've been on it before and stopped taking it with no side effects. I may be able to try discontinuing it this summer. (No point in trying that in the middle of the semester!)
I needed it when The Teenager was being really awful and blaming me for everything, but I think things are a lot better now, so I might be able to ditch it. I'd rather do with just meditation and creative activities.
Oh, and I've been taking melatonin regularly at bedtime to help me get drowsy and go to sleep, and it really does seem to help and doesn't make me drowsy the next day. I have to have the lights dim and be willing to try to go to sleep for it to work, but it does help.
Marc, my feelings about medications are remarkably similar to yours. I'm ok with the melatonin, because I know that's just a compound my body makes anyway. I would dearly like to get rid of everything else I'm taking (including allergy meds). As the only wage earner in a family of four, though, I started to really stress about the idea of having a severe breakdown and being unable to take care of my family, which was a bad vicious cycle to be in.
Quite a few years back, I told a doctor who asked me if I wanted a prescription that I thought it was a crutch. He agreed, but pointed out that if I had a broken leg, I'd take the crutch for as long as I needed it. At that time, I didn't need the crutch. For a little while now, I have needed it (I think), but hopefully I'm starting to be at the "mending" point.
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The zaps is what I called it too! FRIGGIN AWFUL!
I'm kicking myself in the butt for going off. I thought after I left my last job I wouldn't need it anymore. But the pressure of this one is starting to get to me.