Meds Experiences Thread!!

I just started taking zoloft/sertraline and I take it at night. It doesn't knock me out, but it doesn't keep me from sleeping either. Have you checked for interactions with it and your night meds on drugs.com?

 

Okay, so I've been on zoloft/sertraline for about two weeks now, maybe a little over that. It did in fact make me really sleepy, it just took about two hours after taking it for me to fall asleep, so it took a week of falling asleep between 7pm and 9pm (when I usually fall asleep at 11pm unless I'm working) for me to notice. However, basically as soon as I noticed, I started being able to stay up later, and am back to falling asleep at my normal time.

I have a lot more energy now. I'm still moody and depressed, but now I'm moody and depressed with energy, which honestly is an improvement. I worked out yesterday, for the first time in almost four months. I've been waking up easily/getting out of bed easily, which is huge, and I've also been in a pretty good mood in the morning too. Evidently it can take 6-8 weeks for the mood changes to happen on zoloft, but since the energy level has changed, I'm hopeful that means it's working.

I've also noticed a pretty big difference in sex drive.

 

So do fish oil pills make anyone else super nauseated or am I just lucky? :P

 

has anyone ever heard of getting brain zaps while on wellbutrin, that is, not a discontinuation syndrome?

 

when i was on welbutrin, if i took it in the morning i would be getting brain zaps by evening. could be you're metabolizing it really quickly.

 

that is actually what is happening, time-wise. huh

 

Yesterday I learned that SSRIs (like zoloft, which I'm on) can interact with inhalers (like my abulterol one) in a "makes your heart stop" kinda way. I don't have asthma often, but I do in fact need my inhaler, and now I'm trying to think of alternatives. Any advice?

 

The main antidepressant I know of that's not that is Wellbutrin, that's def something to probly talk to a psychiatrist about

 

There's also Trentrillex, and I've heard of mood stabilizers being used in people with depressive features who weren't responding to other meds.

Def. Talk to your psychiatrist about that!

 

yeah, trintellix works on serotonin as well but isn't an ssri so if the trouble isn't in the serotonin itself that one might be able to work similarly to what you currently have! I'd recommend double checking exactly what price you'd be paying before doing trintellix tho, i ended up having to switch away from it because of cost

 

I had those. Not so much it was that I metabolized the stuff quickly as it would be a time where I swear the amount I was on was fucking around with my brain too much.

I've had a bunch of different prescriptions over the years:

Prozac: The first medication. I'd say it works for a while, and then my body adjusts. Raise dosage, repeat process.
Zoloft: The first medication change. It worked not as well, pure and simple. Again, raise dosage, repeat process.
Klonopin: First anti-anxiety. It worked, but again my body adjusted.
Xanax: Second anti-anxiety. Works, but my body'll adjust.
Wellbutrin: Was prescribed this first in high school, which was pulled after a month after I said I felt more agitated on it. Several years later, it was added to my Zoloft/Xanax combo. Despite my side-effects, such as poor coordination/inability to quickly climb stairs, mood swings, insomnia, panic attacks, was prescribed the highest allowed dose. Again, this amount fucked around with my brain.
Mirtazapine: Prescribed in addition to the Zoloft/Xanax/Wellbutrin cocktail to help me sleep at night, as well as for more antidepressant medication. Couldn't really stabilize my sleep cycle, and I started gorging on everything in the house (munchies is a weird side effect for an antidepressant)
Paxil: Taking this right now. Overall, I'd say meh. Like Prozac and Zoloft, it generally works okay, and then my body gets used to it. And much like those medicines, it kills my libido. I think this stuff is making me nervous and more prone to mood swings, though.

 

My doc started me on cogentin to combat my hand tremors and its giving me the dryest mouth. Is there any way to help with that? Ive tried drinking lots of fluids but nothings really helping

 

Maybe try sucking on something like a hard sweet or ice cube?

 

Oh lor I had that experience on rispiridone (sp?)

 

So the zoloft/sertraline & latuda/lurasidone combo is working really well for my depression! I am suddenly a morning person? Who wakes up at 5 am and thinks "hmm, what productive things could I be doing?"?? I have a morning routine now, and I actually do homework (somewhat, adhd is still kicking my butt), and I have energy to put into things like cleaning and cooking. And I like things! I'm happy! Being alive is pretty great!

Unfortunately, it was supposed to help with my anxiety and actually made it worse. I have my general anxiety and triggers, and also now I will be hit with just a sudden wave of panic every once in a while (it's usually once a week if I'm having a good week, but twice or more if there's other confounding factors). Dunno what to do about that yet. Also probably going to look into going back on an adhd med, because this not doing homework thing and not being able to take notes thing is really getting in the way of me getting good grades.

 

A bit late but there are toothpastes/mouthwash es/lozenges that are specifically made to help with dry mouth. There's a cost factor there which might make it not an option, but you could check it out.

 

Less a current side effect, but certainly makes me paranoid as hell, BUT. Currently taking nofazodone, which carries an unusually high risk of liver damage. :’| I’m mean, I’ve been on it all— Seroquel, Remeron, Latuda, Lexapro, Xanax, lorazepam, Cymbalta, ect. It’s been a hell of a med-go-round. Actually more like a double decker suck bus.

So far, Wellbutrin has been helping a lot, in combination with Lamictal, propranolol, Listaril (for sleep), and Levothyroxine, but that horrible tangle hasn’t been entirely enough so time to play around with a med that was pulled off the market (name-brand wise) because of the risk. Yay me?

The kicker for me hasn’t been the mental meds outside of being knocked on my ass at night and hella dry mouth— for me, for whatever reason, it’s making me have unusual side effects from my Advair/Singulair combo for controling my asthma. A.k.a. The Bruise Disk and Life Hates Me Exercising Pill. So lots of lightheaded spells i haven’t had before, definitely bruising even easier.

Body, can we talk about this falling apart thing? No? Well, okay, I guess.

 

does anyone have any idea how to deal with the insomnia associated with tranylcypromine/parnate? it's kicking my ass down the street like a can, but it's also the first antidepressant that has ever had any positive effect on my depression (ssris don't work on me as a class and tcas have a fairly low effect as well) so i don't want to just... give it up

i'm already taking both doses in the morning instead of morning/midday. the insomnia is of the 'waking up early' variety, sometimes i only get 3 hours of sleep, sometimes 5. i'm running on 25-35 hours of sleep debt depending on whether i can get any sleep or not, i'm struggling not to nap or drink too much caffeine because i cannot stay awake, but when i go to sleep i usually don't sleep for more than a few hours. it's really rough!

 

Currently on Concerta (which is working nicely, although I think it was interacting weird with my montelukast at the start; I'd start getting anxiety attacks right around when the Concerta would be wearing off and the montelukast would be kicking in, and that happened for a few weeks). And I just started escitalopram, on a 10mg dose (which I'm supposed to take a half dose for the first three days - I'm considering stretching that to four just so I don't have an extra half a tablet that I can't use).

I'm currently three days into taking the escitalopram, as of today, and I'm feeling sleepy and...not exactly dizzy or like I have vertigo? More like, if I'm not careful about how I move, this feeling will develop into dizziness/vertigo. I've been taking my dose in the mornings, and I'm planning on shifting it to the evenings since 'sleepy' is not really helpful for getting stuff done. I'm not sure if I've also got cog-fog, or if the cog-fog is a result of the drowsiness.

 

So, I'm currently on modafinil to see if it has some effect on my ADHD-but-we-can't-diagnose-it-because-you're-an-adult issues. It's just for a few weeks to see if it works, but... I can't actually tell if it's working, and I don't know how to figure it out? Like, there's been some improvement in focus and executive function, but I don't know how to tell it apart from placebo effect? (Because if it is, given that modafinil is off-label for ADHD meaning I pay for it out of pocket, :/)
And, of course, basically all the resources available online are from neurotypical people using it as a nootropic at non-therapeutic doses, so I can't even find decent advice there.