Prescription medication for depression?!
Question: I went to a psychiatrist today and he's willing to give me some medication for my depression but I'm not sure. Here's a list he gave me to research: zoloft, paxil, prozac, lexapro and celexa. Is anyone taking any of these that could give me some advice or insight? If I google the names all I come up with is the drugs' websites which are not unbiased.
Answers: I went to a psychiatrist today and he's willing to give me some medication for my depression but I'm not sure. Here's a list he gave me to research: zoloft, paxil, prozac, lexapro and celexa. Is anyone taking any of these that could give me some advice or insight? If I google the names all I come up with is the drugs' websites which are not unbiased.
If your doctor really suggests that you look here for answers rather than giving your guidance you need a new doctor.
The medications that you mentioned are all in the same class and will likely work equally well for you. The choice of what medication to take is not a whim or a guess or what is most popular with your online buddies, it should depend on your symptomatology and your other medicines and other medical conditions. It also should depend on what your family members with depression have done well with, or not. If mom did well on zoloft, there is reason to believe that you will also, for example.
Some medications (prozac and paxil, and to a lesser extent zoloft) have interactions with other medications. If you are on multiple medications these may not be good choices for you. Some are more sedating than others (paxil), if you're symptoms include sleepiness and low energy, it may not be a good choice (if you are having trouble sleeping and feeling anxious- maybe it is). Some are more agitating or energizing than others (prozac and to a lesser extent sertraline), so if anxiety and sleeplessness are a problem- they might not be a good choice (if you're sleepy and have no energy- maybe a good choice).
Unfortunately, it also depends on your insurance and the co-pay that you are willing to pay. All of the above are available in generic form, excepting the lexapro. If you have no insurance and have to pay out of pocket prozac/ fluoxetine is the cheapest, with celexa/citalopram and paxil/ paroxetine following. Zoloft/ sertraline is more recently generic and still may be a bit more expensive than the others. Lexapro may be a higher copay.
If you are otherwise healthy and not on many meds, any of them are fine. If you are on multiple meds or have physical illness, celexa or lexapro are the way to go.
Your psychiatrist really should be able to go over this with you. Your health is really not something to leave to chance. Depression is a serious illness.
I would reccomend Zoloft, it has the least side effects and works very well! I was on it for 5 years and it helped me so much!
The others are alright but come with side effects for a lot of people.
Really its up to you but i would choose zoloft out of that list!
Zoloft worked well for me years ago, I had a bad reaction to paxil. Prozac is more powerful and i would try the other three before that one, just because it is so extreme. It is mostly important that you continue theapy with the meds to really get the right results, and don't get frusterated if the first presciption doesn't work out. It is almost like a trial and error to find out what pill works for you body and has the least amount of side effects.
ps I am proud of you for getting help :)
I was on lexapro and I thought that was a good drug. It will help with anxiety and depression. Whatever you do try to stay away from Effexor, I'm currently on that trying to go off it and if you even miss one dose you have horrible withdrawl symptoms.
I have tried zoloft, paxil and prozac and Lexapro helps me the best with the least side effects. Of course, everyone is different so you actually might have to try a few before finding the right fit for you. Good luck to you.
These are all pretty good meds, but I'd be guided by what my doctor suggests rather than by recommendations from non-professionals like us.