About 13 years ago I was diagnosed with depression and put on Paxil. My doctor explained the differences between Prozac, Paxil and Zoloft and we decided together that Paxil would be the one to try. Well, after a few weeks I ended up in the hospital because it was making things worse. After I left the hospital, I happened to meet a person that owned a pharmacutical consulting company in NYC. She told me to talk to my doctor about Efexor...because the side effects were supposed to be less. Well...my doctor switched me over, and it was like I went from hell to heaven in a few days.....
I was on that for several months...then lost my job, couldn't afford it.(that was probably a good thing, actually) The draw back was that I really had to wean myself off it because if you just stopped taking it, you got sick. I had some good friends and family that helped me through.Anyhoo, at least through all this I was able to really learn and watch the signs...a few years later I started to see I needed help again. I went to my regular doctor this time, and asked for something...she gave me Zoloft. She also gave me some Ambian, because sometimes zoloft effected my being able to sleep. (Ambian is some good stuff...I only ever needed a half a tiny pill, took it for a few days, and then was back to normal sleeping pattern for a long time). Anyhoo, I guess I was on Zoloft for about a year or so, then I was fine...let's see that was over 7 years ago.
I have been pretty good ever since, but I am still pretty careful about keeping an eye on my moods. There have been quite a few times in the last 7 years that I have been a somewhat depressed, but been able to get out of it by changing something, be it getting more excercise, making another change. So, I know now that if I am still depressed after trying various things...then it is time to pick up the phone a call a doctor.
Anyhoo..that's my story...nothing earth shattering.
By the way.,..I just wanted to add something here: when I went to therapy, I think it actually made things worse for a short period of time. There were some things as a kid that happened I didn't deal with until I was an adult. I had a good friend at the hall that was trying to help me, but it was overwhelming her and me, and we figured a "professional" would help. Well, my therapist was a great lady, but I don't think she was a good match for me. And I only saw the shrink once or twice to get the prescriptions. The reason I bring this up is that I think sometimes getting a good therapist or shrink can be just as or more important than being put on a medication. In hindsight, I think the therapist (who was pretty new actually) could have suggested we slow things down a bit. But hey, she did her best. She probably learned a lot from the whole experience too, hahah.