anti depressants?

**gypsysoul** · 04-03-2007, 06:14 PM

Hi ladies,
Well I finally decided to do something about my depression (with a little convincing from my best friend) Its been a long tough winter and I hope the meds work. Has anybody else been prescribed trazodone hydrocholoride? I am a little nervous about beginning it and all the research Ive done suggests that medicine has lots of side effects. Im so confused

**slv_squared** · 04-03-2007, 06:38 PM

I took trazadone for awhile for sleep - one of the major side effects of it is drowsiness, so they actually prescribed it to me for the side effect (hope that made sense) I didn't have any major reactions to it, other than the sleepiness....but everyone's different.

**Jaded** · 04-03-2007, 07:53 PM

I've taken several antidepressants, but never that one. I have a friend who takes it, but she takes it at night before she goes to sleep.

**Mamaw** · 04-03-2007, 08:01 PM

I take an antidepressent but not that specific one. I understand your concern since it seems there is no medication that does not have side effects. My advice to you is to record any effects you notice and discuss them with your doctor. Sometimes medication needs to be changed several times before you find the "right" one for you. Good luck and God bless

**crazyBMB** · 04-03-2007, 08:48 PM

You have to realize that you and your Dr. may possibly try several kinds before you can find one that works for you. There is so many new thing on the marked now days. Your Dr. may also tell you to try therapy.

**Jeanna** · 04-03-2007, 10:41 PM

I have Fibromyalgia and one of the side effects is that some people can not sleep or if they do they do not sleep deeply enough for their body to heal itself. I have been taking 200-300 mg Trazadone for about 3 years now. I would not try to take it and do anything. It will put you to sleep.

**OzFreeBird** · 04-04-2007, 02:22 AM

Be very careful in your choice of antidepressants. I have been on them since the age of 15 and I"m now 38. It took about 10 years to get diagnosed properly during which time I took every class of antidepressant under the sun. Some put me to sleep and made me a zombie (your one). Others I completely lost the ability to orgasm (a common side effect with Prozac in women). Others made me put on weight and certainly didn't fix the depression at all. Yet still others made me have bizarre dreams and lapses of memory.

My advice is to liase closely with your doctor. If after 3 weeks there is no significant return in energy levels, change to another group, for example selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors. If that doesn't work in 3 weeks, try another group. It takes 3 weeks for the levels of drug in your blood to build up to levels where you will see any benefit. However you have to also give yourself 3 weeks between changes for the drug to completely leave your system as well - NEVER mix classes of antidepressants at your PERIL!!

**mom2three** · 04-04-2007, 09:26 AM

Just a non-pharmaceutical thought. My doc told hubby to get out and exercise when he was depressed - seemed to help. Depression is linked to decreased serotonin levels. A new study just came out saying that beneficial bacteria produce serotonin (i,e. probiotics!). Lastly, hubby's depression (and another friend's bipolar) decreased substantially when wheat was removed from their diet. Try eating fruit/veggies, meat and other proteins, non-wheat starches - i.e. brown rice, brown rice pasta, oats, millet, etc. for a couple of weeks to see if it helps. I sund flaky, but I am researching the underlying cause and believe I have a viable thoery. BTW, are you allergic to mold?

**Jayne** · 04-04-2007, 10:36 AM

I have never heard of the particular drug they have put you on, but everyone reacts differently to drugs, so you will have to see if it helps...I have been on several over the years...I started with prozac, made my anxiety worse...then paxil, worked for a few years then stopped...next celexa, did the same as paxil....then lexapro, really bad experiance, I went totally nutts on that one, heard voices, got very aggitated...then effexor, didn't do much of anything...now I am on Cymbalta and it is helping a whole lot, with the exception of my pms and perimenopause syptoms...
I have learned that there is no magic pill like the commercials show....diet and exercise help very much, as do prayer or meditation or some other form of spirituality...good luck !!!

**Mamaw** · 04-04-2007, 04:45 PM

What is the connection between being allergic to mold and depression. I am allergic to dust and mold so am curious

**OzFreeBird** · 04-04-2007, 05:14 PM

Originally Posted by mom2three

Just a non-pharmaceutical thought. My doc told hubby to get out and exercise when he was depressed - seemed to help. Depression is linked to decreased serotonin levels. A new study just came out saying that beneficial bacteria produce serotonin (i,e. probiotics!). Lastly, hubby's depression (and another friend's bipolar) decreased substantially when wheat was removed from their diet. Try eating fruit/veggies, meat and other proteins, non-wheat starches - i.e. brown rice, brown rice pasta, oats, millet, etc. for a couple of weeks to see if it helps. I sund flaky, but I am researching the underlying cause and believe I have a viable thoery. BTW, are you allergic to mold?

Well said.

Exercise does have a significant effect on depression. Other chemicals, not just serotonin (which seems to be blamed for pretty much everything!) are also released by your brain during exercise. The release of endorphins by your pineal gland is also (interestingly) affected by sunlight, which is why people suffer from "cabin fever".

Here is a sad story. Many years ago I was off medication but turned into a gym junkie and was (unknowingly) living off the endorphins generated by exercise. I would start at the gym at 6.30am, go thru to 8.30am, then go to work. 1.5 hours more gym at lunch. Then after work I would start around 5.30 pm and go home at 8pm for dinner. Add all that up and you get 6 hours of gym per day. Definately something wrong there!

The kicker was getting up one Saturday morning and going to the gym at 8am. There was almost nobody there. I did the usual workout and then asked the girl on the desk as I was leaving "why isn't anyone here?"

She looked at me as if I was a creature from the black lagoon and said pityingly:

"Its Christmas Day".

Enuff said. So don't go overboard on the exercise to combat depression!

**Edna_E** · 04-04-2007, 07:06 PM

Me too. I started having SERIOUS allergic reactions last year (the kind they hospitalize you for) and they never identified what they thought was causing those reactions. Seems to be more-or-less under control with Zyrtec. I also have often been diagnosed a depressed, but react poorly to many antidepressants, so I tend to try to control it with diet and exercise and some holistic treatments - fairly succesfully. Wonder whether there is a connection of the two, though.

**mom2three** · 04-05-2007, 02:24 PM

Sorry, I didn't get back to you earlier. I am a Ph. D. biochemistry with a sick family. Hubby and dd6 are the ones who have had depression. Symptoms got worse when we moved into current home which of course, has mold. I have been searching for an underlying cause and believe it to be a fungal pathogen (possibly Candida famous for yeast infections). This has been in the naturopath literature and books for years (see William Crook - The Yeast Connection), but I have figured out a possible mechanism. Also, in the medical literature, there is a gut/brain connection - a lot of the time, this can be connected to poor digestion (GERD, IBS, constipation, etc.). I do not know if the last bit holds true for you all. The imbalance can come about in pregnancy (decreased immune response), from taking the pill, drinking chlorinated water (remember it kills bad bacteria, but it can also kill good bacteria), using antibacterial products, and other things as well. If the fungal infection is the underlying problem, you will show positive allergy response to mold (but your doctor will think you are nuts if you suggest this as the scientific connection has not been shown). I have tried some natural ways of treating this issue and hubby is healthier than he has been in several years. BTW, symptoms usually get worse after a bad illness - hubby had some sort of illness with extremely high fever before he had his worse depression). I can relate the fungal form to both endorphins and serotonin as well.

**mom2three** · 04-05-2007, 02:27 PM

Sorry - from my last post you can probably see that I am sleep deprived. This is affecting dd2 sleep - I am averaging about 3 hrs/night! God thing the baby only gets up once or twice at night! Typing one-handed while nursing doesn't help 8-)!

**foxxyroxie** · 04-16-2007, 07:05 AM

Originally Posted by mom2three

Sorry, I didn't get back to you earlier. I am a Ph. D. biochemistry with a sick family. Hubby and dd6 are the ones who have had depression. Symptoms got worse when we moved into current home which of course, has mold. I have been searching for an underlying cause and believe it to be a fungal pathogen (possibly Candida famous for yeast infections). This has been in the naturopath literature and books for years (see William Crook - The Yeast Connection), but I have figured out a possible mechanism. Also, in the medical literature, there is a gut/brain connection - a lot of the time, this can be connected to poor digestion (GERD, IBS, constipation, etc.). I do not know if the last bit holds true for you all. The imbalance can come about in pregnancy (decreased immune response), from taking the pill, drinking chlorinated water (remember it kills bad bacteria, but it can also kill good bacteria), using antibacterial products, and other things as well. If the fungal infection is the underlying problem, you will show positive allergy response to mold (but your doctor will think you are nuts if you suggest this as the scientific connection has not been shown). I have tried some natural ways of treating this issue and hubby is healthier than he has been in several years. BTW, symptoms usually get worse after a bad illness - hubby had some sort of illness with extremely high fever before he had his worse depression). I can relate the fungal form to both endorphins and serotonin as well.

First of all... WOW... this is definitely something I am going to research more. I have drank chlorinated water for many many years since our city's water supply comes from the Grand River connected to Lake Michigan and btw the Grand River is also where the city dumps its treated sewage. During heavy spring rains it dumps untreated sewage and so they put out no-contact warnings and up the chlorine... makes a good argument FOR drinking bottled water around here!!

I've been on several anti-depressants in the 4 years of severe depression, including trazadone. I took it in conjunction with other medications and was used for sleep only. For the most part, didn't do to much for sleep but made me not really care if i functioned or not so I discontinued it. I think most of my bad experience had to do with the other meds I was on because after they made the diagnosis of bipolar disorder and totally switched my meds I was better. I take Elavil for sleep now, but only if I absolutely positively need it because it literally shuts me down for a day or longer.
Just keep up with the Trazadone. If after 4 weeks you don't really see an improvement see your dr and he/she can tweak the dosage or switch meds altogether. There are many, many effective drugs out there today.