If pills are making me worse

[MarcE10]

So I suffer from depression and I think possiblity the pills I'm on are making me worse I mean I also could just be having a long bad episode anyway if it so what do i do? I've been on them for 31 days so maybe they are suppose kick in by now.

[Rosiecont]

I have the same problem. I have been taking pills which has been helping me a lot, doesnt cause me to worry or have panic attacks anymore .

[Countrymorninggirl]

That's great, happy for you. ;)

[Countrymorninggirl]

Hello! ;) Let your Dr know right away whats going on. Your Dr can let you try another medication if that one is making you fill worse. I just went through the same thing. The medication my Dr prescribed made me fill horrible, so I let her know and she had me try something different. So far it's working great. Contact your Dr! Wish you the best!!

[Countrymorninggirl]

I thought it was working great, to good to be true. Makes me feel like crap!!!! :(

[CML2014]

Hi MarkE10,
Well you doctor could of given you another med without the long spelling....that's a joke. What you are taking is the generic name for LEXIPRO, and this is a very common drug for depression.
What is not common is YOU and how your reacts to it. That is why you must see your Psychiatrist., usually monthly in the beginning to see how your body is handling it. IF you do not take this EXACTLY as it is prescribed for you , you could end up feeling worse.
By 31 days there should have been some noticeable difference, so I am going to assume you have missed a few doses or did not go up gradually to the intended MG.
Your Psychiatrist is the ONLY one you should be discussing this with. He has all your bloodwork and information and has made a diagnosis based on these factors.
I would make an appointment at once, k?
CML  

[Paxiled]

A psychiatrist having your blood work?  Not in this world.  As for assuming doses have been missed because the drug isn't working, also not true.  Many people do not benefit from a particular drug.  Many people don't properly metabolize a particular drug.  If every one worked perfectly all the time, we'd only have one, right?  None of these drugs did all that great vs. placebo in their clinical trials.  Sometimes a drug just doesn't work even if taken exactly as instructed.  And the only doctor with your blood work is your primary care physician provided you're getting regular physicals, but their reports virtually never mention drug levels on them.  You'd have to get a lab done just on this if you really wanted to know, but what would be the point?  It wouldn't change the facts on the ground, which is that so far, this drug isn't helping this person.

[CML2014]

hi Paxiled,
Your psychiatrist may not take your bloodwork, but I get mine drawn monthly when  I have my monthly exam. Recently he upped my antidepressants.

.....and as for MarkE10
You" also" do not know if he HAS taken  his antidepressants the EXACT way they were prescribed.
Many people feel they can miss a few days and it's ok

May I tell you I have been on antidepressants for some 30 years. I think they save lives and am a great fan of their use.

............and of course I know different drugs work for different people, I take 2 scrips exactly for that  reason.
That is why I told Mark that he is the variable--what works for one may not work for another.

I am sorry , I am new to this site and thought it was a discussion where OPINION counted.
You may be the moderator, you have the most "answers" stars. However with your definitive answers why are the rest of us here

I feel your response to me was extremely rude and snarky. you could have worded it another way.
What a wonderful welcome to this site!
Sincerely CML

[Paxiled]

Well, I tried to respond to your concerns, but my response was probably taken down by MedHelp.  So I'll try again, and if they take it down again, so be it.  I wasn't trying to be snarky, but I do disagree with you on the facts.  Opinion is a fun thing, but when we bring facts into the discussion they need to be accurate and useful.  If I can remember what I said, you really can't be objective if you're a "fan" of meds.  Meds are meds, they don't work as well as advertised but if you try enough of them you might find benefit.  You might also end up being tied to them for the rest of your life, along with the resulting possible harm any medication packages along with the benefits.  Blood levels of a drug tell you it's in your system, but if it doesn't work for you or the side effects are worse than the illness, it really makes no difference that it's in your blood.  Whether a drug works or not isn't determined by blood levels, it's more complex than that and has more to do with liver metabolites and factors of brain neurochemistry we don't understand -- nobody, after all, knows why anyone gets anxiety or depression at this point, though there is some evidence with psychoses that there might be a genetic component.  There are psychiatrists who use all kinds of unproven technologies that supposedly help determine the best drug and right dosage, such as EEG tests and CT scans and a host of things but they all end up with trail and error when it comes to treatment.  So for any individual, the only important thing is, does the drug do what you want, did you need the drug in the first place, is it a physiological cause such as thyroid or blood sugar or any number of things rather than a mental disorder, and what's the course of treatment that presents the least amount of risk.  The latter usually means seeing a therapist first before going on medication, unless your life is so disrupted you need immediate intervention.  We all bring our own personalities to this forum -- I'm not a cuddly guy, I'm more interested in people doing something about their problems early so they don't end up like you and I with decades spent on medication rather than using their natural brains.  But you know, SpecialMom and I disagree about this all the time and we never have a personal problem with it.  I don't know why you have a problem with someone disagreeing with your interpretation of the science.  If I offended, I didn't mean to, my interest was in protecting the original poster.  As for the many stars I have, no, I'm not a moderator, it just means I answer a lot of questions.  It doesn't mean they're good answers, it's just a quantity thing.  I started answering more and more questions because the old timers who were here when I first got on here are all gone now, and a lot of posts weren't being answered at all.  So that's where that comes from.  I welcome your new voice to the forum, we need new blood, but you do need a bit of a thick skin here.  Look at the archives and you'll see that.  Peace.  

[CML2014]

No Problem -all good Paxil

[Paxiled]

You don't mention what kind of pills, so it's hard to comment.  If it's an antidepressant, different people react differently and metabolize drugs at different rates of efficiency -- or not at all.  It's said to take 4-6 weeks for most people to notice an antidepressant is working, but side effects start right away.  You're at the point where you probably should be feeling something -- side effects such as sedation or stimulation, something -- and some improvement.  It might be time to talk to your psychiatrist and see if this drug isn't the right one for you.

[Paxiled]

And the safest way to start a drug is to taper up on it just as the safest way to stop is to taper down on it.  You seem to indicate you started on one dose and are still at that dose.  That could indicate you're doing this with a general doc rather than a psychiatrist, which isn't usually the best option.  The reason for this is to see how you react, to measure your tolerance for the drug, and so it might be you're not at a therapeutic level yet if you were properly tapered up on the drug.  Again, that metabolism thing -- some people only need a little, some need more to get it in to their systems.  Feeling increased depression could be a side effect, though it could also just be you're feeling more depressed.

[MarcE10]

Actually it was a phychiatrist and he prescribed something called apo-escitaplopram he wanted to see me back there in 6-8 weeks. Is it possible that I have yet to expect any good side effects? Like I said maybe it's just a bad episode but I don't know.