Are you in the popular crowd?
I was doing a little reading and therefore a little resarch and learned that there are nine major antidepressants & antianxiety meds that are prescribed to patients. I have taken at least one drug from each of the nine major bases. This made me laugh … and I don’t really know why. I think that just means I’m one of those few patients who is not as sensitive as most in regards to SSRI’s and SNRI’s. I have no shame when it comes to my depression so I underlined all of the drugs that I have taken/tried to treat my illness.
1. sertraline - Zoloft, Lustral, Asentral, Serlift (was on for over two years before settling out at a level too low to function, one of the medications I had the fewest side effects with)
2. escitalopram - Lexapro, Cipralex (did not work for my anxiety although it made my depression lighter)
3. fluoxetine - Prozac, Sarafem, Fontex, Fludep, Lovan (current medication, one I don’t mind taking actually)
4. venlafaxine - Effexor XR, Effexor
5. citalopram - Celexa, Cipramil, Taohexane (did not work for any of my symptoms)
6. paroxetine - Paxil, Seroxat, Aropax (did not work, even after three months, for any of my symptoms)
7. trazadone - Desyrel (and learned the hard way that this is the one drug I am highly sensitive to and cannot take)
8. amitriptyline - Elavil (used intially to treat my migraines but worked well for chronic sleeplessness and pain)
9. bupropion - Wellbutrin, Zyban (caused me to lose too much weight to remain on it safely)
January 31st, 2007 at 10:06 pm
I have taken drugs from 5 of those groups for a total of 6 drugs. This doesn’t include anti-anxiety meds. Most of them either had side effects or I developed a tolerance and had to move onto something else. I have always taken the max dosage of everything.