anti depressants

Just want to make a quick post about these wonder drugs I'm on just in case any other guys out there suffer from depression like my crazy ass.

At about my one year mark I started having major depression problems. Part of it is chemical. I have battled with depression all my life. Also, after going through such extreme rapid weight loss i really battled with my body image, and it has taken time to feel normal being thin.

From my depression, I had resorted back to self medicating with food, and I gained like 10ish pounds very quickly, so I decided to snap out of it and see a shrink. I initially refused to even try pills because they have never worked for me. My doctor suggested that because of my size the meds weren't being properly absorbed, and I should at least see if something will help now that I got the weight off.

Zoloft actually works now with the weight off, and I feel 1 million times better. Treating my depression also stopped me from resorting back to my food addiction. If anyone has depression and thinks meds won't work, I promise after losing a bunch of weight they are absorbed much better.

Yehuda

 Congrats dude. I was on Pristiq for Anxiety for about a year too, and yeah I could definitely tell the difference.

The one thing that took me a while to get used to, and the reason I eventually stopped taking them was that they made me feel like all my emotions (not just the negative ones that used to get out of hand) got the volume turned down to 1. There were times when I wasn't sure if something made me mad, happy, or sad because I really couldn't feel the emotional response. I eventually learned to do some introspection and stop and examine myself from time to time to see them because they were still there, just a lot quieter.

I eventually stopped, but they proved to be a great tool to teach me how to deal with my emotions in a better way. They sort of cleared all the comotion that was there before to help me get a good look at myself with out so much mental distraction. 

I quit my crazy pills.

Thanks for posting about the anti depressant meds. I've heard that weight loss like ours can really mess with the hormones and upset our mental health. Good to know that Zoloft is working better for you with the weight off.

But, I'm very nervous about going back on anti depressants. Years ago I started on Zoloft and it worked for about a year and then stopped doing any good. Eventually ended up on a ****tail of drugs including Effexor, Luvox, Cylert, Methylphenidate, and Neurontin. While on these drugs my weight started balloning up and I was walking around in a constant daze.

I took myself off these drugs in 2000 (cold turkey) and am scared to death of taking any mental health drugs again. I've blamed them for my weight gain and am afraid they could start me down that road again.

Since surgery, I've noticed a dramatic improvement in my moods. But, I'm still in the WLS honeymoon stage. Keeping my fingers crossed that the positive results continue and I don't experience the 1 year shift.

Hope the Zoloft continues working for you and that it turns things around for you.

Again, I appreciate the heads up.

Hey Potato,

Do you experience any of what Juan is referring to? I was on them for years in dealing with anger issues. But hated that I along with blocking out the emotional lows, the emotional highs never really registered either. I felt like my emotions were muted, and I didn't like it.

Wondering if your experience is similar.

Chad

I know what you mean. SOme drugs take away the bad emotions and the good ones. Zoloft doesn't do that to me.

Yehuda

I've been on Zoloft for quite some time now, both before and after surgery. It has continued to work well for me. I will warn anyone who is interested and whose doctor restricts swallowing pills for a time after surgery, the liquid version of Zoloft is the worst tasting stuff I have ever taken. I tried it once and though I was going to need to go to the ER - I don't know if I had a reaction, dumped on it, or if the mint flavor caused a problem (it was like drinking Vicks VapORub). Regardless, I went back to crushing pills after vomiting all night. And, oh yeah, it IS worse coming back up than it was going down.

I don't find that Zoloft causes me to lose any of my range of emotions. For me, it simply removes the dark cloud and bad attitude I seem to suffer from without it.