Zoloft!!! What being over a year out means to me

Sending hugs and support.

and thanks for sharing and being honest. Losing weight helps fix one aspect of our lives, but we human folk are too complicated so there's lots of other stuff laying around too. Boo.

For me, a combo of meds (an SNRI like Alison takes) and CBT worked wonders when I had awful, soul crushing depression and social anxiety. and like Frisco, I needed the meds to do something first before I could even tackle therapy. I chose CBT because I needed something more hands on than just talking about my crap, while it was damn hard, it was very helpful and I still use the methods to help me sort out things when I find my thoughts spiraling towards the "nobody likes me, everybody hates me, guess I'll go eat worms" side of life.

Hang in there. Speaking up and getting help is damn important. So, yay you. :)

Thank you for sharing your experience.  I knew losing weight wouldn't fix the head stuff.  I knew it RATIONALLY, but damn if I was completely unprepared for how I'd feel when I did lose the weight ;)

Deena, I miss you and I really can't explain how badly I wish I was in Austin right now so I could just hug you and tell you what an amazing person you are. You deserve the best that life has to offer, and only the best, and if this helps you with your emotions then go for it. It doesn't change who you are, it's just going to help your light shine through. You can and will survive this. Love you!!! 

Oh, I just love you, but you already know that.  I'd kill for a Summer hug :)  I'll be fine, I just need to deal with a bit more **** that I was prepared for.  Shocking, right?  :)

I read this post this morning on my phone after I woke up, and I wanted to log on at work to reply. But work was crazy, so here I am at home, finally getting to reply. Thank you for being so brave and posting about the good, the bad and the ugly here. There is such a stigma attached to mental health that I know it takes a lot of strength to walk into a doctors office and admit you need help, and even more to post about it in a public forum. So, I think you are freaking amazing and am proud of you. 

I took SSRIs for many years for depression and anxiety - I credit them with saving my life. I had to try about 4 before I found the one that worked well for me that had minimal side effects - Lexapro. I remember that I had a sense of feeling in control of my emotions for the first time ever once I started ADs. 

I stopped taking Lexapro in March this year after a lot of thought about whether I truly needed it. And thought I was doing pretty well. Your post and the comments have made me consider whether I should restart it. I've realized this week I am experiencing a ton of anxiety and I'm getting overwhelmed by many things. I've also felt physical pain much more intensely since stopping Lexapro. So THANK YOU for giving me something to think about. I am going to do some reflection on whether I need help again.

Hugs to you!!

Aww thank you, Lindsay, that means a lot.  I hope you feel better with or without the meds.  I'm here for you, just like you're here for me.  :)

Starting psych meds is hard because it's so much of an unknown-- is it going to change who I am? Make me feel numb? But I absolutely think it's worth it. In the end, you're not a bad person, your brain isn't wired quite right and just needs a little help! (I have bipolar and anxiety and I've been on meds for many years, and it's made a huge change for the better.)

Finding the "right" med is often a trial and error process; it's not like diabetes where you can test your blood and figure out if you need more or less medication. Different people react differently to various meds, some may make you kind of sleepy, others may just not do anything, so you'll probably spend some time tweaking doses or trying a few different kinds altogether.

If you ever want to chat about meds or whatever, feel free to send me a message; over the past 12 years or so, I've tried many different ones so I've got a bit of "been there done that" and I'm more than happy to listen and help as best I can.

Sending love your way! :)

Thanks so much!  I really appreciate your response.  I hope I can find some med that doesn't make me feel like a zombie.  I was given Atarax to help with the panic attacks while we wait to see if the Zoloft will help.  It definitely makes me feel like a zombie, but it's helping me sleep :)

You're totally right about just not being wired quite right.  Every woman in my family suffers from depression (I'd hazard a guess that most people suffer depression at some point), and my dad was hospitalized around my age because he thought he was having a heart attack - turns out he was having panic attacks.  I've been able to find tons of coping mechanisms for these things, but I'm just exhausted coping with them and the anxiety in particular seems so much bigger than it has been.  Toughing it out while I make my family and myself unhappy seems ridiculous at this point.  We all need help sometimes, even stubborn loudmouths like me.

Thanks again!

That actually makes sense about Atarax-- it's actually a heavy-duty antihistamine. If benadryl makes you sleepy, this one works in much the same way! My doctor actually has me take a double-dose of benadryl when I'm out of Ativan, which is my quick-acting med for panic attacks and when I can't sleep.

The Zoloft works a bit differently in the brain, so it shouldn't quite zonk you out in the same way. :)