OK, a brief summary of my view on SSRIs.
I've never taken and ADs, nor been in a position to need to be prescribed them.
Last year, Mrs North got, frankly, to the end of her tether. So, my experience of AD consumption is from the perspective of carer, rather than patient.
First, she was prescribed Seroxat. It didn't agree with her at all, making her physically very ill.
Lesson 1: not all drugs work for all people all of the time. Don't just stick with it if it doesn't work for you.
After a break of a few weeks from Seroxat, the doc tried Citalopram, which she seemed not to have the same reaction with. So, she went with it.
Lesson 2: Doctors have a pretty standard formula for prescribing ADs. Pretty much Seroxat, Citalopram and Fluoxetine seem to the first and second choice drugs.
After the initial "getting onto them" reaction of a couple of weeks - mild nausea, for Mrs North, rather than the violent sickness of Seroxat - she settled down pretty quickly. Her dose was 20mg, which I believe is that standard initial dose.
The doc then wanted to up the dose. Mrs North said no. She was feeling the benefit of 20mg, but did not want to have any stronger effect just yet (and was also fearful that she would be made as ill as she had been by the Seroxat). Additonally, Mrs North was aware of one person who had taken their own life while on - and thought to be as a result of - Citalopram. I made a promise to her that i would never be further away than 20 minutes from her in the event that she felt everything had become too much again.
Lesson 3: take control of your own medication and health.
Mrs North described the effect of taking them as being like seeing the world through a letter box. She no longer felt the depths of despair that she had, but equally could not attain emotional highs either. Her world was one where she wasn't altogether numb to emotion, but it was noticeably restricted.
Was this good or bad? Well, given that she'd gone right to the very edge, for her to achieve some emotional and rational stability was a good thing. Mrs North recognised this, and was happy with the softening of the blow that she had encountered.
Lesson 4: the drugs can give you a bit of breathing space.
At the same time, however, Mrs North also found herself a CBT counsellor who she really connected with. She wasn't the first person Mrs North saw, but was the person to whom she attributes the greatest success in her recovery. Straight "listening" counselling was not enough; it took the work of someone to challenge her, and examine her thought processes to really make progress.
Lesson 5: the drugs alone won't cure anything, but the ADs and the right therapy - chosen by you - will be a much more effective combination.
The final element of her road to recovery was general health. Exercise and sleep. We suffered badly for a while with our pikey neighbours having their music pounding through the walls at all hours, and this really affected her. A stand up row with the blok next door seemed to help slightly, as did time off work to get her head together, sleep and concentrate on getting better. I also made sure that I adjusted my lifestyle to work for both of us in getting her better, and I think that was useful as I provided a shoulder to lean on.
Lesson 6: You need to get all the orhte factors in place. It won't happen immediately, but taking one step at a time will massively help.
As a result of the above, though Mrs North was suffering a very deep depression and had effectively had a nervous breakdown, she was able to take herself off the Citalopram after only six months. She was pleased when she did that - in the usual way, over a period of time - as she had not become entirely dependent on it. Instead, she had used it only as the crutch needed to be able to take on the other things necessary to start the road to recovery.
So, is it all bad? No, it may well be the right drug for you. It may well have similar effects to your experience of Prozac, but approaching it in the terms decribed above may mean that you get to lessen that effect and rely less heavily on the ADs. As for whether it's specifically the right drug for you, I bet you'll get as many people tell you it worked for them as those who tell you it didn't. If you're going to give it a go, just do your best to check yourself, both in a physical and mental sense. OK, that's not easy right now, of course, but asking yourself the quesiton of "do i feel better today than yesterday" may well help you decide more quickly if it's the right AD for you.
Good luck.
