Posted by JohnL on March 13, 2003, at 5:47:40
In reply to depression as transient side effect, posted by Hattree on March 10, 2003, at 20:57:29
I've tried a lot of meds that made my depression worse at first. I gave some of them good trials. But if they started out bad, they always continued bad. Sometimes it got a little better, sometimes a little worse, but generally speaking an initial downturn on a new med in my opinion is a clue that it is not the right med and is targeting the wrong chemistries in the wrong ways.
This phenomenon can actually be to your benefit. It can save a lot of time. If you get more depressed right away on a new drug, there's no need to carry on the trial any longer. Jump to your next choice instead. You see, just the same way as some meds will make you feel worse right away, some will make you feel better almost right away. Those are the ones you want to devote longer trials to.
In my book, the idea is to feel better, not worse. Any doc that tries to claim that a drug might make me more depressed before it starts to work is going to find that I am no longer his/her patient. That's ridiculous, absurd, and when talking about depression, risky in terms of suicide, broken families, and lost jobs.
Other people can suffer through a drug that makes them feel worse at first and hope they feel better later. More power to them. Some of them may indeed get better over time. But I won't play that game with my life.
> Has anyone had the experience of taking a medication for depression that caused worse depression at first, but later worked as an anti-depressant?
poster:JohnL
thread:207864
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20030310/msgs/208682.html