urbanskipper4 said:I took Zyprexa a long time ago and felt amazing, my focus was totally on point, but yeah, the weight gain is real because it makes you hungry. My nutritionist keeps telling me it's not the pill itself making me fat, it's just what I eat because I'm too lethargic to do anything. Now I'm on Seroquel 150 mg and I feel good. The effect is pretty similar, kind of like Zyprexa or Risperdal. It doesn't make me gain as much weight and I don't get those shakes (like when your blood sugar crashes and you need food immediately) like I did with Zyprexa. At this dosage, Seroquel acts almost like an antidepressant for me. It does increase my appetite, but just a little bit. I was supposed to be on 200 mg, but that dose made my head spin so they lowered it. You can actually control yourself so you don't overeat. Seroquel is working pretty well for me.
Well, I think I'm actually going to try taking the Zyprexa Velotab sublingually this week. Apparently, according to some studies, if you take Zyprexa Zydis (the Velotab kind) sublingually—meaning you let it dissolve in your mouth rather than swallowing it straight to the stomach—it doesn't cause nearly as much weight gain. I'm genuinely curious if there's any actual truth to those research findings. I'll give it a shot and let everyone know how it goes.
analogorca33 said:They added Wellbutrin XR to my Prozac. Anyone else ever run this combo? How did you handle it?
Well, I’ve been on Paxil and Wellbutrin XR before. Honestly? Adding the Wellbutrin to the Paxil didn't really do much for me—it was like it wasn't even there. I've taken Prozac too, just not mixed with Wellbutrin. Still, I say give it a shot. You don't exactly have anything to lose, right? Who knows, maybe it'll be the magic fix for you.
Right now, I’m just sticking to Zyprexa 10 mg and Lexapro 20 mg, and honestly? I feel pretty good. In my case, Zyprexa was a total home run. There is just one little catch... I’ve definitely noticed it makes me hungrier, puts on some weight, and seems to slow down my metabolism quite a bit. So, I think I might ask my psychiatrist about switching over to Zeldox next time we meet. I’m really hoping Zeldox works as a solid substitute for Zyprexa. As for Seroquel, if I recall correctly from my last chat with my doctor, it isn't quite as potent as Zyprexa. Ideally, I’d love to give Abilify a shot—since it's considered a third-generation antipsychotic, people say it has the fewest side effects. It hasn't been approved here yet, though. I know it's been getting quite popular lately in the States.
Kenneth Scott41 said:But the manual specifically states that Effexor is classified among the more potent options for treating major depressive disorder... I mean, how is it even possible that you didn't feel anything at all while taking 150 mg??
So, what are you on now? Paxil?
And is anyone actually taking Seroquel?
That's pretty much what the fine print says for most SSRIs, too. But see, Effexor is a bit of an outlier—it belongs to the SNRI class along with Cymbalta, which means it hits both serotonin and norepinephrine. You can't really rank antidepressants by "strength" in a straight line. What works for one person might do absolutely nothing for someone else. Right now, I'm just on Lexapro 20mg; they say it's the "cleanest" option because it's so selective, so it tends to kick in faster than others, but that doesn't necessarily make it the superior choice. It all comes down to individual chemistry. Honestly, Lexapro is probably the most prescribed antidepressant in the USA right now.
fadedbear92 Quote: You’re putting in the work. You're hitting the gym, you're sticking to the PT, you're keeping up with the meds... I know it's a grind. It's heavy. It's exhausting. But please, just don't give up.👍
I mean, I really am trying... I truly am. But sometimes? Sometimes I just get this heavy, nagging feeling that some battles are already lost before they even begin. It’s like showing up to the fight with no armor, just standing there waiting for the inevitable. 😢 I guess we’ll just have to wait and see. After talking things through with my psychiatrist, I've decided to stick with the Lexapro for at least another three months. Who knows? Maybe this Lexapro thing will actually turn out to be my miracle drug.
Kenneth Scott41 said:It seems to be working quite well for me, particularly the combination of Lexapro and Zeldox. That Effexor XR at 75mg is actually one of the more potent options out there, and my doctor is actually increasing my dose to 150mg tomorrow morning. I just hope the adjustment doesn't hit me too hard. 🙄 As for me, I guess the Lexapro didn't really start kicking in until about a month and a half in. You might just need to hang in there and give it some time.
Well, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but 🙂 There’s no such thing as the "strongest" antidepressant out there. Period. I was on Effexor XR 150 mg myself and honestly? It did absolutely nothing for me. I couldn't even feel it working.
fadedbear92 said:Are you only on one antidepressant? Sorry, I totally forgot...
Right now, it’s just Lexapro. Though, looking back, I’ve cycled through just about everything—trying combinations of Prozac, Effexor, and Wellbutrin... nothing really stuck, even after giving each combo at least a month. Currently, my cocktail includes Lexapro, Eglonyl, Zyprexa, Xanax, and Normabell, plus I'm starting Dormicum tomorrow. My psychiatrist actually gave me the same warning you did—that given how much my system seems to require, Dormicum might not even touch the sides, but hey, it’s worth a shot, right? I deal with classic Borderline Personality Disorder, so self-destruction is basically baked into my DNA at this point. Honestly, no terminal diagnosis would shock me; if anything, I’d probably be relieved to finally wrap up this absolute wreck of a life.
Kenneth Scott41 said:That’s the way to do it; toss that Sanofi in the trash because it's useless! Believe me, Dormicum should put you right under immediately, though you really need to head straight to bed once you take it, or it won't even work. Good luck with everything. 5 Normabel?🤣 Please, don't do that... maybe just one or two Dormicum and you'll be set.👍
Thanks for the encouragement. Anyway, how are things with you? How's your cocktail of meds treating you? I'm still a total skeptic about this Lexapro, even though I've only been on it for two weeks. Honestly, I haven't found a single antidepressant that actually works for me yet... I've cycled through Prozac, Paxil, Effexor, and Wellbutrin. Maybe, just maybe, Lexapro will actually pull off some kind of miracle.🤷
So, I finally called it quits on the Sanofi last night. Honestly? I never want to touch that garbage ever again. I tried playing it safe to get some sleep—just a 10 mg Norma and 1.5 mg Xanax—but obviously, that did absolutely nothing. Not a wink. It wasn't until I bumped it up to 50 mg of Norma and 3.5 mg of Xanax that things actually shifted. Tomorrow I’m starting on Dormicum, so we'll see how that goes. Hopefully, it actually knocks me out, because if not, I'll probably just end up back at those massive doses of Norma and Xanax tonight. Look, I’m fully aware that I'm hooked on benzos, and frankly, I couldn't care less. If I have to pop them for the rest of my life, or if they eventually kill me... well, whatever. I suppose I'm just wired that way—pretty self-destructive, really. My health isn't exactly my top priority right now; if anything, the worse it gets, the better.
Kenneth Scott41 said:I have a friend who struggles with depression just like I do, though he also deals with manic episodes. He’s currently on Zyprexa; he tells me it works well enough for him, but the weight gain has been a real issue. He was taking Zeldox before—which is actually what I’m on right now—but it just didn't seem to do much for him.
I suppose I'm wondering, in your experience, which medication tends to be more effective for managing depression?
Well, Zyprexa is supposedly the heavy hitter; at least, that's what my psychiatrist claims. But honestly, it's all about how your own body reacts to it. Here in the States, they actually package Zyprexa with Prozac into a combo called Symbyax, specifically designed for those really stubborn, treatment-resistant cases of depression. Around here, doctors often just prescribe Zyprexa alongside a standard antidepressant.
fadedbear92 said:oh, they absolutely do! Every single one of those hypnotics and benzos causes dependency if you take them long-term. I seriously cannot believe you downed 10 Valiums!!!!!!!! hey!!! If you can't sleep, find an alternative! Valium is just meant to knock you out for about three hours anyway! Trust me, I've tried every hypnotic under the sun before they finally put me on an anticonvulsant—a mood stabilizer, Tegretol! Good grief, and you're taking Normabale and Xanax too!!! Is your shrink actually monitoring what you're taking, or are you even telling them about your dosages?! Do yourself a favor and read up on these meds.
Valium is actually quite specific since it isn't part of the benzodiazepine group. And yes, my shrink monitors everything I'm on, plus I go to psychotherapy sessions regularly. My shrink says I'm practically an alien because my body reacts so hypersensitively to medication. Honestly, I'm getting pretty sick of Valium. I'm seeing my doctor this Thursday and I'm going to suggest switching to Dormicum or Flurazepam instead of Valium.
Kenneth Scott41 said:I don't know, I guess I'm a bit worried about what that much Xanax combined with Normabel, plus Valium at night, will do to you; you might end up sleeping like a baby with a cocktail that heavy. Personally, I'm on Lexapro too, and I haven't had any side effects either; it seems to have settled in quite well for me. Also, what exactly do you mean by the acronym BPD?
Well, my body just works in its own strange way, I suppose. Take Valium, for instance. They say it doesn't cause physical dependency, but with me? Not so much. I started at 20 mg and somehow wound up at 50 mg or even higher—last night I actually took 100 mg. Currently, I take Normabel during the day and then combine Xanax with Valium at night. As for BPD, that’s just shorthand for Borderline Personality Disorder. To be honest, I'm really hoping Lexapro does the trick for me, too.
Hey everyone, just thought I’d check in and give you all an update on my new regimen: Lexapro 1x20mg Eglonyl 3x200mg Zyprexa 1x10mg Valium 1x50mg Xanax 1x1.5mg Normabel 3x10mg
So, I actually went cold turkey on the Paxil—just stopped everything at once without tapering—and honestly? Nothing. No side effects whatsoever, even though I was on 60 mg a day. I suppose I just have one of those weird bodies where things don't react the way they're supposed to... which is its own kind of frustrating, really. It leaves me sitting here trying to convince myself that if I'm not feeling any side effects, then maybe the meds aren't even working. I've started the Lexapro at 20 mg a day too, and again, absolutely zero side effects. To be perfectly honest, I can't even tell if the switch from Paxil to Lexapro has made a dent in anything; I feel like I'm still dealing with pretty much all the same BPD symptoms.
Has anyone here actually dealt with Prozac? I’ve been stuck on this Paxil for quite a while now—sixty milligrams a day, to be exact—and honestly, I’m just not feeling any better. It feels like I'm spinning my wheels.
Back at it again with yet another medication shuffle. My psychiatrist decided to pull the plug on my Prozac and swap it out for Wellbutrin instead. So, here is the current lineup: Paxil 60mg Wellbutrin 300mg Zyprexa 10mg Ambien 20mg Xanax 0.75 mg
I’m curious—does anyone here actually have experience using Wellbutrin? I’ve been trying to convince myself that this specific cocktail of Paxil, Zyprexa, and Wellbutrin is going to be the magic fix. Honestly, the power of suggestion is a funny thing... I already feel a bit better, 🙂 even though, realistically, it's far too early for the Wellbutrin to actually kick in. But, well, there it is. If you've dealt with Wellbutrin before, please, let me know what your experience was like.
fadedbear92 said:Hang in there—I'm really pulling for you.👍 Are you doing any psychotherapy? Sorry, I think I saw on that other depression thread that you were.
Yeah, I am in therapy, and honestly, it helps. It’s not some magic bullet, I wouldn't go that far, but for the most part, I'm satisfied with how it's going. I guess I'm just... skeptical about the medication side of things. I don't know, maybe I'm just being too demanding of what a pill is supposed to do for me. When I read those success stories online about people finding relief through meds, I think I end up setting these impossibly high expectations for myself.
fadedbear92 said:Man, it sounds like they’ve overhauled your meds just as much as mine! Setting the diagnosis aside for a second, what kind of symptoms are you actually dealing with?
Well, the symptoms feel pretty textbook BPD to me. I'm dealing with the depression, suicidal ideation, self-destructive streaks, being paranoid... I have a hard time attaching to people, too. On top of all that, there's the anxiety and social phobia. It’s a lot. Honestly, if things don't look up regarding the depression within a month, I'm going to ask my doctor about swapping out the Prozac for Lexapro. I'll definitely stick with the Paxil and Zyprexa, though; those two really help settle the anxiety and let me actually get some sleep.
Well, I suppose it’s my turn to chime in with my own little saga regarding psychotropic meds. Back at the start, I was diagnosed with an anxiety-depressive disorder and prescribed Paxil 20 mg, Dogmatil 200 mg, and Xanax 0.25 mgx3. Regarding the Paxil... well, I didn't feel any side effects whatsoever—absolutely nothing—but because of that, I didn't get much benefit out of it either, aside from it dampening my anxiety and social phobia. The depression, however, just sat there. Stubbornly. As for the Dogmatil, I didn't feel a thing from that either, though the Xanax helped me catch some sleep initially. In the meantime, they switched things up and gave me Valium 10 mgx2 for sleeping. It worked fine at first, but then I started experiencing these bizarre side effects—total amnesia, essentially. I wouldn't remember the moments leading up to falling asleep or what I had been doing right before; I’d wake up in the morning completely blindsided to find I'd spent an hour chatting with friends on my phone without a single memory of the conversation. But anyway, moving on. Since the Paxil wasn't quite cutting it for the depression, they bumped my dose up to 40 mg daily and added Effexor 150 mg to the mix. Much like the Paxil, I felt zero impact from the Effexor, and sadly, I can't offer a single positive word about it. Eventually, my diagnosis was updated to F60.3 (borderline), so I stopped the Dogmatil and Effexor and was put on Prozac 40 mg and Zyprexa 10 mg daily, all while continuing the Paxil. I took every one of these for at least a month, so I really should have felt even a slight improvement by now. Honestly? I still have this nagging suspicion that these antidepressants are little more than placebos, regardless of how much my psychiatrist insists otherwise. Currently, my regimen consists of Paxil 20 mgx2, Prozac 20 mgx2, Zyprexa 10 mg, Xanax and Normabel as needed, plus Valium if sleep decides not to come. I've been on this specific cocktail for about a month and a half now and still haven't felt any real shift, though I am sincerely hoping that with some solid psychotherapy, I might actually start feeling better soon.