ANTI DEPRESSANTS SSRIs AND 'I DONT LOVE ANYMORE'

[adinva]

I think anyone with emotional problems that would benefit from medication should be under the close supervision and follow up of a GOOD medical/mental health professional. Not just a prescription writer. These things do mess with your brain chemistry and they are not an exact science. You shouldn't throw the baby out with the bathwater, but you should have a relationship where you can tell your spouse your concerns about their personality changes and have them be open to your input. Mental and emotional health is so complicated.

Just to add one more story to the mix, I have been on paxil for about a year and a half after being VERY concerned about taking anything. Not taking anything contributed greatly to the breakdown in my marriage. Various things that I did that helped me cope in life were annoying to my husband and destructive to myself and my goals. It is no point of pride, anymore, that I held tough and didn't seek treatment.

I started at a very low dose, which my NP said anything lower would be like taking a sugar pill. I feel creepy for almost a month. Weird and disjointed. I got some help from people who have been-there done-that to understand what to expect and asked lots of questions. Once about a month had gone by, I was fortunate to have just the right effect.

I had emotions both good and bad. Sometimes my sitch made me angry and I'd have a crying spell. I just wasn't completely unhinged by shock and grief like I had been at first. I wasn't as short-tempered with my frustrating S12. My emotions weren't running my brain anymore, but they were still there. I had less of a sex drive but that was expected, and it's not completely gone.

I did unfortunately gain about 30 lb over the past year, which was alarming because I've been a lifetime weight watcher member all that time and felt like I wasn't doing much different. Learning that weight gain can be a side effect of LONG-term paxil use, I decided to try tapering off and see how I do, and I feel pretty good without anything right now.

I'll go back to my doctor if I feel like I need it or something else - I would personally have tried effexor as my second line because it worked well for my sister (paxil worked well for my other sister) and families can sometimes have similar chemistry.

For my paxil sister, she told me that her attempt to use Wellbutrin created irrational fits of rage in her, so she went off it and recommended against it for me. Plenty of people find it to be the best one for them. They are all different.

When I read the first post here, I thought first much sympathy for the poster but second, was there NOTHING wrong with their marriage? Absolutely nothing? Is there nothing for him to learn or work on?

Consider that if you try to sue, they will put their entire legal team to work showing you how wrong you were about your marriage in the first place, and what role you played in what happened, that had nothing to do with your w's medication.

DB and all the vets here usually tell you to look at yourself first. It's the most useful, most healthy, most productive line you can take. What happened with your W's medication is very sad but not in your control.