Anti depressants help with dealing with change?

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I was taking citilopram 20mg to try and help control the anxiety that rules my ibs. It caused me to have undesirable side effects though and so I recently came off it. What I've noticed is that when I was on them I dealt with change better and now that I've stopped taking them I just can't deal with change at all again. What would be the reason for this do you think? Has anyone else experienced this? Thanks.

I am taking 5mg of the same drug. I read that most people in the spectrum need a v low dose of SRRI to have an effect.

Interestingly the small side effect for me IS IBS......never have I blow off so much in my life. Re the effect of coming off the drug and how this effects change, well........ I do recall everything being overwhelming for a little while.

They can help. I've been on one type or another for years. If the one drug doesn't work, there are others or maybe you needed a smaller dose. People on the spectrum have shown to be more sensitive to drugs and may not need as much to get the same affect as a NT would get.

Well to be honest they didn't really help the ibs. The doctor has put me on a different medication specifically for ibs. The problem is that I'm feeling really low and tearful and like I said I'm finding it really hard to cope with even small changes. I was like this at times before I started taking the anti depressants but they relieved. I didn't consider myself to be depressed but now I wonder if I am.

not directly. i think they help my mood and anxiety enough to where I CAN deal with them better, though.

kerryt84, what if for today, you try and do something positive, but not necessarily from your unwritten list of tasks? (I also have my unwritten list of tasks, and at times I also find it overwhelming, closed in, etc, etc) Or, it's also perfectly okay to just take a break for a day.

I very much agree with this. Human biochem is a subtle thing, is a tricky thing. If one medication doesn't work (or has lousy side effects), another might work much better. And it's very helpful to have a doctor with a sense of light step willing to try another medication.

I also understand that sometimes if a medicine is discontinued, it can be like kicking out the bottom of a bucket. I mean, serotonin levels can really fall.

kerryt84, if you were taking 20 mg and quaker is taking 5, it is certainly possible that you could be getting this drop-off effect. If you don't feel you can halfway talk with your doctor, okay, trust that gut feeling, but please think about seeing another doctor.

Note: I AM NOT A DOCTOR.

I am interested in depression, feel I do okay research. Maybe I'll do medical journalism down the road but that is a far cry different from being a doctor, please understand that.

I think anti depressants numb most reactions to things. I reckon its the sedative effect of them. I noticed that whenever I took them I would deal with interruptions at work better.

you should tell your doctor about it...
my doctor used to give me some kind of antidepressant that makes me feel like a zombie, when this doc refused to change the med, i change the doctor, the one that listen to me, he changes my prescription and the new meds really helps! (with very little side effects eg nausea on the first few days)

I was once on SSRI's and looking back this is the only thing I can remember when I was on them:



No memory whatsoever. I think my anxiety was at an all time low though.

lol
as long as you don't get a new tattoo it's all good
sometimes it's better to not remember

I have had more success with diet and exercise than with antidepressants. Antidepressants do not seem to do an awful lot for me and are ineffective on their own. Changing my diet and exercising regularly though has had much better results in the past so I am going back to doing that again!

I also don't like trying different ones as I am highly sensitive to medications and can have bad reactions to them. I am also allergic to certain painkillers.

@bumble
good for you!
exercising sometimes helps me too.. especially when i'm so out thinking and worrying and don't realise how tense i was

Now, that's what I'm talking about!

You are the head coach. And if the doctor can't or won't listen to you, put him or her on the bench and get a new doctor. Well done.

I'm kind of that way, too. I can take a regular, over-the-counter antihistimine, and it's like I'm swimming through air. It's supposed to only work for 12 hours but it makes me drowsy for more than 12 hours. I have had better luck with prescription Allegra.

Okay, it seems to me that a good plan might be to start with 60% of the standard dose and then either phase it up or phase it down.

Thank you very much for putting the topic of exercise out there. I would only add that a person's biochemistry is a very individual thing and something that works great for one person, might not particularly do much for another. I think it's a matter of keep tinkering with medication and/or diet and/or exercise, and I might also add morning light (say if Seasonal Affective Disorder and lower melatonin (?) is a component of a person's depression).