What to expect when starting meds for anxiety/depression?

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I'm going to see a psychiatrist soon, to see if I can get some meds for my anxiety and depression problems. Some of you may have seen from my posts in General Autism Discussion that I do sound depressed sometimes....and scared.

But, anyway, hopefully some of that will go away once I find some meds that work for me. My question is what I need to watch out for/expect while my body and brain adjust to the meds, or if they just don't work.

Like.....

- Physical problems? Stomach troubles, diarrhea, constipation....

- Feeling even worse than before? Crying a lot more, feeling even more anxious and scared....

- Possibly becoming aggressive? I'm never aggressive (as in, threatening, yelling, throwing stuff) but I've heard of young kids having bad reactions from certain meds like that. Technically, I'm not a kid (I'm 20), but I'm still concerned.

If anyone has any advice for me about what to do, what to watch out for, that would be great.

BTW: We're thinking of starting me out on the lowest possible dosage of something (not sure what yet) and then titrating it up as needed.

it all deppends on the particular meds

but one thing to remember is not to expect it to get better overnight alot of the meds you have to wait awhile till they get into your system before feeling it working. even if you feel he side effects at first it may still not be in your system yet it takes time for the chemical to get past the blood brain barrier


but deffinately one thing to watch out for is be aware of drug interactions many are unaware at the many things that interact with certain meds (including foods!) always check with a pharmacst before any otc product for colds ect.

Ah yes, I have heard that it does take awhile...thanks for letting me know about the side effects.




Foods can cause drug interactions, too? I didn't know that...Thanks for mentioning that, too! I also take Advil for headaches/migraines, too, so I'll have to mention that to a pharmacist, too. Thank you so much for reminding me of that!

Honestly? I have tried close to a dozen antidepressants and none of them have made a damn difference, except for making me sleepy and giving me head zaps when I went off them. Oh, and one made my Tourette's tics unbearable. I'm on a new antidepressant now (it's the 6th day), and am hoping that maybe this will be "the one." I hope you have better luck!

For me, the first two weeks were terrible with lots of side effects, from stomach problems, to headaches, to worsening symptoms, to mood swings. bleh. After that everything stabilized out, I might be a bit more anxious and jittery but it was better than being suicidal. So have someone with you who can sort-of watch out for you during the early parts if you are having emotional instability during the early part. I cannot eat grapefruit with my meds, but beyond that I am fine. Some pain meds interact badly (found out when I broke my wrist), but just talk to your doc or pharmacist if you are prescribed a different med. I also have a low dose anxiety med that I can take if I am anxious or if I feel I might become anxious. If you are still having bad side effects after 2-4 weeks, that is when you need to talk to the psych if a different med might be better.

Good luck, and I hope you start to feel better soon.

Nothing along these lines for me. They just tend to make me a little drowsy, so I take mine right before I go to bed.


Not on my current one, but the meds I tried previously sent me on a bit of a roller coaster; I'd be happy and generally feeling "up," and the next day I'd be moody, irritated and basically a b****.


The only time that has happened to me is when I ran out of my meds (mind you, I'm on a relatively high dose), and I didn't have time to call in the refill, let alone pick it up! I got really mad at everyone and everything, I'd scream, thrown fits, and almost punched my fiance twice.

My suggestion is, don't worry if you don't get the right dosage, or even the right meds, on the first try. One of my family members had to try 20 different meds and doses to get the right one for her; I only had to go through 5 doses between 2 meds. Also: if you have to call up your pharmacy to tell them you need your refill, set an alarm in your phone to remind you a few days before you run out, that'll give you the chance to get there, or have your parents pick it up. Depending on the type of meds as well, you may not be able to take certain over-the-counter stuff, so be sure to talk to either your doctor, or the pharmacist. DON'T BE AFRAID TO ASK QUESTIONS!! ! It is YOUR health, don't let anyone else take care of it. One handy thing is a lot of the commonly prescribed antidepressants have a little bit of anti-anxiety naturally in the combo.

When I was put on SSRIs, for the first month my stomach was upset - constipated, and I had panic attacks most nights. After the first month things got better.
Coming off the meds has been horrible, for the past 6 months I've been very panicky and heady and pain everywhere. This has only started to get better recently.
That's my experience with anti-depressants. Sorry, probably sounds a bit negative. I am off them now and not planning on ever going back on them. However, everybody is different so the serverity of reactions to meds varies alot.
Good luck in finding something that helps.

The usual meds that they would start somebody with for these problems would be SSRIs. Despite the rather intimidating list of possible side effects, for the vast majority of people they are well-tolerated. I've taken a few different SSRIs and these are the side effects I had from them:

* Slight nausea for the first few weeks.
* Feeling a little bit more spaced out and detached - this went away after a month or two.
* Changes in, shall we say, "bedroom performance". I'm male and personally I found it very difficult to climax whilst on SSRIs. A woman who I had relations with around the time I started on SSRIs found that she had the same problem from them. Some people might actually consider this to be a benefit I suppose (in fact I believe that SSRIs are sometimes used to treat premature ejaculation). I hope it's ok to say this in a family-friendly part of the site - I tried to be as non-explicit and matter-of-fact as possible.
* Overall feeling a little emotionally flat - this also went away after a length of time (don't actually remember - it was a while though, maybe 6 months).

Those were about the worst things that happened to me and from what I gather that is a fairly typical set of side effects (not at all like the terrifying side effects on the patient leaflets).

Edit: For me the benefits far outweigh the negatives. I also don't usually find coming off them that bad.

I felt detached from reality whenever I took SSRIs' until I went on them when I was 19. Not sure why.

The first time I took an SSRI I ended up in the hospital with psychotic mania. This is because I have bipolar disorder, which was undiagnosed at the time.

I've heard of people's depression and getting worse, even of people getting suicidal thoughts.

It's also hard to come off them - it's not withdrawal in the traditional sense but your system gets messed up and it can also trigger a mood episode, cause awful vomiting and dizziness etc.

These are serious drugs for a serious illness. Read all of the fine print carefully and make sure a loved one reads it too and keeps a close eye on you for at least the first two weeks.

Yes, Bipolar disorder should ALLWAYS be rouled out befor giving antidepressents, but they hardly do this.
Especially in disorders where a comorbid Bipolar disorder is more common, like ADHD, autism and also psychotic symptoms who could be an indicator for schizoaffective. But they usually never think of bipolar, just when you get really manic.

How is that not like withdraw in the traditional sense? Its still bad effects of stopping a drug your body has gotten dependent on. Only difference is a doctor told you to take that one because they thought the benefit would be greater than the risk as opposed to someone choosing to do a drug them self after deciding if they think its worth the risk. But either way if they get dependent withdrawal is withdrawal.

Also I was close to ending up in a hospital when I took prozac after 3 and 1/2 weeks because of what it did, but luckily I mellowed out enough on my own and quit taking the damn things.

Well they're not addictive in the sense that you crave them. I don't know anybody who gets a craving for antidepressants. It's just that the sudden change in your brain chemistry and other things jolts you around a lot, if you stop taking them suddenly. Most people can go off them gradually easily enough, a strategy which isn't as easy for other classically addictive substances. Your body and brain don't require antidepressants to function properly like a caffiene addict needs caffiene. And there's the fact that if the antidepressants have been stopping your depression it may return once you stop taking them.

I have been on bupropion(generic for Wellbutrin) 150mg once a day for a while now, and it definitely helps with the depression but not 100%. Today my doctor prescribed buspirone(generic for Buspar) 10mg twice a day to go with it, to help fight mild stress/anxiety issues and further lower the depression.

Anyone here familiar with buspirone or this specific combination?