Hi all
do antidepressants really help you? I just feel that they aren’t going to take away my problems/disability. Interested in others opinions/experience. I just always feel in a state of grief for the things I used to be able to do.
thanks
Hi,
Coming to terms with MS is hard knowing what you used to able to do and how it now effects you now,
When I was first diagnosed back in 95 I was finding life difficult to cope, I felt I had been tethered but with the help of close friend/partner I broke free, I did go on anti depressants for a couple of years they did help a bit. You just to try and find a positive outlook on life its the only one we get so don`t waste it.
Keep smyelin
kielyn
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They help me cope with MS. A few times i have tried to go without but i couldn’t cope & resigned myself to it’s a small price to pay to remain happy - Prozac 60mg daily, buspirone for anxiety
Hello, you ask if anti depressants help? I answer as someone who experiences significant mental health symptoms - which may at the end of the day be linked to any MS diagnosis I finally get - and as a former Mental Health Officer in Scotland. So the latter would give me many responsibilities to haveknowledge of mental illness and its impact on a person’s life etc through to working jointly with a Psych to detain and take into hospital. I currently take 225 mg of Venlafaxine for depression. This is very effective and is helping me be more positive and more active while before I was stuck. Life is for living - why would I want to sit around like a vegetable? In addition I take 150 mg Pregablin twice daily for anxiety and that helps me function much more calmly and think things through. Now I do have very clear symptoms of depression and anxiety and they might be linked to what is physically going on in my brain. Who knows. I choose to feel better, have better personal relationships and enjoy my life to the best of my ability. The choice is yours. Only you can decide.
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anon -
I know where you’re coming from - however much anti depressant we take the problem remains. No amount of drugs is going to help me when the m.s. is getting me down - no amount of anti-d will help me cope with the loss of a much loved relative.
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My advice is focus on what you can do now and not what you were capable of in the past. I was an active sports person and can’t do Jack now. I stayed off anti depressants as I didn’t want to go down that route. It’s hard but worthwhile.
‘I just feel that they aren’t going to take away my problems/disability.’
They won’t, you’re right. The thing they can help with is giving the mind a bit of a breather from the negative thoughts, allowing a person a change of perspective and encouraging more constructive thinking. We all have the task of living as well as we can, despite MS and its difficulties. It is hard to get the basics right when you’re depressed (the usual boring-but-important stuff like fresh air and exercise and sleep and good food etc). Once a person makes a bit of headway there, it can open up some new perspectives on the bigger issues and how we are going to live with them. Speaking personally, I can do nothing whatever about any of that when I’m depressed. When I’m not depressed, more things become possible. .
Alison
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