Saturday, October 3, 2009

Meds

I have been on a series of SSRIs over the past 7 years. It started with a 3 week stint on "Paxil" causing shakes, twitches, and paranoia. That was followed by a year on Celexa with very good outcomes and little side-effects until the depression came back. This lead to the past 5 1/2 years on Effexor. Now let me clarify, this 5 1/2 years consisted of my dose being increased every 6 -12 months so that as of about 6 months ago I was taking 300mg a day with little to no actual control of the depression and anxiety but a whole host of side effects the worst being the perpetual sweats.
So now in addition to CBT I find myself once again changing medications. This time its a slow process as Effexor has terrible withdrawal  side effects including Vertigo and vomiting. So I am weaning myself of the effexor slowly cutting the dose in half every 6 weeks and slowly increasing the dose of my new drug, Cipralex. Of course anytime a drug regime changes there is time spent reading about the effects and side effects indications and contra- indications etc. It was during this reading that a little blub caught my attention. The drug manufacturer included this note for the patients information "continue to take ***** for as long as your doctor recommends it. In some cases ****** is taken for an extended period...in some cases for several months.

Months is considered an extended period? I have been taking this family of drugs for the better part of a decade! I am not suggesting that I want to discontinue  my medication, because without the stabilizing effect of the SSRIs  I would not be able to function day to day and in all honestly would likely be dead by now. But what effects are these drugs, whose makers indicate that an extended treatment period is months, having long term on a person who has been taking them for years? Will there be a day when I can live without them? I mean really live a meaningful existence?
That's what I'm pondering today.

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