A word from personal experience re: Serzone and other antidepressants

[Guest guest]

I saw Bonnie's post about the Serzone side effects. I have been through

a number of anidepressants and many had to be stopped because of side

effects affecting my functioning (Like such severe nausea I could hardly

move, severe dizziness causing falls, etc). It can take weeks to know

what your body's response will be AND which side effects will go away

and by how much.

An antidepressant is a very individual medication. What works for one

may be intolerable by another. As it takes weeks to know their effect,

it can sometimes take quite sometime to get on one that suits your body

and your depression both. This can be a very frustrationg process. Some

improved my mood yet made me terribly sick. Others had few side effects

and very little effect on the depression.

The thing is - don't give up after trying just one. If side effects are

affecting your functioning (like your cognitive function and memory, by

constant nausea, dizziness, behaviour changes, etc), advise the doc of

this and maybe a new one will be started rather than waiting out

unpleasnat side effects only to find the drug just isn't for you and

isn't helping a s much.

In my experience the serzone and celexa were most helpul. Effexor had me

so nauseated I could hardly move, Prozac made the fatigue so bad I was

reduced to spending most of the time in bed as I could not stay awake

(this was even at a dose of 10mg). I guess the way to look at it is that

these drugs do affect brain chemistry and we are all individuals so I

think that is why people's responses to these meds are so varied.

Joyce