medication effects

[purplefan]

I was sitting last night thinking how quickly you can deteriorate if you don't take you depression meds everyday. From Tuesday night when I mistakenly took all my morning dose at once it was a pretty rapid decline into negativity.This is not a guideline set in stone as medication can effect people differently but just wanted to record my experience to see if anyone else has something similar.
Wednesday morning I began to feel foggy and light headed, when I took chloe to play group I was sweating. I went for a coffee and I could not taste it. My hallucination appeared in Starbucks. By mid afternoon I had a splitting headache very irritable. By tea time I was dreading going to my writing class and during it I just could not concentrate. I was quite shocked at how quick I was feeling like this. I thought it would take a couple of days.
I have just taken my meds about an hour ago and I hope the foggy feeling lifts. It was a struggle getting chloe ready. She can be hit or miss in the mornings. But it was just everything I had to do I ha to fight and focus.

[rose]

For me it really depends on which ones I miss.
Venlafaxine has a very short half-life and if I forget the dose I do feel a bit rubbish later in the day (I take a tiny dose, the higher the dose I took, the greater the effect of forgetting the dose). Its important to try and take this one at the same time each day.
Fluoxetine has a long half life and missing a dose usually doesn't make a great of difference to me, the levels in my blood stream have built up over time and it would take over a week for them to start dropping and weeks for the drug to leave my system.
When I stopped Quetiapine it took a few days to notice a decline and a few days to get back to normal once I started taking them again, this one has quite a short half-life, but its an antipsychotic rather than an antidepressant so it works differently.

[S deleted]

Last year when I got in a confused mess with my medication I had gone a week without taking my meds before I realised. I think because I get quite major mood swings it's harder for me to detect or I'm not exactly on the ball. One thing that I do notice is if I don't have my meds my anxiety rises and I get very jittery.

At the beginning of last year I was feeling so good I stopped taking my meds for approx. 5 months without doctors consent, which is not something I would advise,cos although I was doing pretty well at that time when I crashed it was seriously bad. A mate drove over 10 miles to come and find me after midnight one night cos I was talking about throwing myself on the train tracks.

The simple answer is keep taking the meds as prescribed to avoid any slip in mood. It is hard when you are feeling well and think you can cope without but definitely don't stop without seeing your GP or CMHT first

[purplefan]

I get that too. My an iety goes through the roof. Once I was so paranoid I though I was being followed. I was convinced.
How long did it take before you felt better?

[purplefan]

It shows you what a good job the medication can do though rose. Do you ever think that you feel better so you will stop taking them?

For me it really depends on which ones I miss.
Venlafaxine has a very short half-life and if I forget the dose I do feel a bit rubbish later in the day (I take a tiny dose, the higher the dose I took, the greater the effect of forgetting the dose). Its important to try and take this one at the same time each day.
Fluoxetine has a long half life and missing a dose usually doesn't make a great of difference to me, the levels in my blood stream have built up over time and it would take over a week for them to start dropping and weeks for the drug to leave my system.
When I stopped Quetiapine it took a few days to notice a decline and a few days to get back to normal once I started taking them again, this one has quite a short half-life, but its an antipsychotic rather than an antidepressant so it works differently.

[S deleted]

How long did it take before you felt better?

Well once when I hadn't taken my meds and I was really anxious in the night it was about 2 hrs before I felt calm again after taking them.

[rose]

It shows you what a good job the medication can do though rose. Do you ever think that you feel better so you will stop taking them?

Probably not. I have been taking some form of medication for depression for about ten years, and I think I will always need something.

[Suzi]

Again for me it depends on the meds what the side effects are of not taking it!

[purplefan]

I wish I had the courage to go natural. I know the meds are helping me and the fluoxitine is doing the job and the ami is working I guess it shows what a good job they do and how we should talk them till doctor tells us to stop.

[rose]

Go natural? You wouldn't do that for any other medical condition, depression is no different.
I've got no problem with taking medication if it means I can live better. Life is hard enough!