I took myself off of the depression meds about a month ago. I would like to know what the differences are between a prescribed anti-depressant medication and an over the counter medication like St. Johns Wort, or SamE? I am thinking about trying SamE, but don't want to go throught the withdrawl symptoms.....ever again.
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Q: What is the difference of over the counter and prescription?
Answers (1)
11/18/09 7:30pm
Hi, Moonflowers. May I ask why you took yourself off your depression meds? Have you tried any others? The difference between prescriptions and over-the-counter is, for one thing, the latter are natural remedies, like herbs, and are not regulated by the FDA and the prescription meds are made of a lot of different chemicals and are specifically made to target certain parts of the brain, like serotonin receptors. These ARE regulated by the FDA and have to meet certain standards of quality. They have been tested and have certain expected outcomes. I don't think the natural remedies probably have many withdrawal symptoms. Have you talked to your doctor about any of these alternatives? There are a number of antidepressants (prescriptions) that have minimal side effects, so am wondering if you've discussed those.
Good luck with whatever you try!
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By moonflowers— Last Modified: 12/26/10, First Published: 11/18/09
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I decided to take myself off of the medicine because I would take one and it would work for awhile, then stop. The doctor would up the dose until it stopped working and then I would switch to another. The last medication was Effexor and I did not like the way I felt AT ALL. I felt high and started gaining weight. During this time my mother and I decided that she would move in and we would help each other. I thought that it was time to try and deal with issues in my life and do things to make myself feel better. I started eating better because now that my mom is here I can afford to, also, I started excersizing. It was a good time to not just rely on a medication to make me feel better and deal with a lot of the issues that were causing the depression in the first place. I am much better, but the depression is still there. There are some days I wake up ready to face the world and other days I just want to hide away from everyone. But the hiding days are not as bad as they use to be. I also wonder why they say that medicine is not habbit forming, meaning that you do not become addicted like methamphedamine would make you, but your body does react to withdrawl? I would like to try different and more natural ways, like eating healthier, excersize and herbs. If I were to ever get into the depression I was in, I would not hesitate in anyway to call a doctor and get help again. Celexa got me through a very difficult time in my life.