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Meds working too fast? Might be a bad sign.

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Meds working too fast? Might be a bad sign.

13 years ago 0 +0 / -0 12049

Thank you everyone for sharing your experiences with medications.

Continue to work with your doctor and pharmacist when taking medications and always keep a journal or diary of what is happening and when, so that you will be able to present an accurate account.

Josie, Health Educator

13 years ago 0 +0 / -0 121

Oh, I forgot:

Lamictal took the 5-6 weeks to start helping me. Not the overnight miracle that the antidepressants caused. That was a good sign!

13 years ago 0 +0 / -0 121

Hi Goofy,

Yes, I have been very pleased with the Lamictal. I am on the generic brand and it works just fine. The pills are too big though, so I have to cut them up before I take them. : )

My med doc said that many of her patients have responded really well to the Lamictal, but often with nasty side effects. I had an almost debilitating cough, a super dry mouth (think bleeding sores), and no memory (truly lost most of my short-term memory). But, I felt better emotionally than I had in 2 years, so I stuck with it. Within 4 months, all the bad side effects have completely gone. : )

When my doc upped the dose (150mg to 200mg), I did get a mild cough and mild dry mouth back, but it went away in a couple weeks. I am guessing that some people would give up on the med over these side effects, but I decided it was worth it. To cope, I carried a huge bag of cough drops (helped a bit with the cough), biotene spray and gum for the dry mouth, and a key chain with note cards to write every single little thing down. Now I don't need any of those things.

Glad it is working out great for you too!

13 years ago 0 +0 / -0 1044

Sally, My doctor has prescribed lamictal. I get your point with the meds working too fast. But just wanted to say that lamictal has been a lifesaver for me. It was initially approved to treat Major Depression, I am so glad it is now. I think it is awesome.

13 years ago 0 +0 / -0 121

PS: Never, ever experienced a manic/hypomanic episode in my life. The antidepressants triggered the first one. I had no history of this (and no history of depression before 2008). So it was a complete surprise to me! Who knew something like that could happen.

13 years ago 0 +0 / -0 121

Hello,

I have not seen this topic posted here, so I thought I would throw the idea out there as a cautionary tale.

When I was first prescribed Zoloft, within a few hours, after just 1 pill, I felt 100% better. Back to old my self, better than my old self. My doc said it should take 6-8 weeks to start working, so I extremely pleased it had started right away.

Before that, I had all the major depressive symptoms (can read details on my blog), was a danger to myself, felt like I was walking/functioning though molasses every moment of ever day. All of that lifted in one dose. : )

I was ecstatic! Within a week, I went manic (the bad, mixed kind). Pacing, thought I was a famous author, could not sleep, talking super fast, etc. Doc was shocked, pulled me off.

When pulled off, I immediately went right back down to where I was. Doc tried Lexapro, same thing happened.

Finally got put on Bipolar meds and all is well (after sever med tries, Lamical has been my lifesaver).

Basically, I learned that if the meds work right away, that is a bad, bad sign. My doc said that should never happen. The meds should cause a slow improvement.

So hang in there! Meds taking a while? That is normal. Meds working immediately? Go see the doc to check things out.

Just some food for thought.

Sally

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Meds working too fast? Might be a bad sign.