I have been taking Pamelor (Nortriptyline) for about 4 weeks, I have only worked up to 10 milligrams. I have to say the last 2 weeks have been getting increasingly difficult for me. Tapering off of Prozac pales in comparison. I had some dizziness that tapered off after 2 days that my doc reassured me was probably the Prozac.
So how about a list of all of my side effects for the nitty gritty on how I have been doing? First I have been increasingly irritible and down right short tempered over the month. My patience is nearly non-existent. I became dizzy again (mild) the last few days with only two instance when I had to sit down. This may be because of the prozac but I don't think so at this point, it's been too long. It was worse today as perhaps a withdrawal symptom, I don't know. I also feel increasingly hyperactive, mostly mentally, althoug it seemed a bit better since stopping the medication last night. And I am really hungry! People have been known to gain weight on this medication and I can see why. I am an angry, walking snickers commercial, since I am a bit hypoglycemic anyway. My memory seems kind of poor, but that could be in part due to the fact that I felt so hy-look a squirrel... sorry... hyper. And anxiety? I woud have to say yes, I've had some.
I document all this because I think it means something to those of you who have experienced this with a medication, and I don't mind telling it like it is to those who might think treating depression with medication is an easy fix. You can see why I wanted to cut and run. I don't think I've had this much trouble with any medication I have taken so far.
So what now? I am taking a break from meds for at least a month. I am honestly not sure what my baseline is. There has been so much change lately, my doctor even hinted at it the last visit. The last time I had nothing in my system was about 3 years ago. The thing is, I could be better off without medication and I don't know it, there seems to have been some sort of shift in my overall response to meds. Hopefully I can get some insight from the experience.
I wanted to mention to, that I have thougth more about the myths surrounding mental illness, there are so many. I would like to talk about that more and maybe address some of them, perhaps one in each post. And darn it all, I forgot about this cartoon. It would have been perfect for the last post!
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