I’m taking an antidepressant

i have a hard time with medication mostly because it is hard for me to find a safe time to take it (a time when i know i wont be purging).  so i usually take it a night.  i have not been taking it long enough yet to feel the difference, but i remember when i used to take it religiously two years ago, it really helped

previous antidepressants made me much worse, currently brilliant with tryptophan, 5htp and ginko biloba for my severe serotonin deficit

Prozac – helped very much with depression.

This was a wonderous thing. I was on about 7 or 8 psychiatric and health medications when I entered treatment for my eating disorder. 2 1/2 years later I am almost off all of them. My physical and mental health is much more stable than it was when I was sick.

The best part about it is I realized that food was medicine. I had a prescription” i.e. a set amount of calories to get every day which was based on what my own body needed. As long as I take my prescription every day I am well.

Yes. Medication can be very valuable. And some people will not need to be on it for ever! We are all wired differently and it’s not always fair but why not give yourself 110% of support while you are beginning recovery? We need all the help we can get to feel “normal” again.

Medication has not been used to help my eating disorder directly but to help other disorders which came as a result of the disorder. Whilst suffering severe panic attacks oftern brought on by eating I was placed on risperidone which helped eleviate the symptoms though not erase them. I am also currently on prozac which has helped immensly with my depression which makes eating easier.

I believe!!  Always have!  As a nurse, I support medication.  I don’t support over-medicating(well, don’t talk to me at work on a Friday night when there’s a full moon), but I do believe that our bodies and minds are not perfect here.  Anti-depressants don’t make life “wonderful” and “all okay”.  They don’t make everything all better.  All the problems are still there.  Still need coping skills.  Still need to work things out.  The medication just gives you more room…..gets you a little farther from your threshold….gives you a chance to use some coping skills and some time to problem solve while you aren’t so close to the edge.  You aren’t in overwhelm.  Overwhelm is paralyzing.

And I told you about the ADD meds earlier.  Super miracle. I could never understand why it seemed like those ED thoughts never shut off.  I woke up with them.  I went to sleep with them.  If I woke up to pee in the night they were there. That’s why.  That’s what it was.  Didn’t know.

No.

    During the 25 years or so of different treatments that I tried, I was medicated with many different classes of medications….from major tranquilizers to appetite stimulants, to even a form of “speed” to keep me awake! In the most recent few years, I have found an antidepressant and some mild anxiety medication to be helpful, but I am currently in the process of weaning off of them. So we will see!!