Common Side Effects to Anti-Depressants: A Patient's perspective.

Since I will likely be going back on the Effexor this week, I thought it would be appropriate to talk about some of the common side effects that I experience when taking them. I hope that I do not discourage people from trying medicine when they are depressed. Rather I want to help contribute to someone's decision making by providing personal experiences to help inform a patient. If anyone, a doctor or patient, has a question about my experience with these side effects, please leave me a comment.

I have been prescribed mainly SSRI anti-depressant medication for the treatment of Depression, PTSD, and Anxiety. I have found medicine to be somewhat helpful in the treatment process but the side effects cannot be understated. These medicines do have noticeable and often uncomfortable side effects. I will list a few of the side effects I have had from taking these pills but this is not a complete list of complications. If you are in need of a concise overview of side effects, then please refer to a peer reviewed publication or some sort of authority site.

Apathy (Paxil)
This is a side effect that was very noticeable during the starting of Paxil. I tried the powerful anti-depressant years back and it seemed to greatly uplift my mood. One problem that I had was that I lost the will to do anything at all for about a week before I began to feel the positive effect. I remember laying in bed all day during the first week. I felt as if I were living in a thick cloud. My head actually felt "cloudy." I think this is an experience that can only be understood if you have had it.

Sexual Complications
I have had extremely disruptive and bothersome sexual side effects from taking anti-depressant medication. These side effects were usually the determining factor in stopping my medicine treatment. To describe these better I would say that you basically lose the will and desire for sex. When I did have sex, I would never climax and would usually just wear myself out! So this was most troubling. It continues to weigh on my decision to start any sort of medicine for depression. Not being able to preform has strained my relationship and I am more than willing to give up meds for sex.

Giddiness, Hyperness, Over-positiveness
I have experienced hyper behavior and unusual giddiness when taking Paxil and Zoloft. Sometimes these effect is noticed by others, prompting the question of "What happy pill are you on?" I get a little self-concsious about acting happy because it is outside my own normal behavior.

Oversleeping
On certain medicines, especially Paxil and Remeron, I would find that I would often oversleep and feel groggy or "cloudy" the next day.

Unusual sweet tooth or caffeine dependence.
I sometimes find that I crave chocolate and other sweet foods when I take my medicine. Also while taking paxil, there was something about caffeine that really made my head feel strangely good. So I had to watch out how much coffee I would drink.

These are a few of the common side effects that I have felt. I will add to this post as I think up more side effects that I have experienced while taking anti-depressants and anti-anxiety medicine.