antidep update

[darkoshi]

I stopped taking the budeprion (generic Wellbutrin) pills after 3 weeks. They seemed to be making my mood even worse than usual, in addition to the frequent onsets of anger and rage and other side-effects.

I did a websearch and found that there are a lot of claims that the generic Wellbutrin, especially the one manufactured by Teva (which is the kind I have), doesn't work like the regular Wellbutrin.

My next appointment is in a few days, and now I'm undecided as to what to do. Should I ask for a prescription for the non-generic Wellbutrin, and give it a try? If so, I should do it now, since it sounds like my insurance may have a "mandatory generic" program starting next year, meaning that they won't cover any of the extra cost for the non-generic drugs. But I dread having the Wellbutrin affect me the same way the budeprion did. And I'm tired of taking pills. They don't seem to work, and they give me unpleasant side-effects. The Pristiq seemed the best of the lot, but it only really made me feel hyper, not really better. But even it made my vision blurrier than normal, and made my pupils stay dilated somewhat. So I don't want to go back on it either.

It's discouraging thinking about how the pills don't make me feel better.

And it's discouraging that my lower back pain keeps getting worse, and I don't know what to do about it.

And I don't have the time nor enough motivation to do the exercises I used to do.

On the bright side however, I haven't had any unexplained swellings this last month. Not even when I punched both fists into the rug last week - my hands only got a little bit swollen for a short time period from that, as would be expected. The knuckles are still slightly achy.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Darkoshi, Hi I came accross your blog when I googled no gelatin no lactose. I have been going out of my mind trying to find an anti-depressant that is vegan. I have been taking st johns wart. though it is not working, all family and friends was telling me weigh up my beliefs to my mental heath. I woke up after having three hrs sleep and thought why not google no gelatin no lactose, and bingo your my destination. thank you for positing it on your blog. I went to the chemist they have a huge book, the chemist would have been there all day in which they wearer not willing to do to look for an anti-depressant vegan friendly. I was taking them before though would get migraine headaches then found that I need to go back on them. I too suffer lower back pain, sciatica from cleaning, I too am disciplined in the area of excercises. lol. though I know I will benefit maybe the anti-depressants will give me the motivation again. I wouldn't take anything too cause I knew everything has been tested on animals too then I found so has the herbal. Thank you again for the list and I am not looking forward to the side-effects though I know most of them settle. I was on them for 5yrs until recent, though it was not vegan. so I will present the list to my GP today, and I can't thank you enough. vanessa :-) I also too was into goth!;-)

[darkoshi]

I'm glad that post is useful for other people too. Good luck with your quest

[(Anonymous)]

Darkoshi
I was so dissapointed to find that all anti-depressants have animal derivatives in them. I went to get the script of Pristiq (desvenlaxfaxine) to find out that it has stearic acid in it which is from bovine (beef fat).so stearic acid lactose and gelatin or glycerin is out. I am back to st johns wart and home one day this depression will go away.

[darkoshi]

There are a lot of ingredients which can come from either animal or vegetable sources. Without doing research and asking the particular company where they've sourced the ingredient from, and where that source gets it from, it is hard to know.
Stearic acid is one such ingredient - some sources say it is mainly made from animal products, others don't.

http://www.vrg.org/nutshell/faqingredients.htm:
Stearic acid is used as a binder in foods, and its source may be either animal or vegetable. It is found in vegetable and animal oils, animal fats, cascarilla bark extract, and in synthetic form. It is used in butter flavoring, vanilla flavoring, chewing gum and candy, fruit waxes, and may not be vegetarian.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stearic_acid
Stearic acid is prepared by treating animal fat with water at a high pressure and temperature, leading to the hydrolysis of triglycerides. It can also be obtained from the hydrogenation of some unsaturated vegetable oils.