Side affects vs. symptoms

Cylarana

So...went the doctor person today to see about treatment for some symptoms (voices, depression, etc). It'd gotten old. Anyway, hour long diagnoses interview, he gave me an Rx for seroquel and lexapro. I got them filled (100 bucks for a month jesus H christ!). I got to reading the warning and jesus did I ever understand that comic gabe did better. The side effects include---depression, suicidal thoughts, thoughts of self injury, vomiting, drowsiness, anxiety. Not to mention the other ones--sexual side effects (which is vauge--does this mean I'll last an hour in the sack now? Or that I won't be able to get it up at all?)

What the hell good is an RX when it's side effects are the same as the damn symptoms? I do not get it.

Dark Moon

Not everyone is affected by all the side effects. The list contains all the side effects that could possibly be related to taking the drug. Some are more common but a large number of them will only be present in a tiny fraction of users. If you find them insufferable, see your medical professional and you two can play around with dosages or alternate drugs. Just be sure to do exactly as your doctor tells you - these are not things you should be adjusting dosages for by yourself.

durandal4532

Well, sometimes it means that in certain people the drug can exacerbate existing symptoms. Sometimes it means that they can temporarily increase symptoms, as is probably the case with Gabe's anxiety drug. But just because a side effect is listed doesn't mean it's permanent or that it occurs in every case. It's generally up to the person prescribing it to figure out which drug has the most effective combination of symptom reduction and side effects.

Edit: And yeah, don't play around with them yourself. That generally just makes treatment much harder. If you feel like absolute crap, talk to your doctor about exactly how crappy you're feeling. Hopefully they'll be able to find a better one for you.

Daenris

Ideally the information should list the frequency/chance of different side effects (probably just in a common, uncommon, rare way).

I'm not positive on this, but I believe that basically any adverse effect that affects a single subject in a drug trial ends up being listed as a possible side effect whether or not it is definitely related to the drug.

This site (http://www.drugs.com/sfx/lexapro-side-effects.html and http://www.drugs.com/sfx/seroquel-side-effects.html) actually have nice tables listing the percentage of various side effects in drug trials.

Trillian

These are side effects that'll happen within the first 2 weeks of taking a new antidepressant medication.
The thinking in the medical community is that the medication doesn't so much exacerbate existing symptoms, but take away the lethargy of depression first, before the actual depressive feelings, so there may be an increased incidence of suicide and self-harm.

Peachstrudle

Daenris wrote: »

Ideally the information should list the frequency/chance of different side effects (probably just in a common, uncommon, rare way).

I'm not positive on this, but I believe that basically any adverse effect that affects a single subject in a drug trial ends up being listed as a possible side effect whether or not it is definitely related to the drug.

This is sort of true. For liability reasons more than anything, they list ANY possible side effect, no matter how unlikely it is. Still, antidepressants take a while to kick in properly, so for a week or two your emotions/feelings will be a little bit messed up anyway before your body reaches some sort of balance.

Sarcastro

Yah, the above. On any meds, the progress will still be up and down, but its the average that gets raised.

Also, while your body is adjusting, you can get serious 'kickback', and may have times when you feel worse than right now. Sometimes the body overcompensates while processing the new drugs, however, things will smooth out eventually, and then you're all set.