Suggest Treatment For Depression

Posted on Mon, 3 Mar 2014

Question: I have been going through a nightmare for the last 15 years and have a nasty civil hearing coming up the last of this month. I am taking depressions meds, including trazodene and proz and high blood pressure meds. I am not sure I can do this anymore---too much hurt--How can I get through this?

Answered by Dr. Srikanth Reddy (1 hour later)

Brief Answer: What doses of antidepressants Detailed Answer: Hello, Thanks for using health care magic for posting your query. I have gone through your question in detail and I can understand what you are going through. However I would require a couple of more details to help you in answering your query in a better justified way. 1. What is the dose of antidepressant that you are on? 2. Are you on any additional therapies? 3. How are your depressive symptoms at present.? Hope to hear from you at your earliest convenience. Regards and wish you good health, Dr. Srikanth Reddy MD Neuro-Psychiatrist

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Shanthi.E

Follow up: Dr. Srikanth Reddy (33 minutes later)

Flouxetine 40 mg Trazodone 150mg (to take 1/3 or 1/2--used to help sleep. No additional therapies Depression is bad at present--feel scared

Answered by Dr. Srikanth Reddy (1 hour later)

Brief Answer: Change of anti-dperessant is required Detailed Answer: Hello Thanks for the additional information. From what you have stated , the symptoms suggest that you are having a bad episode of depression with extreme hopelessness. It is also clear that the drugs of Fluoxetine and Trazodone are not helping you any more. In my practice I have noted that this happens many times that some drugs may stop working for a patient. The wise thing at this moment should be switch your antidepressant. I would suggest you the options of mirtazapine or venlafaxine. Fluoxetine acts only on serotonin receptors where as other drugs I mentioned act on other receptors as well and hence are dual action drugs. Further for sleep as well if trazodone is not effective then zolpidem should be a good option. You may discuss these options with your treating psychiatrist. Also if you feel that you should not change the medicine then at least you can complement your treatment with cognitive behavioural therapy. This therapy is taken by either a psychologist or a psychiatrist in which the therapist identifies impaired cognitions (Thoughts) and try to correct them. They are 15-20 min weekly session and there should be around 8-10 sessions to help you with your illness. Hope I am able to answer your concerns. If you have any further query, I would be glad to help you. If not, you may close the discussion and if possible you may rate the answer for me, so that I get a good feedback. In future if you wish to contact me directly, you can use the below mentioned link: bit.ly/dr-srikanth-reddy Wish you good health, Kind regards Dr. Srikanth Reddy M.D.

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Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Prasad