It's your body. Do what you want with it!

I have taken many meds for depression and anxiety. I usually take what's suggested but I stop taking them if I don't like how they make me feel. My doctors have not had a problem with that. It seems to help that I've tried things and can say what I did and didn't like about different meds.

I work as a social worker and I'm very familiar with many different medications as many of my clients take them. I've taken three different types of meds for anxiety and have had to tell my psychiatrist that I would not be taking a medication that was too similar to one I had a terrible reaction to in the past.

I feel like you know you best and need to advocate for yourself!

I always do a huge amount of reading about drugs for anxiety and depression before i see my doc or psychiatrist so Im prepared to have
an intelligent discussion. I have had more situations where i suggested a drug i wanted to try and then got the doc on board to let me. I suggested
Buspar after reading a lot about it , as a last effort to avoid the SSRIs.
My doc said OK and Ive been on it for 9 months with great success.
Most docs will listen if you tell them a specific reason you dont want to be on a particular drug.

Strange hey, I've always had the opposite situation. All psychologists/psychiatrists I have been too, will not put me on any medication for my severe anxieties, despite them impacting more and more on my quality of life. CBT therapy is useless on me.

You always have a right to voice your questions and such. It's important that communication is effective between a patient and professional. It helps them understand how you feel about certain things and may help the both of you in future decisions.

I hope you find therapy that works for you. Good luck.

I have a great rapport with my doctors. I have refused meds based on their previous side effects on me and they take it well. I do have a say in what meds to take and which I don't feel have helped me. For example, they put me on geodon for a minor auditory hallucination ( went tired and stressed I hear a 1950's family watching I Love Lucy- weird but harmless). The geodon was way too sedating for me to function. I got off of it and went on Abilify. Didn't stop the hallucination or help the depression. And was expensive. So asked to come off that and try wellbutrin. Works great with my paxil for the depression and anxiety. Take prazosin for nightmares (PTSD), trazodone as neede, and ativan as needed. My pdoc really listens to what effects the meds are having. Good doc.

After learning the hard way about just taking what the doctors wanted me too even though it felt wrong (I ended up suicidal and in a psych hospital for 3 days) I went off every mood stabilizer they tried to give me except clonazepam and Xanax. All SSRIs are out, prozac, no tricyclic antidepressent, and I feel much, much better. I had to,rather forcefully, tell my OB/GYN that I was not going on an anti-depressant for my PMDD and he was going to have to dig deeper to help me figure something out. He did and so far, so good.

It's truly amazing to me doctors would prescribe antidepressants, with all the unpredictable, and unpleasant side effects for PMS and PMDD.

Women who suffer from PMDD already experience increased tension, anxiety and irritability. So what do doctors wish to prescribe for this? An SSRI that increases tension, anxiety and irritability. And may take weeks to become effective, if it even works at all.

My heart goes out to you ladies, who must suffer through this.

I tell my doctor all the time if I dont want to take a medicine. I have a bad habit of looking up side effects before i go back if i think my medicine needs to be changed. I have been on 15 different anti depressants in the past 24 years with no luck. Mostly because i believe i have bipolar. I shared with my counselor today and she thinks i dont have bipolar because i am not staying up 2 to 3 nights at a time. I see the doctor thursday morning at 9 and hope he will listen better than she did. I wish you the best

I know this discussion is old.
I prescribed Paxil 10mg for PMDD after 1 year trying different approaches such as life style changes, exercise and natural medicine. It took 6 months for me to start taking it because my irritability, rage and depression was uncontrollable. It started to damage my relationships. Then I decided to take it and within 30 minutes I was already feeling better and now I am taking for a couple of days and I feel so much more controlled and at easy. I am being very careful and watching my reaction closely and I have an appointment to see my doctor to discuss my treatment. So far it's working very well!
I didn't say no to my doctor but I didn't follow her instructions either and did only I felt comfortable not her!!

I'm lucky after going through many many docs I finally found one that listens to me. In fact, half the time I research a med online and suggest it to her and she is more than willing to let me try it. If I don't like the dosages that she gives me she has no problem letting ME, MYSELF, and I choose what I think works best. I went through so many docs that had "god complexes" they would never listen because they can't admit a patient might know more about how they feel than they do. I'm very fortunate with my new doc and the funny this is she's only like a registered nurse but higher up ro whatever that means but she's no specialist or internal med doc and she's helped me more than any so called "specialist". The best docs are the ones that are open minded and willing to listen to what the patient has to say..and those are few and far between.