I take Cymbalta and it seems to help with depression. I was placed on it after taking Celexa and Lexapro. For me Lexapro helped the best but it will take you trying out what's best for you to find the ideal med. Good luck!!

Ellen,
Are they working on getting your blood pressure under contol? That can go a long way towards helping you feel better overall and keep you healthier in the long run. Plus, well controlled blood pressure will open up some more options for antidepressants as well. Ironically, there are a couple of blood pressure medications that work as preventives for some pain conditions (migraines in particular). Not to scare you (well, maybe a little just to get you and your doctor working together to get that BP under control) but uncontrolled high blood pressure is the leading cause of kidney failure in the US and the leading cause of strokes as well.

I take Zoloft and have found it to be very helpful. It took about 3 weeks for my husband to notice a difference in me, about 4-5 weeks for me to notice a difference. It wasn't dramatic, like suddenly I was chipper and happy all the time, but I was on a more even keel and finally started to laugh when my stepkids did something silly. And I actually started reading again, something I had given up long ago. I did and still have days and weeks when I'm down and feel sad, bad and very out of sorts; neither Zoloft nor any antidepressant is a magic pill that makes everything okay in the world. And I did a year of serious cognitive behavioral therapy along with the initiation of the Zoloft and have gone back for some "tune-ups" a few times when issues and situations have changed and I needed it. I highly recommend therapy along with the medication; there's an amazing synergistic effect when the medication kicks in and you have a good therapist. You are able to work through issues and learn new coping techniques much easier when the medication is helping to calm the chemical "scramble" that's occuring in your brain at the same time.

I think the medications you're thinking of that's being advertised like crazy right now is Pristiq; another one is Seroquel (an antipsychotic). But only your doctor can tell what's best for you, not an ad on TV.

The TV ads drive my doctor nuts! Not only does he have to explain to patients that the advertised medication is completely wrong for whatever ails them (because the ads are often vague about what problem they treat), but often they're also not appropriate and definitely not on formulary because they're brand new and there are plenty of other much well tested and studied medications available that work just as effectively (and they're usually already on them). That's not to mention his frustration in having to explain to his 10-year old son what erectile dysfunction and overactive bladder are!

If you just started on the Zoloft, give it some time (at least 6 weeks) before declaring it a dud and check with your family and friends to see if they've noticed a difference in you; chances are they will see a change before you will. Effexor is a very energizing medication, whereas Zoloft is much more calming, so the effects of the medications will be different (thus the need for well-controlled BP on the Effexor). And please talk with your doctor about getting some serious blood pressure management too.

And if you don't already have one, try to find a therapist who will work with you on the underlying issues, someone who you click with--they're worth their weight in gold.

Gentle hugs,
Ruth

I was put on Lexapro about 4 months ago, and it didn't work that much, so then he added Abilify, and those two in conjunction started working great for me. Anti-depressants are good, but they need to be used with talk therapy also.... We need someone to talk to, someone to put our pain and lives into prospective, specially if like me, you have lost your job, your life and your ability to walk or function normally.

I see a Psychologist every 2 weeks and with the medications + the talk therapy, I have started to feel like my life still have purpose and I've been more positive than ever! So that is something to think about.....

all medications work for one person and dont work for another, so would e best to sit down with doctor and find the right one.

Cymbalta is the one that works for me. I've been on Effexor, and so many others but it was Cymbalta that did the best job. Everyone is different and you may have to try several before finding something that works. I've known people who have to take combinations of these type meds to get any positive results. Best of luck to you.

i tried all the SSRI's. but, as long as i was in pain, none of them would work long term. now, i supplement with L-Glutamine and that seems to work best for me. it's the mother of all amino acids. your body can convert it to whatever it needs to be. this will help counteract the effects of chronic pain on your body's chemistry. it helps elevate my mood and pulls me out of a pain induced depression. your doctor won't recommend it because s/he can't write a script for it. (they're not taught this in medical school)

Also, consider supplementing with Lecithin. With chronic pain, your body's choline or acetylcholine levels can be depleted. The body can obtain this from Lecithin.

and, as an added bonus, there don't appear to be any side effects with either of these!

if I had to pick an SSRI, it would be Wellbutrin.

Thanks everyone for your reply. Ruth, yes, I have my BP under control but they still don't want me on one that will elevate it.I am on meds for that and a fast heart beat, a beta blocker. I have been on Zoloft now for 5 months and was on it before and it didn't help then eithier. The med I was thinking about is the one they are advertising about that sais you add it to your antidepressant when you need extra help and are still depressed. I have been on seroquel before for sleep. It worked well for a while but I had to keep increasing it and I did gain a lot of weight on it. Effexor XR also made me very dizzy id I didn't take it at the exact time evry day. If I was even just a couple of hours late it felt like I was on a roller coaster. The others never did that to me.
I was also taking Lexapro once and it was O.K. but no big difference there either. To the person that said they are on cymbalta but said the Lexapro worked best why did you change it? Just curious.