Chronic depression symptoms and conditions

I have been taking the generic version of Wellbutrin, Bupropion, for almost 6 months. It has been the only thing to lift a bit of my chronic depression and anxiety. It gives me enough energy to navigate my day- I am not as tired all the time, nor do I feel so heavy and generally lethargic.

About 2 months ago, my hair started falling out. I have always had extremely thick, shiny hair. I started taking more vitamins to no avail. I couldn't figure it out because I didn't see anything about hair loss on the literature from the pharmacy that comes with my pills. Huge gobs of hair would come out in the shower or anytime I combed it. It got on my clothes, on the floor, on my pillows... It was horrifying! I believe I have lost about half of my hair, no kidding. I don't have any bald spots thank goodness, but that is because I started with so much hair in the first place. But if it keeps going at this rate, I can't imagine not being bald in the near future! Recently my friends have even commented on my thin hair. I try to not comb it unless it is just as the bottom, and even then I am pulling the hair up through the comb, not pulling the comb down through my hair. I wash it as infrequently as possible and even though I desperately need a trim, I will not go to the salon.

Just tonight I found this information and this very informative site. I am so mad though, because I never saw this as a possible side effect in any of the main literature- maybe I just missed it?

What is scary to me is to think about going off this drug...I'm afraid I won't be able to function as well with day to day living. My fatigue, depression, and anxiety are so immobilizing. I am going to try to go to a low dose and see if that helps, as well as continue to take the extra vitamins with biotin.
I really hope that's enough.

I didn't get much help in the past from any other antidepressants (I have tried 4). Almost as bad as the hair loss (although not visible to the entire world) was the total lack of sexual desire and ability to have sexual pleasure with the other drugs. That is part of the reason I loved Wellbutrin: no sexual side effects, a slight decrease in appetite/weight, increased energy and alertness, and a decrease in depression and anxiety (not completely, but the best I have had so far).

The only other side effect I have experienced is irritability and that has recently become worse. I notice I am much terser with my daughter and have less patience in general. I am likely to have angry reactions and at times I find myself feeling confrontational, whereas in the past I have always shied away from confrontation.

It is definitely a mixed bag with any of these drugs and very disappointing. Good luck to you all and thanks for sharing. . .

I discontinued the Nuvaring in April after 7 months. I wish I had never starting using it. I had many physical side effects and I am still dealing with the psychological side effects. I was the angriest, meanest, saddest version of myself that I have never been before. I had an increasing bad mood always and was in a severe depression. I became violent and unfeeling when angry and then cried afterwards not understanding how I could be this way. It's quite possible that the worst side effect is the one that won't go away - the effect on my relationship. I hope that my post helps someone avoid the pain and heartache "the ring" brought me. Beware the NUVARING!!!

Been on Topamax for almost a year. My dose was 150mg once a day for alternative treatment for chronic depression. I am also on Effexor and Lamictal. The tingling in the toes has lessened but not gone away. I have severe thirst all the time. My body seems to overheat easily. I lost 20 lbs but i was doing weight watchers and had just had a baby so its hard to give all the credit to Topamax. I definitely feel dumb. Words come and simply float away out of sight. My memory is extremely affected. I can fight with my husband and by the end have no idea what I had just said. Feel quite foolish. I am now titrating down and off by 50mg every 4 days. I am down to 50mg and have not had a good night's sleep since reducing my doses. My brain just turns on in the middle of the night. I am also pretty nauseated at this lowest titration. I just gained back 6 lbs but eating chocolate doesn't help either. I seemed to be able to keep my weight at 140 lbs no matter what i would eat. Not so anymore. Always trying to find the faster, easier way toward staying thin but it always comes back to that same bottom line. I have to discipline myself boooo.

I'm trying my hardest not to cry right now.
I was on the Nuvaring for exactly 3 weeks. Today is my 4th day without it (it took me 4 days to get my period) and I'm still miserable.

The first 2 weeks:
emotionally: nothing changed. I was feeling pretty normal

physically: boobs grew about a cup (A to B) which made me really excited and love the nuvaring (for a very short time)

sexually: sex drive went UP, believe it or not.
*** EXTREME burning, irritation, stinging and dryness in my whole vaginal area. I had UTI once before, but this was even WORSE. I knew it wasn't an infection because there was no odor, but the pain was incredible DURING and AFTER SEX. For the first time EVER, I had to PRETEND I was enjoying sex.... I thought it would worry my signifcant other if I told him that I was in pain. I was so sore, I really wanted to cry because of the pain. I never had trouble getting wet before either, until I started the Nuvaring.

The 3rd (last) week:
physically: bad back pain (very tense, no matter how much I stretched), noticeable lack of focusing ability, couldn't get anything done.... headaches, tensed up neck/shoulder muscles.

emotionally: chronic depression, ANGER, IRRITABILITY, cranky/grumpy ALL THE TIME, even started cursing about the smallest things...Paranoid and worried all the time... Suicidal... became ANTI-SOCIAL!!!! I'm usually always out with friends, but this week I stayed home in my pj's the whole time. Had the biggest fight with my boyfriend BECAUSE OF THE NUVARING. I am 100% sure, because the way I was responding and reacting was seriously not myself. He didn't know how to deal with it because I was just... SO ANGRY at everything!! I couldn't stop crying, after feeling guilty about yelling at him. It was the worst feeling ever. Cried for about 5 hours straight... didn't sleep. In the morning at work, I had to keep myself from exploding with tears... I didn't understand why I was such a bitch, until I read all these posts on this site. I kept wanting to believe that everything will pass and be back to normal, but.... I've already taken the ring out and STILL having problems... I really wish I figured it out sooner that the Nuvaring is just too scary to "let things pass"... I've never been so hopeless and uncontrollably sad in my life before.

I bought 4 rings, after the doctor told me that there were "virtually no side effects". I loved not remember to take the pill, but the pain down there... how can I explain... like boiling, scalding water thrown on your vagina. I'm not exaggerating.

Please make sure that you're a very emotionally strong person... It would break my heart to see anyone else go through what I did... A part of my heart has been ripped off, from all the stress and tears the Nuvaring caused me.

I am a 54 year old male who started taking Lipitor about 4 years ago. It seemed OK at first, but over the next several years I began to have increasing amounts of joint pain after exercise. Nor muscle pain, joint pain. And it seemed to be a result of exercise. By the time I stopped it, I was hurting after everything, not just exercise. I felt better within the first two weeks, but it took about 4 months for me to be able to exercise vigorously again. Over the years I seemed to have forgotten how much vitality I used to have. I am a physician, and because of the long lag time until I felt better, I wondered whether improvement might have related to other factors, so after about 5 months I decided to restart Lipitor. It surprised me that after just one dose, I got back all of the joint pain and fatigue when I was at my worst on Lipitor. I was really hurting. Needless to say, I didn't take any more.

Coincidentally, a physician friend of mine who had statin induced polyneuropathy had a similar experience. After his symptoms went away he found that after only one dose the entire polyneuropathy came back.

Stopping and restarting the drug is a way to test the correlation between the drug and the side effect. For such a large spectrum of side effects to recur after only a single dose, it argues that the problems that my friend and I had was due to some sort of immune memory response. I have not seen this in the medical literature.

I am off it now for about 8 months and am able to comfortably play singles tennis and jog - much more energy (and I took 200 mg of CoQ10 a day with the Lipitor).

Hi everyone, I just have to tell you all what a comfort this site has been for me. I really feel like a crazy bitch frankly with all of my mood swings, ill patience and irritability....among so many other side affects. It upsets me to think how much this is affected my family. I just had Mirena removed last night and I've been on the verge of tears all day. Has this happened to anyone else? How have you all felt after you had it removed?? How long did it take before you started feeling normal again? I'd had had it in for a little over 2 years and I almost feel like I don't even know what normal is for me anyone. I take an anti-depressant and hate the idea of needing to be on medication. I've been trying to wean myself off and every time I have tried in the past I crash really bad. I'm sure that has something to do with me feeling so crappy but I'm hoping that things will even out soon. Thanks for listening.

I am so grateful I found this site! I only wish, like many of you, that I had done more research. I am glad to say that when I first encountered this site, I was suspecting I was having issues because of the Mirena, now I'm convinced. And the more I read, the more symptoms I realize are Mirena related not just "getting older". Thankfully, today I made the appt to have it removed. Unfortunately, it's not until March 17th. But, I will have it out and then have some green beer to celebrate!

In April of '06 I joined WW and was doing great, losing consistently. In June I had the IUD inserted, that went well...just some minor cramping. By September I was really struggling to loose weight and was feeling more irritable. But, at the same time had become caretaker to my Mother in law, so I attributed it to the stress of taking care of her in addition to my own family. Near the end of November I finally hit a 50 lb loss, and have barely lost any since then....that's 15 months!!!!! I've stuck with WW, and I know I'm not doing the program as well as I had but it shouldn't be such a struggle. Last week I started wondering if the problem was the Mirena, and that question led me here.

I couldn't believe what I was reading!!! It was me in all of you!! I have chronic depression and have been on meds for about 6 years, but even with increasing my meds to the max, I seem to be getting worse not better. I'm moody, irritable, blue, and impatient. It's like PMS all month long, and then when the real pms hits, I'm practically suicidal.
I also have had significant hair loss, fatigue, living in a mental fog, numbness in my arms and hands EVERY night, night sweats, lower back pain for several days on and off (are these cysts??), irregular and long lasting periods (although VERY light...I will miss that!!), nausea, headaches and dizzy spells on a regular basis.

I hope that when I have this thing removed I can return to my old imperfect self, and that I can finally achieve my weight loss goal and return my family life to a normal level of dysfunction! :)

Many strange things have been happening to me for the last year and a half, that I did not ever experience before. I just turned 38 years old. I am now suspecting these are side effects from the MIRENA. I want to get opinions about what I'm experiencing and what happens when it's removed.

The most profound thing is the feeling of being in a mental bubble. Even though I'm aware of it and I try to be alert, I feel cloudy minded and can't even rely on myself to remember things or commit to things because I never know how I will feel when I wake up each day. Some days are okay while others are completely LOST because I may have struggled to sleep the night before, sweating and soaking my pillow case and waking up with a rapid heart beat, panicking for no apparent reason right out of sleeping. Or, I'm irritable due to discomfort which takes several forms like these:
- major moodiness, like feeling totally peaceful one minute and then something small triggers me and I'm angry for hours, later realizing that I was overreacting
- visibly shaking hands, especially when I drink just 1/2 cup coffee.
- increased oily skin and acne on face, back, shoulders and even in ears, along with thinning hair around face
- fatigue and stiffness in the morning, so it takes me forever to get out of bed
- off and on fatigue that has me uncontrollably dozing off during the day
- bloated tummy (visible), gas and menstrual cramps in no predicable pattern, but I never go more than a week without these things
- strange libido, one day I wouldn't care if I ever had sex again, the next night wake up horny as heck at 2 am
- ears ringing, jaw pain, mystery pains in back and joints regularly

All along I've been assuming these odd things were stress and age related but the more I think about it, there's just too many things, and these things don't necessarily represent the stress of a typical stay at home mom.
Sure, I have had stress and anxiety in the past, but they could always be connected to something large going on in my life. Now, the anxiety and moodiness hit unpredictably and indiscriminately, it seems. For a long time now I feel like I'm a total mess physically and mentally, even more so because I realize something is wrong
I am pretty sure as of right now that I should get this removed. If the symptoms go away I'll then know what caused them in the first place.
I am wondering what happens upon removal, will it also be a roller coaster of physical and mental anguish???????? How long will it last?

Bi-polar II: recent diag. after years of chronic depression. on 25 mg for 1 week so far, just weaned off Effexor. Experiencing odd "brain pulses" and "white noise", irritability and ANGER, feeling persecuted. Could be mitigation of physical pain from acute bursitis flare. Hoping side effects will dissipate and I won't be such a bitch.

I'm not now on Wellbutrin, but have discussed going on it with my therapist for long-term, mild depression.

This site has been very useful to me in helping me decide whether to brave all the possible side effects. I've decided to start at the lower dose of 150 XR and, becus i am so afriad of the side effects, especially seizure, i will stop using the drug rather than go the full 300 mg dose and risk the side effects.

Everyone's experience with it has been so different, i've come to the conclusion there IS no universal reaction to it becus everyone's experience with it is different.

What I've read here has also told me that you should never trust your doctor 100% to do what's best for you. It's really our responsibility to do as much research as they can, for instance, just reading thise sites. I saw one doctor started off the patient at 300 mg, which you're definitely not supposed to do, you're supposed to build up gradually, then taper off gradually when you want to get off the drug. And I saw another post where the doctor prescribed Wellbutrin to a patient with a history of anorexia, another definite no-no.

I'm really kind of scared to go on such a powerful drug after reading about hair loss, insomnia, etc. etc., but i've suffered from chronic depression for about 30 years now and i'm tired of living a mediocre life.

I started taking Singulair for undiagnosed asthma, I took only 4 pills for 4 nights. I was extremely tired but the worst of it was on the 5th day I developed horrible anxiety and depression. I was crying uncontrollably and basically freaking out. I had all sorts of bad thoughts of hurting myself and death. I was terrified because I was diagnosed with chronic depression about 4 years ago and I have been depression free for the last year, out of the blue it came back that 5th day and I cried and cried saying the devil is back in my head. I could not figure out why out of the blue it came back so strongly. I went on the web and typed in "singulair causing depression", and was amazed to find how many postings had mood problems etc. I am so angry, this was never mentioned to me as a side effect, by my doctor, the drug company or the pharmacist. Plus this doctor knew of my horrible depression that I suffered for so long but no one mentioned this. I was planning my suicide in my head, but thanks to reading all your postings you all saved my life, I was so relieved that this was probably what caused it. I went of Singulair and feel depression free once again! I was never so scared and all because of this stupid drug. Please people be aware of this drug...and let people you know that may be taking it of its horrible side effects. This drug could have cost me my life!!!!!!!!!!!!!That is the truth!!!!!