Looking for advice on meds for anxiety/depression

[neverbeenright]

I have an appointment in a week to get a prescription for depression - although anxiety is my primary problem. I haven't been on regular meds for about 10 years - at that time I took Effexor, and seemed like it worked OK. I know a lot of changes have taken place with meds since then, though, and that Drs now prefer to prescribe the newer SSRIs. About 3 years ago, I went in to see my regular doctor (not a psychiatrist) about something else but was also very depressed at the time. She prescribed a small dose of Zoloft, but after only taking it a couple of days I was absolutely freaked-out with a severe on-going anxiety attack. I flushed it and never went back to that Dr. I couldn't believe that those were supposed to make me feel better - I was worse! I have since read that these medications can sometimes have that side effect when you start taking them, but that it should get better with time. Still I can't imagine going through that again unless I thought it was going to do something really amazing for me.

I want to be prepared for this appointment I have coming up and not allow the Dr to push me into taking one of these just because it's the popular thing to prescribe. Has anyone else ever experienced anxiety attack triggered by Zoloft or Paxil? Anyone out there who had the anxiety, still stuck with the meds and it ended up helping them?

Maybe I should just tell them I'd prefer Effexor.

I'd appreciate any advice or opinions about meds for chronic anxiety and intermittant depression - thanks everybody :)

[V for Victor]

Well, I'm on Citalopram, which I'll have been taking for a year in September. It's done a lot of good for me, and my anxiety and depression are largely under control.

Citalopram has a very low rate of side effects, and the most common ones are very mild and harmless.

It definately works for me, but everybody is different. Definately talk to your doctor about your concerns regarding the medication, and see what you two can arrive at. :)