Worst meds you'vee ever been on

[Princess]

Back when I was a teenager, I was put on cocktails of medications, especially back in middle school and high school. 've been off medication for awhile. I had some pretty bad experiences, because in middle school and high school I was put on a cocktail of antipsychotics, antidepressants, anticonvulsants, stimulants and benzodiazepines. All of this was just for anxiety. I got off the cocktail finally, but being off medication for so long put me in a very bad place. What medications were your worst experiences?

The worst meds I was on were Risperdal, Celexa, Abilify and Effexor. They were too strong for me and I was on them in middle school and high school and the side effects were very confusing on a teenager. The akathisia from the Abilify was terrifying.

[Robbed]

The worst meds I was on were Risperdal, Celexa, Abilify and Effexor. They were too strong for me and I was on them in middle school and high school and the side effects were very confusing on a teenager. The akathisia from the Abilify was terrifying.

This all brings up a situation back when I was a senior in high school. At that time, I was going through alot of problems with relationships, concerns about college, my inability to get a good grade in English class, etc. Although I did not have depression or anxiety at the time, all of these things caused me to start cutting class, which resulted in dropping grades. My mom was concerned about this, and took me to see a counselor. As is typically the case, the counselor wanted me to see a psychiatrist to be evaluated. The psychiatrist prescribed an antipsychotic called stelazine - for basically little to nothing more than typical teenage problems. Of course, I had to sign a consent form before he could prescribe it. And I remember reading over all those nasty side effects. My thoughts were simpy 'HELL NO!'. And I never took it. But this, as well as your situation, shows just how absurd some of these people are who supposedly are helping us. I mean, take a look at stelazine on wikipedia. This is a REALLY, REALLY, REALLY horrible drug. If I would have taken it, who knows how it could have screwed me up, and possibly for the rest of my life? Interestingly, my first year at college generally went well. And my grades were good. I guarantee you this would NOT have been the case had I actually gone on stelazine. As you can see, my utter dislike for medications and the way mental/emotional problems are handled started VERY early.

[Princess]

A lot of the drugs I was put on were really horrible, the side effects were awful and so scary. You were smart to decline the medication. No one told me the side effects of the medications I was given, I had to find out through experience. The scariest side effect was the akathisia on the Abilify. I was a teenager and all of a sudden I developed this temporary movement disorder where I became extremely restless, I felt the constant need to move. I couldn't sit still or sleep, I had to keep moving. It was awful and I was so scared. I thought I had gotten some kind of permanent condition until finally I was told it was from the medication I was taken. The akathisia went away within a couple weeks of stopping the medication, but I was terrified. At the time, I never found out what it was until many, many years later. However, as bad as the akathisia from the Abilify was, Risperdal had by far the worst side effects ever. The doctors never told me what the names of the pills were, what they did, the side effects or the type of pills. They just would give me the pills. The drugs really were very dangerous. I've been off medication for awhile now and I am in reality much mroe now than I used to be. The drugs were really crazy. You are lucky that you were smart enough to decline the medication.

[Robbed]

Just curious. Where exactly do you live? Because it seems like there was some sort of law here in California (not sure if this is state or federal law) that said that I (and a parent, since I was under 18 at the time) HAD to sign that form before the doctor could prescribe the medication. The form spelled out all known side effects, and required that I sign it knowing all the side effects AND believing that the benefits of the medication outweighed the risks. Of course, things could be different in other states and countries. I also know that such a consent is NOT required here for SSRIs or benzos. So it is possible that either such a consent is only required for stronger meds (ie antipsychotics), or is no longer required.

Speaking of akathesia, I know that this is just one serious side effect of antipsychotics. It's interesting that they now have TV ads for Abilify, but it make no mention of this particular side effect. Akathesia can be VERY serious and include strong feelings of outright terror along with the aforementioned inability to keep still. And this condition is actually only seen as a side effect to antipsychotics. Of course, the other serious side effect of antipsychotics is tardive dyskinesia. This is a movement disorder which causes random, uncontrollable movement of limbs. And it can sometimes be permanent, even after discontinuing the drug. So it's REALLY good you got off the stuff when you did. It's no wonder that even people with schizophrenia and pychoses just don't want to be on this stuff. Of course, it's even worse if you are put on this stuff because of a situation (ie anxiety) that pales in comparison to the potential problems these drugs can cause.

One more thing I have to ask: Did your parents not ask questions about these meds? Or did they simply believe that the psychiatrist 'knew best'?

[joshesmama]

I think all of the antipsychotics and old antidepressants are bad. I do not think they help with anxiety. Antianxiolants and anticonvulsants seem to be the most helpful for me.

[ebony]

Prozac for me. It felt like the blood was going backwards in my brain.
Effexor worked great to kick me out of bad phase but ended up giving me suicidal thoughts. Quit taking it when i was getting ready to jump off a bridge onto rush hour interstate traffic.
Some like trazadone just made me groggy too much.
Lexapro didn't seem to help my crying jags, and gave me suicidal thoughts.
Quite frankly, I'm leery of taking many drugs because reactions can kill me!