Re: Do SSRI's reduce focus?

[Anonymous]

My $0.02,

I was given Cipralex [a.k.a. Lexapro] for my depression 3 years ago. Things started out okay for me at a nominal dose and my mood was starting to even out a bit. I was fine with it. The Doc decided that since some was good, more must be better. WRONG! It started to turn me into a zombie. I could hardly get out of bed and get to work on time (and a lot of times I didn’t). It got so bad I was calling in sick and skipping work at least a couple of times a month. I started feeling this sense of “inertia” that others here speak of; it was like I was smoking pot, just watching the world slip away. During a regularly scheduled visit, I told the doctor that this was starting to cause me more harm than good. I cut the dosage back down but it wasn’t enough. I had to quit cold turkey. I’m glad I didn’t suffer the withdrawal that usually happens to people. I don’t think I’ve ever been the same since. I feel like I’ve been permanently “altered” somehow.

I’ll be honest; the biggest mistake I think I made was drinking alcohol while taking Cipralex. (Yeah, I know, I know…) I became a borderline alcoholic because of it. I still am. I’m sure having to live isolated and alone didn’t help things either. I think it was a mistake for me to treat the depression instead of looking for help with the REAL problem, my ADHD. I tried getting help for ADHD once, the first time I dealt with depression, but I gave up when the help wasn’t there. For a lot of years, there was absolutely no acknowledgment of adult ADHD in my town and thus no help for it. I believe now that until the ADHD dragon is slain, treating the resultant depression with an SSRI is like putting a band-aid on a deep, jagged cut that needs stitches.

Today, I’m still waiting for that first appointment with an ADHD specialist that I’ve only discovered in my area recently. Take my story for what you will.

Cheers. (yeah right)

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