Depression Medication

Medication is often the first and only treatment used for people with depression. Though medication in addition to therapy is often the most effective treatment for depression, the cost of therapy and the fact that it is not covered by most health plans limits people's abilities to get help from a therapist.

Your doctor will work with you to try and find the medication(s) that works for you. Unfortunately, this can often be a long process. What works for one person does not always work for another. Finding the right antidepressant medication is a trial and error process. It takes 4-6 weeks for an antidepressant to start working--if you are lucky, you will notice an improvement in your mood and the antidepressant will be a good one for you. But often, you will notice no difference and will have to try another medication, which means waiting another 4-6 weeks to see if that one works. This process continues until you find a medication that works for you--it can be a long and frustrating process.

When you first start taking an antidepressant, before it even starts working, you may notice some side-effects from the medication. These side effects are especially prevalant within the first two weeks of you taking the drug, and after that will usually go away or at least reduce in severity. The side effects that appear vary from person to person, but in general these are some of the most common side effects: nausea, headache, dizziness, change in appetite, weight loss or weight gain, reduced sexual drive, vivid or strange dreams, drowsiness, tremors and gastrointestinal side effects such as vomiting or diarrhoea. Like mentioned above, these side effects are at their worst in the first few weeks after you start the medication, and you shouldn't quit taking the drug because of them, since as your body adapts to the drug, the side effects will lessen.

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