I tried a form of prozac when SD had driven me very low but I just couldn't get on with it. Made me sleep all the time and yawning plus feeling nausea and dizzy. The side effects didn't wear off so I gave up on it. Just had to go cold turkey Luckily the b**ch left here so even though we got more stress it was not so depressing. Good luck though, hope you find something that helps you. Some of the natural methods like herbal things can be helpful too.

My friend is a highly motivated, Type A career woman. Thanks to a bad childhood with a disordered mother, she has some issues with depression and self worth. She takes Prozac daily, with great success.

Huh!, I just assumed every SM was on anti-depressants? OK, maybe not something to joke about, but I'm more at liberty than most to joke because I'm a SM and yes, I've been on Prozac. Extremely helpful for me. For me it started working right away too. However, I do admit for the first week or so, I must've slept about 10+ hours/day. It is a common initial side effect, and that affect did eventually wear off for me. Prior, I tried St. John's Wort, which is supposed to be a herbal or natural anti-depressant, but it didn't do anything for me. There are quite a few medications, from different classes out there now to treat depression and anxiety, so it is a question of hanging in there and finding the right one and dosage, along with your physician or prescriber, of course.

I tried prozac about 25 years ago. It did nothing for me as my problem was not depression - but was sleep apnea. I took some paxil during menopause, but it had side effects I didn't like.

I now take Cymbalta - which is great for autoimmune pain in addition to depression. Lyrica is similar.

*Raises Hand*

I'm on Prozac for anxiety.

Worked like magic. I had chest pain. It felt kind of like reflux, but no antacids helped at all. Even Xanax wasn't helping. As soon as I started taking the Prozac, within days the discomfort went away. I did have an EKG from my gp as well which came back normal.

I remember saying to my therapist that maybe in a few months I would stop taking it, and she looked at me and asked what in my life was going to change. I said nothing, so she said she doesn't see that as an answer. That said a lot to me because she is generally against medications.

I only take 20 mg. My libido decreased, but I also have 3 young children helping that as well! No other negative side-effects.

I've been a SM for 11 yeas now and started taking antidepressants about two years into my step-mother journey. They really helped to take the edge off my situation and allowed me to focus more on the counselling.

Counselling is an absolute must (in my view) for any blended family!

I came off the antidepressants about a year later and haven't taken anything else since. In fairness, I probably came off the antidepressants too early as it took years after that to get to a better place. The only way I was able to get to a better place was finally accepting that I couldn't control the situation. I put so much pressure on myself to love the skids and be the perfect SM. In the end, I realised you can't force feelings and although I did develop love (albeit very slowly over years) for my SS11, I've never been able to even like (let alone love) my SD13 and I don't see that changing. I see my SD as just someone I have to survive and I hope every day that she decides to live with BM at some point in her teenage years!

I'm actually off to counselling again now to try and work through a better way to deal with SD as it's really, really hard spending half your life with a kid you can't stand and then feeling guilty because you fail to hide your dislike at time sand show a real preference for my SS11 who I adore.

Anyway who can survive being a SM without drugs amazes me! Best of luck with your journey!

I got put on Seroxat (I think it's called Paxil in the USA) in 1999 when I had severe depression and was hospitalised. It pulled me out of the pit, and after I got better I ended my abusive first marriage which was what I needed to do but hadn't, up until then. I was only on it a very short while, but I was also put on zopiclone (Ambien) which I became addicted to and it took me many years to get off it.

In most cases of reactive depression, which is what you have apparently - the drugs can only serve to provide a cushion while you sort your life out. I think you know you need to change stuff if it has got so bad you are suffering enough to need meds.

I do not like pills, I turn to whisky lol.....

maybe you should consider another living environment for a while, just to let your old self come out again and then you can make decisions, that helped me allot, being on my own for a while... with no whisky

but hang in there, we are here for you, you can rant and rave and vent, support is a keybord away

I tried Effexor XR and Ciprolex.

Effexor XR made me hallucianate... I had a little bit of baby blues after my 3rd kid, and my doctor prescribed them. I took them for 2 weeks and took myself off them, they were awful, made everything worse. That was in 2005.

In 2013 I was going through some heavy heavy stress for various things - my doctor suggested ciprolex to help me "get through the day". I was foggy and did nothing but sleep for about a week, then it was foggy on and off... after about a month, I said F it, took a few weeks off work, and did nothing but relax. I knew it was just stress, so I removed the stress.

I can't take that kind of stuff - messes with my head too much. If it didn't, d@mn straight I'd be on a vodka/xanax cocktail. Them rich b!tches in movies always seem so zen.

The only medicine I’ve ever had success with is Wellbutrin. I lost a good amount of weight on it too, as it’s one of its side effects.

Everything else on the market either makes me feel like a zombie, gain massive amounts of weight, my face break out...

Whenever I feel the need for help, I go back on Wellbutrin.

I hope it helps you, though!

Never been on any meds.

I understand people suffering from clinical depression or anxiety or anything else and having to take medication.

But I’d not go on meds because I have nasty DH or SKs. I’d remove my stressor: divorce, leave etc

I was very stressed living with nasty SD in my past stepfamily. When it got too much, I left. No way I’d go on meds because of SKs or men. No way I’d be a victim of other people’s behavior up to the point of needing meds!

I take a low dose of celexa. I have bad anxiety and depression and don't function well without meds.

My Ex husband (note the EX).... told me that I needed to be on medication because I was "crazy"... moody.

So I tried Zoloft. Well.. call it my DGAF meds. I stopped caring about all the drama my DH (at the time) was causing me. The fact that all the responsibility in the house was mine from paying the bills... to mowing the grass etc.. I stopped caring about his drama period.

He didn't like that one bit.

So, I stopped the meds because honestly, the issue was HIM.. not in me. We did divorce a year later.

Look, I understand needing a bit of help when things are happening that are stressful like an illness in the family etc.. but, if you were fine before you got together and now you are all of a sudden a mess... what changed?

I only ever took valium for a few days after I had a stillbirth- I didn't like it as I felt disconnected from my brain. I went to counselling instead and eventually had two children who took my mind off my previous loss- although that grief never really disappears my now 35 year old daughter (now herself a mum to two) wouldn't have been born- so that's how I had to look at it.
I work in a mental health related job so know the part medication has to play, but underneath I can't help thinking that women, and more increasingly men, shouldn't need this stuff if their lives were less stressful and downright difficult.

My own mum took pills for years to help her cope with the drudgery of her life when what she should have had was more money and more time for herself. She eventually got this in her later years, and lived to enjoy a healthy old age. So, take heart, it doesn't have to be for the rest of your life. But how sad that people still need to rely on chemicals to get by.

I consider myself lucky, I have an optimistic and basically cheerful disposition and rarely get depressed. When I do nothing works better than a chin-wag with friends, a bit of music to dance to in the kitchen, a glass of wine, a good movie, and sometimes just a good bawl into my pillow. I really think that if more of the right support is given to people when life becomes difficult, we wouldn't need pills- but then the pharmacy industry would be in bother!