I have never been on them. That being said, I have really bad premenstral symptoms; migraines, nausea, shakes, dizzy spells, extreme moodiness, etc., and my doctor thinks it's finally time to try Saraphem or some other anti-dedressant for a week or two every month. I have friends who have been on these meds, and they have said that it made them feel "blank" or "uninspired" or "flakey". Not really a good thing in relation to my work, kwim?? I am just wondering if anyone has any personal experience with this. Did it affect your creativity? Did it affect how you interact with clients, etc? TIA for any help.

I haven't been on that medication, but I was on Zoloft for postpartum depression after both of my of my sons. (I went on it when Ian was 6 months old and immediately after birth with Christian, since I had such a bad history of PPD)

I actually did better with clients when I was on the medication because it relieved my social anxiety issues. I was only on it for 6 months with both, but I didn't notice a drop in my work. (Now with Christian, I wasn't on it when I was shooting weddings because he was born in September and I was off of it by March)

You could give it a try and it you have those side effects, try a different medication.

Good Luck Amy! It sucks when hormones affect your life!

Steph

i was on wellbutrin for a couple years, and i don't remember being less creative. of course, mine was for depression, so i probably felt *more* creative on them than before, just cause it's easier to be creative if you actually get out of bed.

my mom is on morphine right now (back injury) and it makes her loose all her creativity.

is there a time of the year when you have less creative committments or when you could clear your calendar a bit and just shoot your kids or neighbors as a test? give the meds a try for a few weeks (even if it's not your time of the month...just as a test) and see what happens. Ask your doctor about how long it takes for the meds to take affect, and how long it takes for the effects to wear off once you stop them.

Thank you for the replies, I really appreciate it. Jillian, I think I am going to give it a try in the next 2 months or so kind of at the start of my really busy time of year, because letting it go much longer might not be good. Hopefully I will have positive results to share. My PMDD symptoms are awful altely, to the point that I can hardly function for 2 weeks every month.

I've been on Welbutrin for four years. It's one of the best out there. Studies even suggest that it helps patients lose weight and have an increased sex drive. I haven't noticed any of the side effects like you describe.

I don't know about the specific drug your doctor suggests, but it's a huge red flag for me that he says to take it once or twice a month to curb your PMS. The nature of anti-deppresents is that it usually takes at LEAST two weeks for it to fully get into your system, so taking it off again, on again sounds ineffective at best.

It sounds like you should look into Yaz or Yasmin. It's a type of birth control pill specifically made to lessen PMS symptoms. Good luck!

hope, sarafem is meant to be taken only for 1-2 weeks a month, as it's dosage is very low. I cannot take birth control pills of any kind, I am horribly allergic to them and they basically do nothing for me anyway. My symptoms are not PMS, they are PMDD, very different stories. I am basically manic-depressive/suicidal with additional physical symptoms for 7-12 days before my period every month. About 5 days into my cycle, I feel like myself again, and live in fear of my next cycle.

This is right off the warner chilcott website (makers of sarafem) it is a low dose antidepressant to treat pmdd...

How to take Sarafem
Take Sarafem as prescribed by your doctor. It's usually taken in a single daily dose in the morning, either every day of the month or only during a certain part of the month.

I can't attest to antidepressants doing anything for PMDD (or any hormonal issue, for that matter), but they've helped me get my life back. They're not the only thing, of course, but they're part of the treatment.

As far as stifling creativity, I've found it to be the opposite. I've been much more able to deal with life and have been more creative as a result.

I'm not on anything right now because I HATE anti-depressants.

I've been on prozac, zoloft, effexor, wellbutrin to name a few. LOL. They all left me on flatline. Yeah, I wasn't as depressed but I wasn't all that happy either.

They also made me stupid. I'm a pretty smart person, normally, but when I was on anti-depressants I couldn't think about anything all the way through. I would lose things CONSTANTLY. I once lost my keys 3 times in two weeks. I haven't lost them at all since I've been off the meds. I would drive somewhere and forget where I was going. It's like Alzheimers. At least, it was for me.

Also, you get dependent on them physically. You actually go through withdrawl when/if you go off them. You get physically sick if you dont come off them slow enough. I was passing out and having mini-seizure-like effects when I was weaning off of them. And LORD FORBID you ever run out of your perscription and forget to renew it on time (which is likely being on the meds when you forget everything but your name) because you hit a wall of withdrawl symptoms, complete with creepy crawly skin, sweats, dizzy, nausea and everything. UGH UGH UGH.

But....for people who REALLY REALLY need them, when life is just not worth living with no meds, then YES, of course they are probably necessary and helpful. But if you can make due without them, I say go that route. I mean, these are meds that mess with your brain chemistry. It effects the way the messages are transmitted in your brain. You have to be desperate to make that sound like a good idea. I was desperate at one point. I am no longer there. Maybe I had such a bad reaction because it wasn't brain chemistry that was making me depressed it was my completley dysfunctional, abusive marriage. As one of my counselors said, my depression was a completely normal reaction to living the way I was living. If you have a brain chemistry imbalance, maybe the meds help restore the balance. It didn't work for me.

I take Effexor for depression and anxiety and it has changed my whole world for the better. I don't panic about meeting new clients, I've got ideas coming out my ears - it's really helped me in so many facets of my life.

Sarah, I am generally not a person to go the meds route that quickly either. However, the way you described you ON them, is how I feel now, with nothing. Plus randomly collapsing in the kitchen while making dinner for my kids and sobbing for an hour, shaking, crying, suicidal thoughts, anxiety, etc. But for two weeks of every month I am myself. Happy, motivated, creative, fun, content. I dunno, I just know somehting has to change. I can clearly see that it's a personal thing, and everyone has different results, but all of this insight has been really helpful, so thank you to everyone for sharing.

Amy, first I would like to say that I have been there exactly. Randomly collapsing and sobbing and convulsing forever and not being able to listen to any reason, it's awful! And I am so so so so sorry you are going through this. And it sucks when you have "good" days because you know the "bad" days are coming again soon. And when people tell you to "cheer up" it just makes it worse because you can't, and you feel bad that you can't.

I've been on anti-depressants since August, and it has changed my life for the better. Same as many others who have posted, my creativity actually took off and I was able to actually meet with clients since I wasn't having a panic attack about it.

Feel free to pm or email me if you ever need to talk, you'll be in my prayers

Amy, from your description (big hugs!!), it sounds like it would be difficult to be creative (at least in a positive way) in your current condition anyway. If you can't function normally at the wedding, then whether or not you're creative is the least concern. Just go for the treatment, and worry about getting yourself back to normal first. If you're really worried about it, have a second shooter come along and ask them to specifically get "creative/fun" shots while you take care of the standard shots.

You'll get through this!!

thank you jillian and everyone else.

Amy, you are right. And I was in that shape when I had to go on the meds, so it was a good thing that I did. And they DID even me out. But, I'm thinking (and this is just my non-medical opinion) that maybe because it was a reaction to actual events that made me feel that way, and not a chemical imbalance, once I was back on even footing the medication actually created an imbalance.

My sister is on some kind of antidepressants because of the same things that you have described. She told me she was homicidal for two weeks out of every month before she went on them. They seem to have helped. She hasn't killed anyone yet.

NOTE: I do NOT feel that people who take antidepressants are in any way doing the wrong thing. I have nothing at all against anyone with depression or any other psychological illness. Depression is horrible to live with, both as a depressed person and as a family member of a depressed person. What I have described is only my own experiences and are not meant to judge or harm anyone else. Thanks.

Well, my appointment is at 7:30 am tomorrow morning to figure out a med to start me on. I will post an update about what we decide on, but man, it's not coming a moment too soon.

Amy, you are doing the right thing by getting the help you need to function and to thrive.

As everyone above has mentioned, different medications affect people differently. The only way to know how you will react is to try. There are many options out there and the key is to find what is right for YOU. Sometimes it is medication, sometimes it is making changes in your diet/activities, or looking at alternative medicine. Everyone's body is different.

I was having severe anxiety for a week or two before my monthly and each month it was get worse. It finally came down to having panic attacks daily for two weeks and feeling like a train wreck waiting to happen. I am not a big fan of medications but will take them when needed, so when it got really bad this past month I went on Zoloft to try and find some relief. Unfortunately, for me it made things twice as bad (couldn't focus, not remembering where things were, feeling even more edgy...) so they offered me another medication to counter those reactions until my body "adjusted" to the Zoloft. I choose not to that route unless I had no other options. I spent a few days researching the alternative drugs and treatments available. I ended up changing my diet to eliminate all caffine and reduce my intake of sugar. Started having myofacial release treatments for the muscle tention, and added some recommended suppliments. Within two weeks I was feeling myself again with tons of energy that I haven't had in months. In the mean time I happy to say I went through my first "two weeks before" without any issues. Kept waiting for it to happen and it didn't. The alternative has worked so far for me. If it ever changes and stops working, I will go back and try additional medications.

Keep us posted on what works. We'll be praying you find a solution that allows you to thrive and have creativity to pursue your passions. Thanks for posting. This hits home for a lot of people.

Perfect timing on this thread. Thanks to everyone for their positive advice. I feel like I'm falling apart in my old age

I was on the lowest dose of Serafem for a few months and did a world of good for me during my PMDD phase. I felt "normal" again; didn't rage against everyone in my path, had normal energy (I wasn't wired or zombie like), had more patience toward my kids and didn't feel groggy all the time, no matter the amount of sleep I got. Recently, I've been feeling like I need to do it again (maybe it's the winter months that contribute to the need of taking it for a short time).

The way my doctor explained my condition was that the right messages were being transmitted (my life was completely on track and healthy), but there was a missing space that made those messages fall apart and the low-dose meds would create a bridge in that space so those messages could flow properly.


Shell, would you share the supplements that you tried? I'm all for starting with a natural alternative to drugs, and already don't do caffeine and not much into sugar.

Just so everyone knows, this is something I have been battlong for years, but in the past year it's gotten 100% worse. I eat very healthy, I excercise regularly, I tried herbal supplements, magnesiur, iron, and calcium supplements, chaste tree berry, birth control pills. NOTHING worked, and I mean nothing. This month was the worst ever, and because I have a 5 week cycle, it lasted for nearly 3 weeks. Fun. The nurse practitioner was AWESOME to talk to. After reviewing all of my symptoms, my medical history, and medicinal allergies, she decided to put me on something all the time. We are first trying a low dose of Prozac, and if that doesn't work we will give Welbutrin a try. I had my first dose and I can already feel some symptoms, dry mouth, a bit of nausea that quickly subsided, and I do feel a bit tired and groggy/drugged. She said if those symptoms don't fade at my 2 week checkup we'll talk about switching. Thank you so much for all of the support and comments/sharing.