Frances,
I am a psychotherapist and feel like talk therapy combined with medication is the most beneficial. Have you asked your doctor is they can recommend someone who specializes in chronic illness or just someone good?
Shellie

I'm still on the Wellbrutrin I was on before the surgeries and my Internist added Citalapram (Celexa) after my surgeries and had me go to a therapist that deals with chronically ill people. I also take xanex for anxiety and panic attacks. I am going to see if she can figure out a different medication than Citalapram as since I started it I have the side effect of bad dry mouth. It does work. I tried to taper off the dosage and had to go back up.

So an SSRI was added as Wellbrutrin is not one, I forget what kind it is. I'm also only on half of the maximum dose of it. I'm on the maximum dose for Citalapram.

Diagnoses are major depressive disorder, PTSD and anxiety. Therapy is helping. I was scared to drive or go into a store when i started therapy and I can drive, I avoid high traffic times and congested areas, and can go to a store by myself if I have to, in the middle of a week day or with someone else. Baby steps.

I hope you can get all sorted. This has been a big trauma following years, in my case, of illness and stress.

Thank you for the advice i do go to a therapist and it has not really helped, but will not give up as it will take time. I think i just need a change because the effore has to many side effects and i feel worse. I have a doctor appt on friday morning to talk to her. Thank you for taking the time to give me some advise. I hate so much taking all these pills.
Has anyone taken probotics i here alot of positive stuff but wondering if anyone takes it. I take alot of vitamins also. My iron was extremly low at one time but at least its better.
Take Care
Frances

Hi Frances,
I take VSL#3DS probiotics, which is the only one some insurance companies pay for, and s.boularii. If you do a search in here there are many discussions about probiotics. I take s.boularii to combat c.diff which I had before the operations an after. I take a lot of supplements and have a nutritionist helping me there. I have my vit D level at 62 which is higher than the minimum of 40 which is the low end of normal. I take 5000IU a day. My Internist thinks it's a lot but doesn't say anything because my test results are fine. Sorry for running on. I had and iron problem and was iron and vit C at the same time until my iron stores returned to normal. The C helps the iron absorb.

About your therapist. The first one I went to was no help at all. My doctor told me to cancel the next therapy appointment as he was wasting my time. So I found a great gal by reading bios on the internet. I know it sounds nuts but I found the perfect lady. She has a chronic illness and treats PTSD with EMDR. It is a great treatment if you have PTSD. It was hard for me to call and make the first appointment. It got easier the second time. The first guy said if I didn't feel I was getting what I needed from him it was fine to see someone else. It's not like he was awful, he just didn't get it.

With our colon removed we have lost an important part of the body and mind connection. There are books written about how loosing our colons causes a chemical problem in our brains. I expect I will probably need to be on some sort of antidepressant the rest of my life but hopefully not two and in smaller doses.

Please let us know how your doctor's appointment turns out Friday.

I would love to know what good books are out there if you could recommend any. Last year i became very tired all the time and i take synthroid for underactive thryoid since i was 19 and they checked that and then for the first time ever i had my vitamin levels checked and with this test my iron was sapossed to be between 60 to 100 and mine was 13. My hair was falling out and i lived on caffine and had a hard time driving being so tired. So now i take over the counter iron 3 times a day and its in the high 50s now still low but they dont say anything about that anymore. i would love to go to a nutritionist but of course my insurance does not cover them. I am looking foward to talking to my doctor on friday and will let you know how it goes.
Thanks for listening
Frances

Do they have you taking vitamin C with your Iron? I was told that helps you absorb the iron better. My thyroid was way out of whack after my j-pouch surgeries. It took 18 months to finally get the correct dose. I took blood tests every 6-8 weeks. It affects pouch function too, per my GI at Mayo. I lost a lot of hair too. My chiropractor BA is in nutrition so she is both a nutritionist and chiropractor. She does not push hokey potions. They are all good brands I can purchase elsewhere. Maybe you can find someone like her. Get a nutritionist, maybe your doctor can refer you to someone. I've found dietitians are a waste of time, at least the ones I've been to.

Take care.

I'm not taking antidepressants, but I have seen a therapist who deals specifically with chronic illness and found this quite insightful and helpful. Several years before that, I saw a counselor who really wasn't well versed in chronic illness; I found those sessions frustrating and unhelpful. I would recommend therapy, but from my own experience, I stress that you need to see a therapist who deals with chronic health issues.

Spooky it depends on what your problems are, in your case it was stress. That's why we need to see therapists, to see if we need medication and what our problems are, if we have them.

Going to doctor this morning to see my doctor and to get off the effexor and hopefully go back on wellburtrin. I looked under the side effects and i have them all some of the series ones. I dont know why it has taken me this long to go back to doctor. I kept thinking it will get better but it just kept getting worse. I see a therapist but not one for chronic illness. I will look into it. Its hard because i can not work anymore so we are down to one income and its been very hard. I will let you know what happens at doctors.
Thanks everyone
Frances

Well i went to my doctor this morning. She said i had all the side effects of the effexor and changed my antidipresant to wellbutrin 150mg twice a day the other medicine was 150 1 a day. She said that the wellbutrin will take over in about 3 days so the next 3 days will be rough. She asked me if i had any 75mg of effoxor left and i dont and she said if it gets real bad to take 1 of the 150 to get me over the hump. So bummed i am sapossed to go to my sister summer house right on lake michigan tomorrow the first time away all summer and now i am afraid to go and feel bad for my vacation. I hope the wellburtrin helps and is a right fit for me.
Thanks everyone
Frances

I hope you are having a great vacation Frances. I love lake Michigan. I hope you are by the great sand dunes, just like being at the ocean in middle America. I hope the medication is fine and that if needed you just need to take one of the old pills. I'm on 300 wellbrutrin a day plus another one so I don't think it should hurt to take 2 meds on one day.

Please let us how you are doing.

My vacation was nice but a little two long for it to be just my sister and i and leaving my car at her house and driving 3 hours to her other house left me trapped. I know i am still adjusting from effexor to wellbutrin. They are right wellbutrin does not help with aniexty and so when i take the wellburtrin i take my 1mg klonipin with it. I am very on edge hopefully it will get better. I am not as tired have more energy still working out and acuually starting to loose weight, feel like i want to have relations with my husband. The other stuff lost all interest with that. I wish with all my heart there was a support group near me. Just to meet other people and have them say i know what you mean would be so wonderful. But my saying is life is about moments not days.
Frances

I'm in several support groups on Facebook including for depression and anxiety as well as j-pouch and fibromyalgia. They are closed groups, meaning no one can see what you are posting but other members of the group and unless you are friends with the members outside of the group they do not see what's going on your FB page.

The first FB group I joined was one that spun off from some of us on here. If you are interested in learning more or have any questions please PM me. I've found a lot of help by being in the groups. If there were support groups in my area I probably wouldn't go. Then I'd have to face people in person etc.

Wellbrutrin doesn't work like SSRI's do. If you Google Major Depressive Disorder and then select the Mayo link it explains all plus does a good job of explaining how all the different medications work. Now I know why I can be on 2 different kinds as they treat different chemicals in my head.

Take care