Would antidepressants affect my job?
Question:
I do suffer from anxiety and panic attacks in social situations though, and am considering taking antidepressants for this. Not what I really want to do, but what I am being advised to do.
Would this affect my job performance? I mean, would I still love taking on challanges and feel driven to surprise people?
I dont want to lose my drive, because I want to continue to impress my boss.
Answers:
Yes, it could. I was in university when I tried antidepressants. My psychiatrist put me on Prozac. Within the first week or so I was experiencing maddening insomnia, I'd sleep once every 3 days. I couldn't sit still. I couldn't concentrate. I felt like I was stoned a lot of the time, like far away and I was always yelling when I talked and I was always talking or bursting out laughing, but then I would have 'crazy time' where I would just stop and sit in a dark room for awhile. I wasn't numb at all, I was more alive than ever, but dead at the same time.
And I really don't know what they're talking about with the sex drive thing. My sex drive was incredibly high!! I'd practically orgasm from a slight breeze.
I went to the doctor and I told him what was going on, well most of what was going on because half of was crazy. He rolled his eyes at me, told me to be a good student (I had stopped going to class because I couldn't sit still) and upped my dosage. That's when I started having panic attacks and crying spells and oh, did I ever get mean to the people around me. Everything was way too bright or too loud. I was seeing colours that were not there and I couldn't tell what was real or not. I was very impulsive and in one of my 'crazy times' I got very down on myself for ******* up my life so much and overdosed. Luckily, no one found out and I woke up a day or two later just fine. Who knows what they would have done to me if I ended up in the hospital!
So, I quit 40 mg of Prozac 'cold turkey', had some headaches and that was that.
Now, of course, they say this isn't a usual response, but as you can tell from my story, my doctor ignored me and I quit going to him after that 6 months of hell. Unfortunately, I have panic and anxiety in addition to my occasional bouts of depression and am considering going back on medication, of course, I'm waiting until it is convienent for me, some few months I can take off of school and find a better doctor and let the meds do what they do until I find the right one. Perhaps a leave of abscence would do you well? When nothing else works and panic is almost as bad as panic plus depression plus prozac, alas, desperation.
If anything, it would make you better at your job. Anti-depressants do not change WHO you are.
No, it shouldnt. What type of work do you do?
Initially "possible" side effects after used to them & on right one you probably do your job better~~all the best to you
The only jobs it might affect are strippers, prostitutes and factory workers. Antidepressants kill your sex drive and no one should operate heavy machinery while on medication.
Once you find the right one it will help you at work, along with life in general. The initial side effects of some meds can be a nuisance but they tend to wear off after a couple weeks. Meds don't change you as a person, they just help the parts that need it.
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