Hi there Smiffy (I thought when I first saw it, it said Sniffy - and I thought, hey that's cool name - but Smiffy is pretty awesome too) 🙂
Smiffy, welcome to Beyond Blue and thank you coming here and providing your post. I am sorry to hear about the accident that your husband suffered. I do hope that after 9 months, he's starting to feel even just a little bit better.
The topic of medication is a good one - and they DO help. But Smiffy, you ain't gonna know that until you open the box and start on them. The GP obviously thinks that you're in need for them, and I think that you know it's time also.
The thing with taking them, they do take a while before the chemicals that the produce for you begin to take effect - it's roughly between 4-6 weeks before you'll start to feel their effects for you.
Now with side effects, inside the box, the chemist usually puts a little piece of paper that gives details about the tablet, how to take, and possible side effects. Generally if you do a google search on the tablet, they'll give out about 200 possible side effects - basically as they're just covering every possible episode that you "may" experience.
Just with taking medication, I would suggest that you perhaps make a GP appointment, say about 5 or so days after commencing taking them. Because if you haven't taken anything like this before, it would be good so you can be monitored by your GP in the early stages - and as he/she is the treating GP, they'll be best placed to help and advise you.
May I also ask, has your GP suggested any other assistance for yourself - like any possible counselling, etc?
Again, thanx so much for coming here and I do hope that you've found even a little bit of my post a tiny bit useful. And please Smiffy, I would love to hear back from you as well, if you're ok to do that?
Kind regards
Neil
