Lucy X
Lucy experienced depression for the first time when she was 15. Although she got help and was prescribed Prozac (fluoxetine) she found it was difficult as an adolescent to be able to have a say in her treatment. When she began university she experienced another episode of depression, and this time found that the university doctors were far more open and understanding. She was prescribed citalopram which worked much better for her, and continues to take it on an ongoing basis.
Lucy is a university student and works part time during the vacations as an administrator. Ethnic background: White British.
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Lucy X alters her dose according to how she’s feeling, but usually checks with the doctor first. ‘I’d always want to her say that she felt that was okay’.
Lucy X alters her dose according to how she’s feeling, but usually checks with the doctor first. ‘I’d always want to her say that she felt that was okay’.
When you sometimes change the dose is that, do you always have a consultation to talk about that?
Yes I mean it’s, it’s kind of very much left up to me to make that decision now I always stick in the range between 10 and 30 and I will, I will always have a consultation, I mean sometimes it’s just over the phone because my GP knows me very well now and she sort of knows that because I’ve been taking it, I’ve been taking it since my first year so that’s just over two years now, that I’m quite aware of how these things affect me. She’s very happy for me to just, to let me take you know my sort of call with what I want to do.
Do you get a different prescription when you need a different dose or do you just take more tablets - how does that work?
It kind of depends because they only come in tens and twenties so if I take thirty I have to take two and then I take ten so, but normally because I get prescribed like them sort of intermittently on a different... normally I have enough to kind of be able to do it myself without having to be prescribed more. I mean so if they just cut the twenties but yes no so normally it’s not really a problem it’s normally just like, I’m more, I’m more – will phone her just to kind of have them just because like I do want to it feel like it’s a joint decision not just like I’m just going off an doing what I want on my own. I’d always want to her say that she felt that was okay but then I’m almost always certain that she will so when I was young I had a lot of sort of anxiety about sort of saying what I wanted to do just because it had been ignored. But very much now I can say ‘oh well this is what I’m thinking then.’
When you feel like you need to increase it for example what is it that you’re feeling that makes you want, need to do that?
So mainly for me it’s around the exams would be the normal one it’s just for me probably my trigger thing is just being a bit tearful and like just could be anything just like ridiculous stuff. And it’s not even, sometimes it’s not even that I feel like… sad I’m just like overly emotional and I notice it.
A drop in mood...
And then that for me that’s like oh okay that for me‘s not a good thing.