I'm on citalopram for depression and anxiety and have been for 15, 20 years. And I found it's good for me, it works good for me, I don't have any side effects apart from a bit of tiredness which is also caused by other medication I'm on as well. So it just depends on what suits each person, on how many side effects you get and if it suits you well then you shouldn't get many.
Different medications are going to have different side effects for each person. One of the most popular medications, Prozac, that they put a lot of people on, they put me on and I felt like a zombie. Like, I feel like I was just dreaming all the time, walking through life without realizing what was going on. But there's a lot of different ones and a lot of different types of medications that can change. Don't let just having one medication that doesn't work have negative side effects deter you from trying a different one. And also remember that it takes about five weeks to see if that medication is helpful or not.
Common side effects are massive weight gain which will not help you because you'll start to feel worse about yourself. Second, you'll have various mood swings which is contradictive to the whole point of the medication. And last, a lot of other health complications that can potentially be fatal. So is it really worth the risk just to have less but more stronger moodier days? I don't think so.
There are so many medications for dealing with depression and honestly there's a lot of side effects that may seem scary but they're actually pretty normal across the board of different types of antidepressant medications. Some ones that I have personally experienced are extreme fatigue and just a little bit feeling of numbness not being able to feel what you're feeling but if anyone has ever it's like you're taking these medications and you have experienced these symptoms just know you are not alone and you are not crazy and that these are things that happen sometimes while taking the medication and while your body's adjusting to it. Just thought that would help.