Hey Jennifer!

There are some great posts about the beginner paleo way of life here

When I first started I had all my questions answered just going through all the fab posts.

Many of us also experience depression and the like and we have some posts here. From experience I can say that my depression and mood issues have improved remarkably!

GI issues, for me and many others, are pretty much out the door after giving up legumes, beans, and gluten. Robb Wolf has an amazing set of beginner guides. I give everyone who asks me about my diet that link. They love it!

Tortilla chips are a no-no. Usually made with crap oils like soybean. Basically, anything processed (in a bag/box) is going to be suspect.

As for exercise, there are a ton of posts. Just search for what interests you.

Good luck and welcome to a new way of life!

1) Your chemistry will be shifting enough with the diet. I don't see the benefit of cutting out your anti-depressant right now. Get some stability, like at least two-three months of solid paleo eating before you consider getting off mood-meds. You may find yourself moving away from the pill quite naturally. Consider researching the supplements that are recommended in Paleo/Primal resources.

2) I don't know about Prevacid...someone I am sure will know better. I think, yeah, quit, but that is totally an intuitive feeling that the diet is working on you and the Prevacid isn't serving you.

3) Corn is a grain. I would recommend cutting it out completely.

4) Regarding exercise..go slow, listen to your body's needs. The beginning of this diet tends to put people in healing mode, there isn't a lot of extra energy to exercise. Then, for some, it's no problem. Do as you feel, but I recommend biting off one thing at a time. Exercise will be a natural expression of your health. Use your energy to get well.

in regards to your antidepression medication, whether or not it is paleo is completely irrelevant if it improves your quality of life than keep taking it. lots of things in the modern world are not paleo but that doesn't mean you cannot use them to improve you life. paleo is not an all or nothing lifestlye even though many people will try to convince you otherwise.

if you do not exercise at all all than anything you do to get moving will be a good start, do something you like and can stick to.

most people from what i gather limit the amount of corn they eat if they are paleo or do not include it at all. i would think tortilla chips friend in crappy oil would not be paleo at all. i however eat them from time to time anyways ;)

You might mention what you eat in a typical day/week. Some people go Paleo and still eat a diet with balanced protein/fat/carb. Others go low carb, very low carb, or zero carb. Some go very high fat. Most Paleo folks tend to be high protein with lots of meat, but not everyone. So when you say "Paleo" there is still some variance.

I used to have intermittent GERD and that went away completely with the Paleo diet, I think it was the sugar and grains. I prefer a low-carb diet, but when I go really low carb or all meat, I get some stomach issues after a week or so. Nowadays once a week I will have a meal consisting of all yogurt (full-fat and unsweetened) and fruit, which is a Paleo no-no but it does wonders for my digestive system.

If you have serious GI inflammation you might need a very specific diet until that heals up. I had peptic ulcers a while back and found that coffee was the cause, and I had to give it up completely for about 3 months in order to heal. A friend of mine had a seriously inflamed esophagus, and had to drop all caffeine, alcohol, carbonated beverages, spicy foods, and some other things for several months until it healed up. So you might be sure that your GI system is healed up to rule that out as a cause.

Another possibility is that you are still eating, or have started to eat, something that you are allergic to or don't tolerate well. For example some people start to eat a lot of nuts when they first go Paleo, and then find they are allergic to them in quantity.

I find that my moods are way better on the Paleo diet and with vitamin D supplements. I'm not sure which has more of an impact, but I do think the vitamin D is very important. I've never been on anti-depressants but my moods are fantastic on this regime.

On the weight loss, I've been strict Paleo for about 8 weeks. When I first started, I lost about 7-8 pounds quickly. Some call this "water weight" but I also lost a couple of pants sizes so I am not sure it's all water. Then my weight stayed exactly the same for weeks. This was kind of frustrating because I was trying to lose about 10 more pounds. Well I weighed myself yesterday and found that I had dropped 3.5 pounds since I weighed myself last which was probably about 10 days prior. The lesson for me was to just stick with the diet, focus on feeling good and getting the right kind of exercise, and think about weight after all of that. Good luck!

EDIT: I should have mentioned, when I had ulcers, the doctor prescribed Nexium (the "purple pill"). This alleviated my symptoms, but I did not want to take it forever, and my health insurance didn't cover it. I found that quitting coffee is all that was required to completely eliminate my ulcers and related symptoms, with the exception of intermittent GERD, which I cured by going Paleo. I am skeptical of someone needing to take an antacid medicine every day forever unless you have a serious problem, and think that 95% of the time this can be addressed with diet, just my $0.02.

EDIT2: Ok sorry this is turning into a marathon answer :-). Nausea can be a side effect of Celexa. Any chance that is causing your nausea?

For exercise, I think that walks are a great place to start, I'd do 30 minutes at least every other day. You might find that this turns into jogging or running at some point, but I'd start easy. I would also make sure that the exercise is mentally and emotionally refreshing. Walk in a nice place, with a friend, or in nature, and make it special "me" time. My wife does 30-45 minute power walks while talking to her friend who moved out of town on her cell phone and comes back all smiles. This is what got me into jogging and really improved my overall health.

You may need to phase out the prevacid. I was on prilosec and my doc had me phase it out by going 2 days on, one day off for a week, and then one day on, one day off for a week. and then one day on, two days off the third week. Fourth week was off. I also added some GI-soothing herbal tea, made with licorice root, marshmallow and slippery elm. In my understanding, you want your stomach acid to be able to break down your food correctly, Gerd and other symptoms will go away when you avoid gluten, grain, and other irritants for awhile.

I have chronic depression and anxiety disorder and continue to take my meds (Wellbutrin), even though when I'm hardcore paleo I tend to have more good days than bad. It might be actually helping alleviate my symptoms, or it could just be temporary. Maybe once I've gone a full six months on paleo I'll try phasing out the meds, but right now I still need them. It's okay to still take modern medicine; some people believe in paleo as a way of life, I see it as a way of eating/exercising. I am not a cavewoman and have no desire to be one, if I need a pill to stay sane, I'm going to take it. Good luck!

I am only about 3 weeks serious Paleo and for the first week or two, my GERD was really bad. I had been off of Prevacid for awhile and was starting to get a little concerned with the flare up. It cleared up pretty quickly and now it's not bothering me.

Try Now Foods Super Enzymes for your GERD. My wife used to get heartburn occasionally, but the frequency was increasing pretty quickly (She's still eating SAD) I put her on Super Enzymes and she hasn't had any issues with heartburn when she remembers to take the damn pill. She's one of those "as soon as it works I stop thinking about it and quit doing what was working" kind of people.

The Super Enzymes help digest food, and increase nutrient absorption as well. Pretty nifty little pill. I noticed degreased gas when I started taking them, and my digestion seems to have stabilized as well.

As for the antidepressents, just as everyone else has said, keep taking them. No need to risk quality of life while you're still getting your body back in line.