Anti-depressents

[Fox12]

Long story short, after talking with a doctor, medications got brought up.

If anyone has experience with anti-depressents, what were they like? Were there side effects? Did they help you with your depression? If so, how? How did it affect your mood and lifestyle? Just a little curious about the experiences people had.

 

[Voidrunner]

I'm going to say it definitely depends on the person and the medication because I've heard a lot of horror stories but my experience was fine. I was taking sixty milligrams of Prozac and barely noticed any difference to my mood and lifestyle. I was so indifferent towards the meds and their effects that my psychiatrist bumped me back down to forty milligrams which I'm on now because she said a higher dosage was pointless. I once accidentally overdosed and took one hundred and twenty milligrams and still didn't notice any side effects so I don't know what's wrong with me. Only side effect I really noticed was strange dreams and maybe insomnia if you take it too soon before trying to sleep and even that isn't an issue any more because the anti psychotics they gave me put me out like a light.

So in short, it didn't really affect my depression, my anxiety, or my lifestyle all that much. I don't know if that's helpful but that's my experience.

 

[Ender910_v1legacy]

My first bit of advice would be to err on the side of caution. If it's not something you're fairly certain you need or the issues you're having are fairly mild, then taking a dip in with antidepressants can be more of a mess than you really want. Depending on your situation and your neurochemistry it can take a fair bit of time to find a medication and dosage that works "just right", and if you find you don't need it in the first place, tapering off of it can be a pretty terrible experience. Maybe you could provide a little more context? Since it's kind of tough to tell where you're coming from, somewhat.

That said though, most side effects I've experienced are usually caused by a few possible factors. The medication itself, the dosage, the (generic) manufacturer brand, and whether or not it's something that generally works for you or not. Most of the side effects I've experienced though are... basically finding the right balance. Sometimes that misbalance might present itself as more anxiety or a sense of getting overwhelmed, other times you might find your dosage or whatever is shifting that balance another way, leading to you feeling a little like a non-emotional zombie (as in enjoying/feeling emotion, not necessarily how much you express it).

TLDR; Make sure it's something you think is worth trying, personally recommend avoiding some of the older SNRI's and SSRI's but don't rule them out, personally recommend avoiding Indian generic brand manufacturers (Efficacy seems inconsistent for me and some other people), try to find the right dosage and balance once you've found something that seems to come close to working for you.

Oh, and don't just trust the doctor unconditionally, do your own research and ask serious questions. I know of a few people who've gotten themselves into a mess with medication because their doctor didn't really provide very effective care and the patients just went along with it.

 

[manic_depressive13]

I was prescribed meds by this completely indifferent doctor who told me that they'd take several weeks to work, and not to stop taking them no matter what. I've forgotten what that brand was called now. Anyway, I took them for about three days. They gave me tachycardia and made me feel nauseous, so that I could barely sleep. If I looked at the wall after a while everything would start to warp and swirl. It was really uncomfortable. I just stopped taking them, which you're not supposed to do without consulting your doctor.

After that I was prescribed prozac but I never ended up using it. Taking medication regularly isn't something I want to do, even if it isn't bullshit medication with nebulous benefits and excessive side effects. I can barely bring myself to finish a round of antibiotics without slacking off, so how am I supposed to pull that shit off indefinitely. I also stopped seeing my psychologist around this point because frankly I thought it was bullshit.

People insist taking medication is completely your choice, but when it was brought up (twice) I felt like there was this accusatory undertone of "If you really wanted to get better, you'd take it". I was encouraged to do so even after I gave several half-assed excuses which I maintain should have indicated that I wasn't particularly enthusiastic about the prospect. I don't know if I was just imagining this pressure; I am insane after all. My point is, if you do decide to take medication, make sure it's something you want to do. Don't do it because you feel like you should or other people expect you to.

 

[Totenkreuz]

I would say they work with problems which aren't permanent. For example, if a family member died, then you can use antidepressents, but I would not recommend using them for something which will not go away on it's own.

They do not change your mind, they just "dampen depression" and if the source of it doesn't go away then the meds will not help.

This is just my own knowledge of the antidepressents, I'm not a doctor so I'm probably wrong everywhere here but this is how I experienced it when people near me used those medicines.

Oh, and the strongest side effect I've seen was a growing lack of energy and meaning in life, you become a husk, you still get 'sad' but not in the extreme. The same goes for happiness, you still get happy but not extremely happy while on the medicine.


Cheers, and hope you'll get better!

EDIT: PS: I forgot, the same people changed medicine to something called "Ritalin" and it helped them alot! thanks to that medicine they got more energy, was happier and everything seem better.

 

[Fox12]

Oh, and the strongest side effect I've seen was a growing lack of energy and meaning in life, you become a husk, you still get 'sad' but not in the extreme. The same goes for happiness, you still get happy but not extremely happy while on the medicine.


Cheers, and hope you'll get better!

EDIT: PS: I forgot, the same people changed medicine to something called "Ritalin" and it helped them alot! thanks to that medicine they got more energy, was happier and everything seem better.

Would you say, then, that there was a positive change after they changed medications? The above side effects are exactly what I'm trying to get rid of. Not much point in meds if they make me feel tired and I lose all meaning in life : P

 

[Totenkreuz]

Would you say, then, that there was a positive change after they changed medications? The above side effects are exactly what I'm trying to get rid of. Not much point in meds if they make me feel tired and I lose all meaning in life : P

Yes, oh yes it was, like day and night change. Before he changed to ritalin he was like a zombie, passive toward everything and without that "spark of life", he wasn't "depressed" with antidepressants because he didn't have the energy for it, not because they removed the depression itself.

He said something like: "I was still depressed when I was on antidepressants but I was so tired and 'souless' all the time that no one saw me sad anymore, just tired, and because of that tiredness they believed that I have been 'cured' from the depression. I just couldn't gather the energy for any sort of emotion, be it happiness or sadness".

I also heard many years ago that one of my friends grandmother took her own life when she stopped taking antidepressants. The reason I was told was that the medicine itself just stalled the emotions and when she stopped taking them she became as sad as she was before she started with them, and it's from that story that I have the "antidepressants are only for temporary things like when the family dog dies" mentality.

Cheers.

 

[sanquin]

I've been on anti depressants for about a year. For me, it had a positive effect at first. However, after about 6~8 months I started noticing that instead of depressed, I started becoming stressed. The medication didn't actually help my depression. It just suppressed it. So after that year I decided to stop taking them, dealing with what was making me depressed in the first place instead. Which took another few years.

 

[WolfThomas]

Most antidepressant work to increase the amount of serotonin in your brain. In some people this is very effective, other times it is not. Depression is often a multi factorial condition. An antidepressant medication alone isn't going to get rid of the depression of social isolation, bereavement or chronic pain for example. In fact really there is no point giving someone one for the death of a loved one, that grief is a natural reaction. The medication is for abnormal chemical imbalances that cause pervasively low moods

Antidepressants despite the name are also the main medicine treatment for anxiety and obessive compulsive disorder (the real terrible condition not Obsessive-Compulsive Personality disorder which is being a neatfreak)

Nearly all work on having a steady state of medication in your blood, rather than as you need it. Most of the side effects are weighted towards the beginning of the treatment. Because it's a tricky chemical balance these medications can often make people more agitated paradoxically, crazy I know right. They can often make people nauseated or sedated. But if one can persevere they often lessen significantly and even if that medication isn't right, transitioning to another is easier than starting again. 6 weeks is the time required for maximal efficacy, if it's not working or the side effects are too severe a switch should be considered.

The medication is not a short term fix but neither is it immediately a life long medication. Often people only require 1 course from anywhere between 6months to 2years before they can stop and many never need them again. If there is a second episode a 5 year course is recommended. Finally life-long for recurrent depression.

Often in mild depression, talk therapies such as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy are found to be just as effective and really should alway be considered first line or in combination with medication. However when depression is more severe you often cannot effectively use talk therapy due to lack of energy/motivation and often psychomotor-retardation (where concrentration and though process is significantly slowed). Medication can help these people to a level where they can attempt talk therapy.

In the most severe depression often medication is not enough and electro-convulsive therapy is used. We don't know why it works, but it does. It's a pretty benign procedure despite all hollywood portrayals.

Antidepressants are an effective medical tool, often for severely unwell people and can work really well. However in some cases and people they don't and they can also be inappropriately prescribed. This shouldn't overshadow the great impact they do have though.

Edit: To answer OP's question I have never used them myself. Though family members and my partner have with great efficacy. I have also seen many patients have significant improvements on them. Though as I have said above, also those who don't.

Personally I would give them a shot if I had to.

 

[Kuma_Nur]

Hi Fox12,

First off let me say i'm sorry you find yourself in this situation and I sincerely hope that you will be able to improve the quality of your life on a day to day basis with the right meds, While I don't have all the answers you need I hope by sharing some of my thoughts on the subject that I can help in some small way.

I didn't realize how badly I needed Antidepressents until after about two weeks on them, a lot of Anxiety and health problems when I was younger that I thought I could just shake off, the Anxiety stuck with me and rather than recognize this passenger I was sharing my life with I simply accepted it as a part of my life.

It's safe to say that my particular flavour of depression is brought on by a lot of Anxiety, I've always been the quiet keep it to myself kind of guy so it was very hard to talk about it let alone realize it myself.

The hardest lesson I've had to learn and I wish my doctor had explained this when I first started taking an Antidepressent is that some Pills only deal with half the problem for some people, there are some pills that help with the mood and improving it, and there are some pills that help you deal with the anxiety portion of it, What finally worked for "Me Personally" was "Celexa" now this is just what helped me in the end, I certainly don't tout it as the depression cure all, but in a world of Antidepressants that treat different symptoms it's very important to find what works for you, and as it turns out finding the Celxa was half the battle for me.

The second crucial thing for me was finding someone to talk to, some people call them mental health professionals I like to call them "Professional Strangers" you can talk to your loved ones about your depression or your friends, you can talk to someone who desperately wants to help you with every fibre of their being, but sometimes what truly helps is talking to someone who doesn't know you but has the tools to help you come to grips with what is going on in your head that is hurtful or detrimental to your mental well being.

These two things together were what really helped me get a grip on my depression, I got to look into my own head and see some things that I hadn't really been aware of or hadn't really been able to admit to myself.

I'm going to stop now because god I could ramble on and on about this for a lot longer, I hope this will help in some small way, and I guess that if I could tell you anything else it's that no matter how bad you feel even on your worst days you're certainly not alone.

 

[StatusNil]

Well, as I do have quite a bit of experience with some brands of fluoxetine (which is what Prozac is), figured I'd toss in my bit, though it looks like you've already got some useful info here.

Basically what I've found is that it tends to stabilize me on a kind of "Meh, whatever" level. Which is great compared to some lows, but not so much considering it also tends to numb positive emotional reactions. For an everyday example, I recall being very much moved by things like certain pieces of music and so on ("feels", man!) before I got on that stuff, and nowadays it doesn't seem to reach me in quite the same way. I mean, I still like those things. But the sensation is somewhat lacking.

Another thing to consider in regards to these particular chemicals is the likely dampening effect on the "libido", as its known. Which is basically "sex drive", broadly defined. That is, including other aspects of social connectivity besides the obviously sexual in nature. And I'm not just talking about mechanics here, but the relative urgency of these kinds of concerns. It probably won't make a person asexual or anything, just dials down the appeal.

Then there is the question of quitting. I remember when I grew frustrated with the numbing effect and decided to just stop taking the stuff, in the "cold turkey" fashion (at the time I believe I was taking 60 mg of fluoxetine a day, the highest I ever went). I recall feeling better for a few whole weeks and thinking it was obviously the correct thing to do. But then I gradually but quite quickly developed the worst anxiety I have ever experienced, to the point I was pretty much incapacitated. At which point I took up the meds again, and was back to what's normal for me in a few days, as I recall. The doctor who had prescribed the pills was adamant that it was "just the underlying anxiety" that came back without the pills, but another opinion was that it was in fact a straightforward case of withdrawal symptoms. I can only say for sure that it was worse than whatever I felt like before starting the medication, but not sure if it even makes that much of a difference. The point is that it's good to be aware of these things in advance.

Now, I know this all seems somewhat on the negative side, but I'm not trying to dissuade you from seeking the kind of help you may need. It's just some of my personal experiences with a particular psychopharmacological agent, fluoxetine, which is part of the "Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor" (SSRI) class of medications. Individual experiences do vary, and there are other alternatives. And in any case, untreated depression is pretty awful in itself, so even some negatives are an acceptable tradeoff for improvement. I couldn't say what would have happened over the years if I hadn't started taking it.

 

[Something Amyss]

The first thing I would point out is that us giving our personal anecdotes won't do shit. Because it would take virtually every active Escapist being on antidepressants and sounding off for you to get anything resembling a reasonable impression. StatusNil (who did say individual results vary, I'm just using him as an example) is describing something completely different to what I experienced on Prozac, for example. Prozac was pretty good for me, except for the major side effect I could not abide--it amped up my migraines to near crippling proportions. It took me several medications to find one that worked for me, which is ironically one that was horrible for my SO, without having a negative effect on my migraines. The current one I'm on--citalopram--actually has a positive effect on the frequency and severity of my migraines.

Personal anecdotes aside, WolfThomas' post on the subject is great.

 

[MHR]

Didn't help a bit. Bipolar depression is different which is why it didn't work.

I went cold turkey one summer, and those withdrawals were some side-effects. For one, it turned my eyes janky. Moving my eyes to the left or right caused them to spaz out for a millisecond and it felt weird.

Then one time I had someone call me up for a summer oddjob offer. I wanted to decide what to say, even to reason out why I wanted to say "yes" or "no" and I just couldn't give an answer. I mustered up all the speech I could to say that I couldn't think straight because I was coming down off of some stuff I was taking. Looking back, the guy probably thought I was blazed. It's about then I realized that going cold turkey fucked with my brain, and temporarily turned me into a retard. I just couldn't think.

Go ahead and take them though if they're sure to help. Don't get caught up in the "drugs are bad" craze. I'm taking Lamotrigine now that works very well and has 0 side effects whatsoever. Coming down off of it doesn't even have weird withdrawals, I just go back to the way I was before.

 

[pookie101]

I'm going to say it definitely depends on the person and the medication because I've heard a lot of horror stories but my experience was fine. I was taking sixty milligrams of Prozac and barely noticed any difference to my mood and lifestyle. I was so indifferent towards the meds and their effects that my psychiatrist bumped me back down to forty milligrams which I'm on now because she said a higher dosage was pointless. I once accidentally overdosed and took one hundred and twenty milligrams and still didn't notice any side effects so I don't know what's wrong with me. Only side effect I really noticed was strange dreams and maybe insomnia if you take it too soon before trying to sleep and even that isn't an issue any more because the anti psychotics they gave me put me out like a light.

So in short, it didn't really affect my depression, my anxiety, or my lifestyle all that much. I don't know if that's helpful but that's my experience.

yet on a beginning dose of prozac cause suicidal depression and psychosis in me

if you are going on them its completely down to your body chemistry what effect they will have on you and dont get discouraged if it takes a few different ones to finally find the med that works for you

 

[stroopwafel]

I would try something else first. I have no experience with anti-depressants(or depression for that matter) but these types of medications have high reports of often horrid side-effects. I also think doctors are way too easy in prescribing anti-depressants(not to be all 'tinfoil hat' here but it's a well-known fact that the pharmaceutical industry have medical practitioners in their pocket). Also consider that these meds themselves are not performing much better than a placebo in randomized trials unless reserved for the most severe cases of depression.

Maybe try looking into something like cognitive behavioral therapy? Developing the coping mechanisms to deal with life's problems and learning how to not dwell on the negative too much seems a much better long-term strategy than swallowing a pill. Which is more like a quick-fix that doesn't solve anything anyway.

 

[Lieju]

Well, I'm autistic so my brain chemistry is probably a bit weird to begin with, so... no medication in 7 years has really helped. They either have done nothing, make my mood worse, or the side effects have been bad enough (like tremors that made me bedbound) to make my life worse even if my mood is better so...

But depends a lot, for some people it helps but... Even small dozes of medication (or things like alcohol) have strong, sometimes unpredictable effect on my brain so...

It has really helped some people, and even for me, the medication that worked really did help! It gave me energy, I actually had energy to go outside and do things. Too bad the side effect was... not good.

 

[sky14kemea]

I'd say it really depends on the person and type of anti-depressant. There's quite a few different types.

I've been on about 5 different types now? I think they were Fluoxetine, Citalopram, Sertraline, Venlafaxine, and I'm currently on Duloxetine. I've been taking them for a good 8 years I think. They don't really help me much emotionally but they stop the physical pain in my chest that I get when I wasn't on them. (I even had a trial without them about 2 years ago to see if I was being overmedicated. Just felt sicker than ever.)

Side effects I've noticed are that I find it very difficult to sleep. And when I do it's not very restful. I'll wake up still feeling just as tired. I've tried sleeping pills "for emergency use only" and they barely helped either so I just deal with being tired all the time.

If you're iffy about pills, definitely try therapy or counselling first.

Maybe try looking into something like cognitive behavioral therapy? Developing the coping mechanisms to deal with life's problems and learning how to not dwell on the negative too much seems a much better long-term strategy than swallowing a pill. Which is more like a quick-fix that doesn't solve anything anyway.

CBT is usually paired with medication (I think), and I've done it 3 times. It didn't do anything for me cause I felt it was just stuff that was already painfully obvious.

Though it must work for other people 'cause they wouldn't do it, so I'd say it's worth a try anyway. But changing your thought pattern even when you know it's wrong is very hard to do.

tl;dr: talk to your doctor more. Random internet people will have very different experiences that may be nothing like the one you're having.

 

[Odin442]

My most recent experience, and the only one I can remember more or less clearly, with antidepressants was a couple years ago when I was on a generic for Wellbutrin (Bupropion) for awhile. I'm given to understand that it's not an SSRI, and has different side effects as a result, though with a sample size of myself, I can't say with any statistical validity. To the best of my recollection, it didn't so much get rid of the feelings and thought cycles that caused me to go to a doctor about depression to begin with, it just kind of made those feelings and cycles feel like an acceptable part of life, which is all I suppose one can really ask for without dramatic brain surgery.

Hope that helps, Fox. Your mileage may vary. Brains are complicated. I'd say do your research, but you're clearly in the process of that already.

 

[MCerberus]

No matter what you decide, just remember one thing.

If you think of hurting yourself or other, or if you think life's not worth living:
Get help.
You're already in the process of seeing to your mental health. There's no shame in it. Even the best doctors with the best intentions can't be perfect, and if a medication is causing or amplifying these thoughts, letting them just sit there is not an option.

 

[renegade7]

Long story short, after talking with a doctor, medications got brought up.

If anyone has experience with anti-depressents, what were they like? Were there side effects? Did they help you with your depression? If so, how? How did it affect your mood and lifestyle? Just a little curious about the experiences people had.

My ADHD specialist prescribed me trazodone for sleep last year, which is an archaic anti-depressant which sometimes gets used for insomnia. When I brought up to him that other areas of my life seemed to be improving besides just the sleep (I was more active socially and less-self conscious) he made a retroactive diagnosis of "depressed features" (this was in the context of ADHD though, so a diagnosis of clinical depression couldn't be made based on that alone) that were being helped as a side benefit to the trazodone.

But since that's not prescribed often to people with clinical depression these days, I'm not sure if I can tell you exactly what to expect in your own case. But there were still a number of improvements in my life after I started taking it that were a result of underlying depressive symptoms (most of which I wasn't even fully aware of) being treated. If he gets the meds right, you should see improvements in areas of your life you might not even have been aware were being effected by depression.

As for side effects, trazodone has anticholinergic and antihistamine effects (part of the reason it's used as a sleep medicine, but not the only reason), so the most noticeable I've seen have been dry mouth (which leads to some really horrible breath in the morning) and itchiness on nights I don't take it.[footnote]There are times when I don't take the trazodone because I don't need help sleeping and because the depressive symptoms I do have are just secondary symptoms to my ADHD, which is already well-managed. In your case, where the diagnosis was clinical depression, you should not go off your medication for any reason.[/footnote]

Hope things start to improve for you soon.