What can Antidepressants do for a "depressed" person

[Byzek]

"depressed" because its a word for such a complex situation.
one is depressed and want to end his life with jumping in front of the train, the other person is just lazy and due to lazyiness seomeone is depressed because nothing happens in her /his life .
soo.
I wana change my life and I guess im depressed or Im depressdbecause im Living like that.
I started lexapro 5 days ago feeling noghtin.
I know all the theory like wating 4 weeks but also the version of "wairing for 4 weeks and nothing happens"

Im not so sure if ADs are good for me .
Do the have an effect like i wanna get up and do things and so on ?

At least I can tell you waht I want namely 3 things: Joblife, Sex/Sociallife ehm yeah thats 2.
I guess Therapy should hae been done too coz im a hot boy and I dont have much sex something is wrong

 

[d1nach]

Well a theory in science has much more evidence than people who claim antidepressants do nothing.

I can claim that if you give me 20 dollars I'll give you a special herb that In theory will triple your hot dog size.

I won't lie and tell you it will work BUT there is a large chance it will work unlike my special herb

And if it particularly works that plenty of options you can add like therapy or other meds to make it fully work

Or if it doesn't work plenty of other options that also could likely work

I know this sounds terrible and depressing but it's but it's because they are based in real scientific theory.

If they didn't work like my special herb they'd likely be promising crazy immediate effects and have little evidence.

I attempted suicide and collapsed on my leg propping me up to vommit all over myself for like 8 hours until someone found me. I was in the ICU I'd wakeup tubes everywhere in my mouth ect ect id pass out and wakeup I don't know how many days went by then I had to learn to walk again because I had all my weight on the leg that saved my life from choking on my vomit paralyzed.

After being stabilized on the right meds (while it didn't happen overnight) despite my protests convinced I don't want to live and telling everyone why did you people all save my life I hate you all, I realized I was wrong and haven't had suicidal urges for years and feel generally happy to be alive.

 

[Cream Gravy?]

If you aren't experiencing negative side-effects out the ass, give it the college try.

But a typical side-effect of ADs is also in essence apathy, or rather a severe blunting of your emotions. If that happens, you'll be even less interested in life than before you started the medication. This typically starts up within the first month, if not week, so if four weeks go by and you're not feeling emotionally blunted, then ADs may work for you.

You really can't know till you try.

 

[plumbus-nine]

Serotonergic antidepressants are prescribed for everything, and I think they only work for part of the population and work best in the first few months. I was prescribed one or another for most of my adult life and eventually developed horrendous withdrawal (the short acting ADs like paroxetine and venlafaxine are worse in that, and switching to a long acting one like fluoxetine does help), just recently managed to quit for good and honestly I feel similar now to when I was on the AD. I had even more suicidal ideation while on the venlafaxine than I do now.

When starting the venla, during the first weeks, I got a hypomanic reaction which was a bit like being in love. Everything was great and I had such a will to live but it lasted only a few weeks, then subsided and in retrospection I think that was it. Docs prescribe these ADs for every other diagnose like anxiety, social anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, intrusive/repetitive thoughts, autism spectrum disorder, even binge eating etc.pp. and it's only partially backed by science. There is evidence that ADs work only in severe cases of depression and are not better than placebo in many individuals. I do think of them like a kind of active placebo, they have effects and side effects which fool one into believing that they work and in the end they work through placebo effect. There are studies where people got either a tiny little white or a big fat red pill with the same or no ingredient at all and know what, the big fat red one had the better reactions. One should never under-estimate placebo, it's a mighty effect. all these people believing in homeopathics are actually fooled by placebo for example.

Also I do have seemingly (semi, hopefully) permanent post-SSRI sexual dysfunction, while on the venla in the first time I could last forever but over time stuff normalized, sex remained to be dulled, and now half a year after quitting the venlafaxine my dick remains so sensitive, that I can barely last one minute. This is after a decade on antidepressants and won't manifest itself overnight but it's always better to know the risks than being sorry in retrospection.

Emotional blunting appears to be a thing with SSRIs but not everybody gets it to the same degree. I wish they would blunt my emotions but I didn't get this effect I think.

One interesting fact is that the FDA approved a new antidepressant drug containing dextromethorphan (yeah, the robotripping one) together with the norepinephrinergic antidepressant bupropion. I think this combination is superior to your usual SSRI and will not just have a faster onset but also a stronger antidepressant reaction. I happened to try this combo when I was on bupropion and had a cold, so I bought a bottle of DXM syrup and remembered the good time I had had on this substance, so I dosed a bit higher, and boy did this hit me after a few days. Never imagined they'd actually approve this.

 

[G_Chem]

I personally go with the “neurogenesis” approach where I try to do things and eat things that can facilitate that. I was actually starting to feel pretty rough recently but have pushed through with the workouts and holding off on all sugar/caffeine despite my body craving like no other. It’s paying off (just like it has before, chemotherapy just threw me off for awhile) but it takes time and trust that it’ll work. You need to make those things the focus of your life.

-GC

 

[Byzek]

Im worried about the sexual ghing especially about lasting sexual dysfunction.

 

[Ton Croose]

Maybe try a quick acting antidepressant like 5-HTP. I tend to have periods of depression (can be a day, a week or months). I take 5-HTP when I feel down and seem to have fewer bouts of depression. Although I am currently on opiates too which gives me a mood lift (not recommended as it is illegal, dangerous, expensive and a total hassle when addicted).

Maybe the 5-HTP is enough to catch it early on and give me a little boost to avoid going into a long period of depression? Maybe it is placebo. Another one you could try is St John's Wort.

Traditional antidepressants: I tried Prozac when I was an alcoholic and at the 4 week mark I had a nervous breakdown.

Many years later I prescribed myself a very old antidepressant called amitriptyline (cheap and OTC). This really seemed to work after a month or so. Unfortunately it is notorious for side effects and gave me acid reflux which I couldn't live with.

I then tried one called Mirtazapine but it turned me into a zombie immediately so I never gave it a real chance.

It seems that many people have to try a few antidepressants until they find one that works for them.

Microdosing: I have tried both shrooms and ketamine and neither worked. But there is growing evidence that these can really help. Shrooms apparently don't work for people on the autism spectrum.

Avoiding suicide: The first reply was a sobering reminder of what can happen if you fail to commit suicide. I have stopped myself trying it because of how much it would upset my family, especially my Mum.

IMHO we owe it to our loved ones not to try it. Instead we should try everything else to combat depression. It is very true that exercise and socialising are big helps. So getting a little boost to help you get out is valuable, whether that is 5-HTP, a new hobby or whatever you can think of to get outside of your head and dwelling on the negatives.

I wouldn't not try and fix depression because there is a small chance you won't be into sex as much. That would be a small price to pay. Or you could try taking a different antidepressant.

 

[Byzek]

Maybe try a quick acting antidepressant like 5-HTP. I tend to have periods of depression (can be a day, a week or months). I take 5-HTP when I feel down and seem to have fewer bouts of depression. Although I am currently on opiates too which gives me a mood lift (not recommended as it is illegal, dangerous, expensive and a total hassle when addicted).

Maybe the 5-HTP is enough to catch it early on and give me a little boost to avoid going into a long period of depression? Maybe it is placebo. Another one you could try is St John's Wort.

Traditional antidepressants: I tried Prozac when I was an alcoholic and at the 4 week mark I had a nervous breakdown.

Many years later I prescribed myself a very old antidepressant called amitriptyline (cheap and OTC). This really seemed to work after a month or so. Unfortunately it is notorious for side effects and gave me acid reflux which I couldn't live with.

I then tried one called Mirtazapine but it turned me into a zombie immediately so I never gave it a real chance.

It seems that many people have to try a few antidepressants until they find one that works for them.

Microdosing: I have tried both shrooms and ketamine and neither worked. But there is growing evidence that these can really help. Shrooms apparently don't work for people on the autism spectrum.

Avoiding suicide: The first reply was a sobering reminder of what can happen if you fail to commit suicide. I have stopped myself trying it because of how much it would upset my family, especially my Mum.

IMHO we owe it to our loved ones not to try it. Instead we should try everything else to combat depression. It is very true that exercise and socialising are big helps. So getting a little boost to help you get out is valuable, whether that is 5-HTP, a new hobby or whatever you can think of to get outside of your head and dwelling on the negatives.

I wouldn't not try and fix depression because there is a small chance you won't be into sex as much. That would be a small price to pay. Or you could try taking a different antidepressant.

Im taking 5-htp it helps me a lot but i wanted to switch to lexapro coz its for free.
I dont understand: 5htp gets converted in serotonin and from this i get horny
I threw my lexapro after 5 days of intake away, I guess thats the 5.time at which I stopped raking lexapro.
The weird thing is: the first 1 or 2 days i get horny, but then my dick feel numb.
Im just too afraid of pssd.
Im not in a deep state of depression so im unsure if i should take antidepressants like lexapro for a longer period of time.

 

[Innerpeace]

I wouldn't not try and fix depression because there is a small chance you won't be into sex as much. That would be a small price to pay. Or you could try taking a different antidepressant.

This is a valid point. Messing with serotonin levels, scripts, mega, or micro dosing, depending on dose, frequency, dependance can cause erection quality issues.

 

[Freeverse]

I guess, anti-depressants work by regulating dopamine. Not sure though.

 

[d1nach]

In my experience, ed from antidepressants has gone away but my time to orgasm increased to ~15 min from ~5 min from what I remember. Which could be good or bad.

 

[TheUltimateFixx]

Well, I have major monopolar endogenous depression. Amitryptilene helped me quite a bit (killed my libido, but that was vastly preferable to wanting to kill myself).

Some people will swear by anti-depressants, while others will say they're worse than useless. One area of legitimate concern is that in some individuals, SSRIs have a paradoxical effect ; ie they *increase* symptoms rather than reduce.

On the whole we can observe that the interaction between an individual's brain and any given drug is a totally case-by-case thing ; whether the drug in question is a prescribed medication or an illegal recreational substance.

The overall data would seem to suggest that anti-depressants are more effective in endogenous depression, and less so in reactive depression (more of a placebo effect with the latter).

Also that the old-fashioned tricyclics tend to perform better for patients with long-standing endogenous states (whether mono - or bipolar) than SSRIs.

 

[DeathIndustrial88]

The "Serotonin Theory" of depression, is exactly that. A theory.
Lately there have been articles about this coming out & how the theory should be abandoned altogether.

There is zero proof that chronically depressed people have low serotonin levels.
Most people being put on AD's aren't having imaging done on their brain that prove that there's anything even wrong with their serotonin levels.
You can be depressed & still have regular neurotransmitter levels.

Unfortunately, not a lot of doctors in mental healthcare actually know what exactly they're doing or treating, they're just going by guidelines & prescribing based on patients symptoms, etc.. They'll prescribe whatever based on that & if it appears to "help" in anyway, then it's considered a "success".

They can't actually look at your serotonin levels & diagnose you that way.
I've had major depression since I was young & no SSRIs/SNRI's have helped.
In fact, the older I've gotten, the more intolerant I've become of any SSRIs/SNRIs, to the point of constant nausea, projectile vomiting & even hand tremors.

Before we had SSRI's, guess what was used for depression? Opioids. And they worked. Yet opioids are not SSRI's, so why would they help if the persons serotonin was low & that was causing their depression? It wouldn't if the serotonin theory were true & just shows that depression is a lot more complex than just "well it's low serotonin levels, silly!".

 

[Kizaru]

Serotonergic antidepressants are prescribed for everything, and I think they only work for part of the population and work best in the first few months. I was prescribed one or another for most of my adult life and eventually developed horrendous withdrawal (the short acting ADs like paroxetine and venlafaxine are worse in that, and switching to a long acting one like fluoxetine does help), just recently managed to quit for good and honestly I feel similar now to when I was on the AD. I had even more suicidal ideation while on the venlafaxine than I do now.

When starting the venla, during the first weeks, I got a hypomanic reaction which was a bit like being in love. Everything was great and I had such a will to live but it lasted only a few weeks, then subsided and in retrospection I think that was it. Docs prescribe these ADs for every other diagnose like anxiety, social anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, intrusive/repetitive thoughts, autism spectrum disorder, even binge eating etc.pp. and it's only partially backed by science. There is evidence that ADs work only in severe cases of depression and are not better than placebo in many individuals. I do think of them like a kind of active placebo, they have effects and side effects which fool one into believing that they work and in the end they work through placebo effect. There are studies where people got either a tiny little white or a big fat red pill with the same or no ingredient at all and know what, the big fat red one had the better reactions. One should never under-estimate placebo, it's a mighty effect. all these people believing in homeopathics are actually fooled by placebo for example.

Also I do have seemingly (semi, hopefully) permanent post-SSRI sexual dysfunction, while on the venla in the first time I could last forever but over time stuff normalized, sex remained to be dulled, and now half a year after quitting the venlafaxine my dick remains so sensitive, that I can barely last one minute. This is after a decade on antidepressants and won't manifest itself overnight but it's always better to know the risks than being sorry in retrospection.

Emotional blunting appears to be a thing with SSRIs but not everybody gets it to the same degree. I wish they would blunt my emotions but I didn't get this effect I think.

One interesting fact is that the FDA approved a new antidepressant drug containing dextromethorphan (yeah, the robotripping one) together with the norepinephrinergic antidepressant bupropion. I think this combination is superior to your usual SSRI and will not just have a faster onset but also a stronger antidepressant reaction. I happened to try this combo when I was on bupropion and had a cold, so I bought a bottle of DXM syrup and remembered the good time I had had on this substance, so I dosed a bit higher, and boy did this hit me after a few days. Never imagined they'd actually approve this.

Pssd sucks , i had it for 7 years . Mine started out as severe PE then changed to numbness . It happend when i forgot to take the paxil for a day and going on and off destroyed it . It stayed when i quitted and my life was utterly destroyed . This was between 23/29 age . After experimenting with alot of stims and ghb i regained function .
I am never going to try another SSRI/SNRI med , my doc and every psychiatrist can drop fking dead offering me that again. Worst thing of it all people still don't seem to get that i literally was sexually castrated . Gained nothing from it , meanwhile i should be fking rewarded with so much agony but no one will rlly understand what true suffering is . Also the Lies about what kind of sexual dysfunction these med can give is insane " lower libido" no rlly no its numbing down sexual sensation caused by serontonin which rlly at first has NOTHING to do with your libido . I had libido when on paxil , the "drive was there" still numb so they aren't even related . They numb your sexual sensation in your genitals but they don't say that , they call it Low libido lmao ..

 

[Kizaru]

I guess, anti-depressants work by regulating dopamine. Not sure though.

No way dude unless youre talking about wellbutrin which still is most selective on norephedrine . Ssri/SNRI work on serontonin .

 

[Kizaru]

Im worried about the sexual ghing especially about lasting sexual dysfunction.

Yeah pssd it sucks bad and it ain't worth it at all . Just skip paxil and zoloft.

 

[Freeverse]

No way dude unless youre talking about wellbutrin which still is most selective on norephedrine . Ssri/SNRI work on serontonin .

What I meant is (which i am still not so sure) regulating or preventing the reabsorption (reuptake) of the dopamine in the synapses, thus it improves the mood by raising the dopomine level.

 

[emkee_reinvented]

The overall data would seem to suggest that anti-depressants are more effective in endogenous depression, and less so in reactive depression (more of a placebo effect with the latter).

So a endogenous depression is one that comes from within and a reactive one is more like a response to an (serie's of) event (s) that takes place outside the depressed person as a reaction to the trauma?

And SSRI's don't work as good for the latter.

 

[Endopharm]

I suffered from severe anxiety/depression which eventually led to extreme insomnia, sometimes not being able to sleep for up to 4 days.

Finally my dr listened to my cries for a proper medication as I had tried almost all SSRI's and SNRIS with very little relief. This went on for 4 years.

Got a new dr and she agreed to try trazadone before bed. Right from day one my sleep was right back to normal and has been for a few months now.

I feel great during the day, I'm back to my active, happy self.

Side effects have included a brief brain fog in the am for 20-30 minutes and I did gain 23lbs inspite of being incredibly active and back to weight training.

No sexual side effect either.

We tapered up from 50mg, to 100mg, then settled at 150mg as the best dose for me.

It also allowed me to lesson clonazepam use by 50% with no symptoms at all.

Now I'm not saying this will work for everyone, bit it sure has helped me tremendously

 

[spammie nurse]

If you are a chronic pain patient you can never admit to or seek treatment for any mental health issues. You'll never get a script again with shit like that in your chart.

I suffered from severe anxiety/depression which eventually led to extreme insomnia, sometimes not being able to sleep for up to 4 days.

Finally my dr listened to my cries for a proper medication as I had tried almost all SSRI's and SNRIS with very little relief. This went on for 4 years.

Got a new dr and she agreed to try trazadone before bed. Right from day one my sleep was right back to normal and has been for a few months now.

I feel great during the day, I'm back to my active, happy self.

Side effects have included a brief brain fog in the am for 20-30 minutes and I did gain 23lbs inspite of being incredibly active and back to weight training.

No sexual side effect either.

We tapered up from 50mg, to 100mg, then settled at 150mg as the best dose for me.

It also allowed me to lesson clonazepam use by 50% with no symptoms at all.

Now I'm not saying this will work for everyone, bit it sure has helped me tremendously

Twinsies! Trazadone is great for chronic insomnia. No fogged in feeling in the morning.