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Misc Should I try an SSRI?

F

Freshmanx17

Bluelighter
Joined
Jul 16, 2013
Messages
55
Hey guys, so basically I'm definitely feeling depressed and anxious as I have for the past six years and I can't shake it. Usually during the day when its light out I'm happy but towards nighttime I start getting depressed and lonely. This is all probably because I'm bisexual and just recently told people, bringing about great anxiety relief but terrible depression considering the guy I was in love with freaked out on me and rejected me. Pretty harsh let down. But anyways, I'm trying really hard to get back on my feet and I was considering using an SSRI that I have available through my school (college) for free. I'm eighteen, almost nineteen, and I was wondering is it worth a shot? I don't want to have to permanently use them or have permanent sexual dysfunction, but I need some freedom from my thoughts and I have a therapist and friends and I'm really trying but I just need some extra boost right now to get my life back on track; I feel like I'm just watching days go by. All advice appreciated. Thanks!
 
My main point is can I take them for say a year or so to get back on track and come off without rebound depression and also are the libido effects permanent. Thanks yall
 
Only take them if you can commit to the 2-3 month testing period. Where you possibly will feel like death...worse than you feel now while they play with your doses and medications.

I've never been able to do that. Fuck trying various doses while my sanity is on the line.

That said imho exercise and hitting the gym hard with supplements and protein will take the same 2-3 months and you'll100% see positive results. Even if you're still miserable....you'll be a god damn monster.

It's definitely worth looking into. Lots of people have benefited from both. Personally although I am a semi-miserable wreck at this stage in my life, I'd rather have 6 pack abs and be shredded than be well adjusted and a big round dough ball.
 
IMO they're defiantly worth a try.

SSRIs can be extremely effective, though as previously stated, you'll have to be willing to commit a couple months before you even know if they're right for you.

As far as only using them short term, if you're clinically depressed that's not something you can control, and if you find them effective, it seems reasonable for you to continue them.

I know multiple people who have been on SSRIs for years without lasting physical side effects, so I wouldn't worry to much about preeminent sexual distinction if I were you.
However, everyone is different so it would be important to communicate any issues you have to your doctor.

In short, i don't see why you'd have any reason not to give them a try.
Best of luck!
-p
 
^ conversely, many have a huge side effect profile, minimal evidence of effectiveness in reducing depression.

It is worth doing your research.
Personally I would never go near that evil shit again; but some folks swear by them.
I just wanted to say that there are reasons not to take SSRIs.
Withdrawals...side effects including longterm sexual dysfunction..."brain zaps" - the list goes on and on.

Just do some reading and make up your own mind.
I agree with the post above that a good diet (not supplements IMO) and physical exertion can be incredibly beneficial to battling depression and anxiety.
Good luck!
 
Yeah. Seeing my gf trying to kick her 3-4 year Prozac prescription is much more different than one might think.

Granted it helps her tremendously. In her case there are little to no side effects. But getting off can be a beast. Like it's not like kicking opiates or benzos from my perspective but it's a whole new beast. Like I watched this girl sleep for almost 2 weeks solid like....I don't know 12-16 hours a day sleeping every fucking day....and that was her breaking point. She hadn't even had brain zaps...she hadn't been super depressed...she just slept for 90% of 2 weeks give it take and then it finally started getting too tough to handle.

Not to drive you off. Or sound like I'm anti psychiatry or anything like that but (lol coming from a raging drug addict...) It's way easier to dig deep and grow than it is to take yet another chemical.

Like who knows it may help you with no consequences....or they give you an ED drug...and you won't be able to cum plus the benefit of an artificially stiff cock.

None of them may work (or you may not have the patience to let them work). The thing is (as a fat drug addicted slob I say) like living healthy is an easier, cheaper all around benfitial than taking another drug.

The main reason I think we're unhappy is our caveman genetics. We're supposed to fight to survive not fight for the remote. So (especially as a male) you need to exercise or at least push yourself. Like we need to push every day or at least burn off that evolutionary energy. Otherwise no matter out circumstances...we'll find life lacking.


Ugh, I'm drunk and rambling. Most importantly.....god am I drunk and rambling. Just try to find something that gives you satisfaction and strive for it. You'll learn a ton even if you don't reach your ideals.

Antidepressants might work but they take challenge out of the equation. So so long as your depression isn't too debilitating try your hardest to change your health and health practices. Do anything you can to change circumstances. If nothing else works trythe pills.

I guess what I'm getting at is, do you want to be happy with where you've pushed your life from a bottom or do you want a pill that makes you content with your life (at the bottom)?


Sure chemicals can bring contentness but at what cost? Omg...I'm such a tard....I love chemicals, I'm high on 3 right now. I'm a depressed slob and I can't take my own advice. Hopefully it's not too late for you. So yeah dude, whatever happens props for knowning something needs to be changed.

Attack the problem from a smart holistic approach. If you can't change your ways maybe the drugs will help. Maybe you don't need them, maybe you do....

Fuck this I'm on too much speed for this to make sense. Best luck. Keep on fighting. Just don't forget diet and exercise.

That's the past 12 speedy paragraphs....don't discount diet and exercise. May be more difficult than a pill but it's worth it.
 
Here's my experience with SSRIs:

Prozac: I was prescribed 20mg for depression. I had thoughts of suicide. I hated my life. On this drug I had no side effects, but I had no feelings when it took effect after a month. Based on what was going on in my life at the time, this helped me alot, so the numbness to feelings was acceptable. I took this for 6 months and decided to quit cold turkey. No withdrawals. Call me lucky.

Tramadol: Not an SSRI, used more as a painkiller, and is thought to be close to the SNRI family. Immediately felt good. Good mood, energy, happy. When I stopped taking this after 6-7 months, absolutely horrible withdrawals, worse than an opiate withdrawal. Brain zaps, my head felt like it was filled with 100 lbs. of water, and felt like it was going to roll off my neck at any time.

Celexa: To avoid Tramadol withdrawal, I started out taking 10mg. I could feel some kind of effect happening in my brain. The first 2-3 weeks I had bad restless leg syndrome, and I was so very tired. Also had crazy weird dreams. On occasion, my emotions would be a roller coaster. There was even one time I got paranoid for a few minutes bc I was home alone one night. I had to use breathing exercises to calm down. After 2 wks I went up to 20mg, then 2 wks later I went up to 30mg. This drug, for me, is a life saver. At 30mg I've never felt more sane in my entire life. Going thru the side effects was actually worth it. It was tough, but I made it thru.
 
Sure chemicals can bring contentness but at what cost?
Click to expand...
This is a really good point.
Why do we medicate sadness? Is anxiety not part of the contemporary human condition?
(Maybe yes, maybe no).
Contentedness...benzos? Fucking addictive and dangerous.
Barbiturates? As above, only moreso.
Anti-depressants may be really helpful, but they're also dangerous and scary drugs in my experience and opinion.

I personally think making an effort to enjoy life more did more to beat the depression that lead me to SSRIs ~13 years ago was far, far more effectively than taking daily medication.
If I had any perception the couple of shitty SSRIs I tried worked at all I might be less against them.
Big pharma is a corrupt corporate megalith and we are all their guinea pigs.
Drugs are taken off the market all the time because they final had a sample group large enough to realise the drug was dangerous, toxic or killing people.
Think about it.
I would feel better about taking an "older" anti-d than the latest mass-marketed wonder pill that the doctor has promotional products for all around his or her office.
To me that's just creepy.
 
Sure you can try an ssri... but when you stop you're gonna experience withdrawals. I have found that tricyclics have more side effects but are very mild towards sexual side effects.
Imo you have two options : taking an antidepressant for no more than 6 months, until you do some lifestyle changes and stop the meds. Or take it long term (years).
Get better bro.
And @spacejunk, anxiety is definitely part of human nature. But when it becomes a problem in your daily life, it has to be treated.
 
flyhighk said:
And @spacejunk, anxiety is definitely part of human nature. But when it becomes a problem in your daily life, it has to be treated.
Click to expand...
I totally agree with this, and I'm not completely against the medication of anxiety, depression or anything if it came across that way.
I just think the choice and narrow scope how mainstream medicine defines of "anti-depressant" is more about company profits and the politics of prohibition than the best possible options, but "abusability" is seen as a terrible thing. In saying this I know nothing about pharmacology so i should just shut up!

My view is totally biased, I've just seen too many people who took meds for depression and the like and ended up worse, with far more complicated issues than the one originally treated.


Then again, everyone who gets by just fine taking a daily pill/s to keep the depression at bay is unlikely to let on that they 'use' antidepressants at all, so my observations are obviously more indicative of my crazy friends than any statistical representation of the community.
 
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if you have been feeling depressed and anxious for years and can't shake it, then i say an ssri is worth a shot. i've tried them before and not noticed anything that monumental, but i haven't always been great about remembering to take them every day or continuing to take them when there's such a delay between starting and when you can expect any kind of results. depression and anxiety really suck though and can be seriously crippling/debilitating. i'm back giving prozac another go now.
 
It took me over 10 years to find the right med combo for bi-polar. I now take Paxil and Abilify and swear by it. Havent had a suicidal thought in 3 years. I have minor sexual dysfunction but my Doc also gives me Viagra to help things in that area. Its worth a shot imo.
 
SSRIs are among the worst drugs around if you ask me. They're barely better than placebo in most cases and ALL of them have side effects. There's minimal gain, if any, to using them.

Here's my experience

Paxil - I had a seizure my second time taking it, it went in the trash.

Lexapro - Made me feel like I was on speed and not in a pleasant way. After having non-stop tachycardia, sweating, and insomnia, I discontinued it after just 5 days. It was even more intolerable than Wellbutrin which I was prescribed for panic disorder - and Wellbutrin is a dirty beta-ketone stimulant...

Celexa - Sedating for the first two weeks. After that, my switch got flipped to straight up hypomania. I had never presented as bipolar as I did when I started taking Celexa. I started to binge drink and was unable to stop (something that I had never done before even though I had been drinking with friends for 7 years before the Celexa even came in the picture and I never had any issues with it), I didn't sleep much, I didn't eat much, I felt invincible... and then I had the psychotic breakdown that involved me destroying my walk in closet (I kicked out about a 5x3 foot area of the drywall in my apartment) and the police taking me to the psych ward where they pumped me full of Geodon, cold-turkeyed me off of the Celexa, and sent me home 10 days later... Which brings me to my next point.

The discontinuation syndrome... FUCK the discontinuation syndrome. I was only on 20mg of Celexa a day and when I was discharged, the discontinuation syndrome was just kicking in. For the next 3 months I had brain zaps that actually were so intense, I would be paralyzed when they would happen! I don't even care about the rest of it... I've had MDMA brain zaps. They're cake compared to SSRI zaps. Seriously.

By the way, I was only on Celexa for 60 days total... I was manic from pretty much day 30 on the dot.

The SSRIs need to disappear. I even question anyone that says that they work - its just placebo... Up until you try to stop them, that is.
 
I cn back up that Celexa cause hypermania in me, to the point where people were thinking I was on a MDMA or a psychedelic. Sounds fun but its not. BTW, nothing wrong with being bi, I came out a few years ago, and got support, tho I was surprised how little of it came from gay friends (I figured since they were a disciminated minority clas that they'd understand - wrong). Gay and straight ppl have one thing in common that bi's dont: they are attracted to one gender only. So yeah expect some depression with it, and dont expect a lot of understanding, because very few people are truly bi. You do not need medication for this imo, definitely not a SSRI, most of which knock sexual function in the dirt, a side effect more depressing than anything. I think a bi friend would do you worlds better than any medication in this case.
 
I started taking citralopram years ago for chronic depression, and it took the depression away, but also left me very restless. In the end, I switched to mirtazipine, and haven't looked back, tho it's concerning the sheer length of time I've been on them (6 years).

I guess it's important to only commit to taking SSRI's if you really,really need them badly. Many people stay on them for a long time, so it's definitely something to really think about.
 
its worth a shot but does anyone know if a higher dose is even useful cause i know ssris just stabilize the amount of serotonin in your brain
 
dopemegently said:
I started taking citralopram years ago for chronic depression, and it took the depression away, but also left me very restless. In the end, I switched to mirtazipine, and haven't looked back, tho it's concerning the sheer length of time I've been on them (6 years).

I guess it's important to only commit to taking SSRI's if you really,really need them badly. Many people stay on them for a long time, so it's definitely something to really think about.
Click to expand...

Mirtazapine is a noradrenergic and specific serotonergic antidepressant (NaSSA), not an SSRI. I actually rather like mirtazapine as well. Its the only antidepressant med that I would ever see myself taking again. Its a wonderful med if you don't mind the weight gain although it can randomly just up and stop working one day.

Interesting that citalopram seems to commonly trigger hypomania. From my doctor's reaction to how I reacted to it, I figured I was in the minority! Stuff is hell!
 
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