BiPolars, Depression, OCD and Anxiety: Did SSRI's work for you?

[lagger]

Or for anyone that has been put on SSRI's for any reason.
Did SSRIs work for you.

Can you explain to us what you were put on them for?
Did you feel any effect placebo or not (or in some cases MANIC) the first dose?

If they did work, which drugs were they and how long did it take to start working?

How long were you on them for?

How was your quality of sleep compared to not being on them?

Was it worth the side effects if any and did you go back to feeling depressed and anxious coming off them, AFTER the tapering/withdrawal effects?


Me personally tried every frigging one of them and got nothing but manic effects except from Prozac which felt like it has some effect early on, but it was strange sometimes helped with sedation and anxiety, sometimes made me an insomniac even worse.

 

[arjans haze]

Hi mate Ive tried both Luvox and Cymbalta for my GAD and depression. Tried both for 12 weeks before giving up on them, didnt help either of my conditions and the side effects of weight gain, insomnia and increased anxiety were too much. In saying that Ive had friends that have found both these drugs a god send. Its just a matter of finding what works for you, good luck

 

[CartoonHead]

So do you suffer from depression or bipolar lagger? SSRI's are often no good for bipolar. I have rapid cycling bipolar, before it was diagnosed as such the doctors had me on SSRI's and SNRI's. Citalopram made me incredibly angry. Effexor made me sick and lifeless. I believe there was another I tried as well but the name escapes me.

Perhaps you should try a mood stabiliser instead?

There's a lot of drugs out there, the people I know that are on ones that work for them have usually had to try quite a few to find the right one. It's not always a pleasant process, but worth it in the end.

I don't take anything for my bipolar however, I've learned to control it to some extent and I think the most helpful thing was having it diagnosed, so that I knew what was happening....I can feel a manic stage or a crash coming on now, so I have a little more control. Sometimes the crash wipes me out, sometimes I go a bit crazy on the up, but generally it's ok.

I try to keep myself busy with playing music in a band, study and exercise...and, to be honest, a little bit of weed and beer helps too. Perhaps not for everyone and perhaps not the greatest advice, but it definitely assists with sleep sometimes and with taking the edge off...I try not to get carried away with it.

Hope some of this helps a little....feel free to ask more.

 

[misk]

i've tried a few SSRIs (lexapro and zoloft) and they all gave me mad insomnia and made my RLS even worse.
during the day i was a bit better, but due to lack of sleep it only lasted a few days.
i got a mad spaced out being in a fish bowl feeling and electric zaps in the brain for a week or so coming off both, but cant remember much else from it all now

 

[lagger]

So far mostly negative replies. I imagined this. I think theyre shocking drugs and Drs love to hand them out like candy.

I don't know what i have i dont like DSM-IV and each doctor has something different to say about me.

So far I've been diagnosed Bi Polar, Bi Polar 2, Schizophrenic, Schizo-affective, GAD, Depressive Anxiety and OCD. Who do you believe?

So that made me self medicate and not like labels at all.

 

[CartoonHead]

Such a frustrating feeling when you realise they're stabbing in the dark almost as much as you are, isn't it?

They're not shocking drugs man. They work brilliantly for some people. SOME people. What's shocking is, as you say, how the doctors hand them out with nary a second thought. The first time I plucked up the courage to go see a doc about my head I'd barely been in the GP's room for 10 mins before he was handing me a sample pack of Effexor and writing me a script.

Self medicating is ok but it can't all be done with drugs - good self medicating (in my humble unqualified opinion) includes exercise, diet, social activity, creative activity and perhaps some standard cognitive behavioural therapy. In fact, anything that makes you feel good and doesn't involve introducing toxins to your body.

That being said, I like to pump a nice fat shot of meth up my arm about every 3 months, so I certainly haven't nailed this philosophy! ;-)

 

[Angel Dust]

Well, you asked, so here is my opinion/experience! Sorry, it's looong

I was on Aropax for about 3 years then Effexor XR (an SNRI) for about 3 years. First aropax pill I took I called the poison info line 30 mins later (figured it was quicker and more convenient than getting to the hospital emergency dept!) because I began having uncontrollable muscle spasms. This was about 1996 - if I knew now what I know about SSRIs there is no way I would have taken them. Well maybe I would because I would get to the point where I was so fucked, I couldn't think, or speak (literally) and could barely even walk at times. I was taking them for major depression (hospitalisation level stuff) severe anxiety and social phobia. But only started after the worst was over, but I was still very unwell. They did not do a thing for the depression or the anxiety! I had a few panic attacks when I was taking them and I'd never had a panic attack before - or after. Got bad agitation, and although I had been suicidal, I got weird obsessive ideas about suicide, was not even particularly depressed when this began, it was just fucking weird and not 'normal' suicidal ideation. I think not so long after this it was recognised as a side effect of SSRIs. And I put on about 30kg in about 3 months - that was so great haha. Spent a week in bed while withdrawing from them.

Withdrawing so the pdoc could put me on Effexor! It is the worst! I started on a high dose, about 300mg a day, the arsehole psychiatrist did not believe a word I said about how shit they made me feel, (she had told me, as had another doc, I'd have to stay on anti-ds the rest of my life anyway because I had a major episode at least every 2 years and they usually lasted about 6 -9 months each time) and just attributed the stuff I was feeling to me, I was just fucked so obviously needed more effexor. Riiiiight! And they are so hard to get off I just kept taking them, was on over 400mg a day eventually.Which was over the recommended highest dose - doctors orders, fucking cocksucker. I basically begged to have electroconvulsive therapy instead of the drugs, at least that is proven to work, at least for a while anyway, and I was seriously prepared to lose some of my memory rather than take the drugs, but the pdoc would not even consider it. I got fucking terrible side effects, I not only got the brain zaps when getting off them, but the entire time I was taking them - 3 years. Still had bad anxiety, the depression had improved but the bad episodes always stop eventually after however many months it takes, so I do not attribute anything to effexor except fucked up side effects. And I would sweat like anything, had to get up and change the sheets at night because they would be soaked. I don't remember much else in detail, which I'm glad about, but there was other stuff.

I had (hypothetically) been a recreational heroin user for about 10 years at this time, and the only thing that stopped me feeling the side-effects was h, so I ended up with reasonably big habit because it stopped the brain zaps, well stopped me feeling them anyway, so I made a conscious decision and decided I'd take my chances with a heroin habit rather than with effexor's side effects. H withdrawal was a piece of piss compared to the effexor and I had been using at least 2 grams of h a day, 3 or 4 or 5 grams if I could get that much, for 3 years when I stopped then. And I was lucky that money was no problem either-my boyfriend at the time had a job that paid really well -once he got over handing over hundreds of dollars a day to me I pretty much had to stop, and that meant I had to get off the effexor too, so it was good that he finally got sick of his money going into my veins!) I was also lucky that I moved overseas and avoided the Aus heroin drought! Ok, I say lucky, others would not put it that way, but yeah heroin was a lifesaver for me because of this shit. Probably literally a lifesaver.

NB: I do not recommend using heroin to deal with SSRI/SNRI side effects or to deal with any problems whatsoever!!!! Heroin is addictive, and many users (the majority probably) I have known, or know are dead now, or in prison or have been in prison, have sold themselves on the street and other shitty, terrible, sad things have happened because of h addiction. Just wanna make it clear to any non-users reading this in case what I've said makes it seem all cool and no problems - I've dropped a few times- been clinically dead and have crushed nerves in my leg after ODing and lying unconscious for about 40 hours. So it's just dumb luck I'm still alive after some of those incidents. I seem to be able to withdraw from it pretty easily for some reason, it's still completely fucking unpleasant to say the very least, but I've done it a few times and I can deal with it no problem. I know for other people it can be absolute hell - I've seen it enough watching friends go through it again and again and again, often with with no success and they're getting on the next day.

Took months to feel normal again and for the brain zaps to stop after stopping the effexor. I also had to go on anti-psychotics for the first month of tapering off it - I was going quite mental and got really severe agitation, banging my head against the wall to make it stop type stuff. Totally fucked up shit! But after my brain was normal again and all that shit was out of my system I was totally fine and felt perfectly normal again.%)

I think it's pretty well established now that SSRI's effects are just very marginally more effective than placebos. I read a few of the meta studies (but that was a few years ago sorry can't recall any details but some could be available online outside of databases etc to read for free), and basically they don't do anything! Except make billions for big pharma. So if they are working magic for some people I would guess a sugar pill would probably work just as well. Some people are just lucky and don't get the side-effects. Maybe just the simple fact that someone is being treated and seeing docs etc is what causes them to feel better? I can't believe it when I hear people who have nothing even close to major depression or debilitating anxiety or OCD etc are being prescribed these drugs. WTF?! So Lagger, yeah, handing them out like candy is right. To people who have serious life threatening major depression maybe I can understand, maybe the the risk is worth it. Maybe not though! I've heard of/met people who are sad, just regular sad (yeah that's fuckin' life and sometimes shit happens. Surprise!) cos of a relationship breakup or something getting prescriptions People need to harden the fuck up if they think feeling sad for a normal legit reason means they need prescription poison. Talk to someone, do something, exercise, anything, just don't torture your poor brain with that stuff unless you're really really gone. And even then I'd say don't bother with it. And btw I think only psychiatrists should be allowed to prescribe the stuff, not GPs.

Anyway it's 9 years this month since I got off effexor. Woot! I'd had problems with major depression since I was 13 and have not had another really severe episode since 2001. Helps that I have understanding docs who don't treat me like a moron or a junkie even though they know my history and that I do still use on the odd occasion and they are not anti benzo Nazis. Keeping the anxiety under control with xanax when necessary has been the reason I've not had major depression again I think. Social phobia and anxiety would get so bad that I couldn't leave the house for months and months, not even out the door to get to the mailbox, so I had to quit jobs, drop out of uni, break up with boyfriends etc and then the depression would start because my life had turned to total shit. And it turned out I have ADHD too, no psych doc ever picked that up until relatively recently (well done all you psych docs) and it can cause depression and anxiety and all sorts of problems because people with ADHD don't do 'normal' life so well. So to sum up, no they did not work for me, it was definitely not worth it and FUCK EFFEXOR and all of them! And as I have told my GPs and pdoc, if someone ever tried to put an SSRI or SNRI in my mouth I'd kill them before they could do it. And I'm only exaggerating slightly

Bet you're sorry you asked the question now? Or sorry I answered you at least? (or ranted on an on and on, call it what you like!).
And you're right about psychs giving different/wrong diagnoses. Some of them can try and pretend it's all hard science, but psychiatry just ain't! Have you read about the Rosenhan experiment? Check that out for one example. Great stuff!

 

[Conscious21]

I took Citalopram for about 2 years for depression with some anxiety. I guess I got lucky because it worked for me first go - I know others who've tried three or four different drugs and who knows how many different doses before they found one that worked.

I didn't feel it "immediately", I guess it took about 6 weeks before I realised I wasn't feeling as dark/depressed, but I found it 'flattened' all my moods in general - so the lows weren't as terrifyingly low, but the highs weren't real high either.

In my case there were some pretty clear reasons why I was depressed and I got counselling at the same time. After about 15 months I realised I wasn't depressed anymore, but I was scared to come off the SSRIs in case I went backwards. It was probably another 6 months before I tapered off them.

I think it was the counselling rather than the drugs that really 'fixed' me, but I needed the drugs to get me into a headspace where I could deal with my shit.

 

[bobbydarren]

They don't work for me with anxiety. They';re supposed to work. It's part of the condition for getting an authority script for Xanax (5 repeats). Dr must have used SSRI's etc first, and found it was of no help. For depression I found good old Effoxor did work, and reasonably quickly, but after a few months I felt a bit like a zombie. Also it takes a lot longer for your cock to explode when stimulated. Might be helpful to some, but an annoyance to most.

Effexor is famous for it's side effects when you come of it. [Pfizer] have released Pristiq or effexor2. It's the same shit though, so if you've tried effexor and got no benefit or bad side effects you'll have the same problem with this. The EU saw this drug as a blatent attempt to be greedy corporate scum and in effect extent the 10 year exclusivity patent on effexor to 20 years. The idea was that effexor would die out in popularity and DR's promote Pristiq instead.

In Australia and the US this is occuring. But as said, EU has banned Pristiq.

 

[psytaco]

Self medicating is ok but it can't all be done with drugs - good self medicating (in my humble unqualified opinion) includes exercise, diet, social activity, creative activity and perhaps some standard cognitive behavioural therapy. In fact, anything that makes you feel good and doesn't involve introducing toxins to your body.

Quoted for truth.

BTW, Angel dust - that is a great post. You seem like a very strong person to be able to deal with all that and come through alright in the end. Congrats

To Lagger:

SSRIs and bi polar don't mix. they can push you into a manic episode. unfortunately, bi polar and depression are often confused.

My story with SSRIs.

It probably took about 6 months of feeling adsolutely terrible and spending most of my time lying in bed, and ignoring phone calls from friends, before I got my arse down to the doctor and was diagnosed with moderate depression and anxiety.

I first prescribed effexor (an SNRI). I lasted 3 days on it before the side effects became unbearable. I actually went to the hospital after an hour of first taking it because I though I was having a serotonin syndrome due to taking some mephedrone a few nights earlier. Turns out it was just the beginning of a big jump in anxiety. I had bad anxiety, nausea, couldn't sleep for 3 nights, confusion, felt terrible.

I had CBT for 6 months, which helped quite a bit. So did meeting my amazing girlfriend.

After about 2 months of CBT I still wasn't happy with how I was feeling. My symptoms had improved a bit, but it was still acting quite negatively on my life. I had quite bad insomnia at the time, and the doctor recommended on giving zoloft 50mg a try, instead of just constantly prescribing stilnox to help me sleep. his reasoning was I was depressed and anxious and dealing with this would help the insomnia. I was hesitant but eventually tried to start it.

The initial side effects weren't pleasant but were bearable. I had nausea, headache, insomnia (nothing new there). after 4 days I can remember walking outside on a sunny day in winter, and actually feeling happy. I hadn't actually felt happiness in 8 months.

After a week the nausea and headache stopped, though the insomnia continued. My depression had lifted to an extent but my anxiety took on a whole new crazy component. I also had some strange side effects of being more aggressive with people (not violent), and doing silly things like starring down dodgy fuckers on melbourne's trains. I also was having difficulty concentrating at uni, became comppletely apathetic about everything, and emotionally numb. though it was better than being depressed, it wasn't as good as being well. My sex drive also took a big dip.

I think the big change for me getting over depression and anxiety was moving out of a house full of cunts I hated, and getting a girlfriend that I love dearly. The antidepressants did help, but they came with some shitty side effects. This has what has prompted me to taper over the last 3 weeks, and 3 days I ago I stopped completely. I've got a thread about it here.

The tapering was unpleasant but not to bad. Stopping completely has been pretty hard. Brain zaps, insomnia, flu like symptoms, dizziness, and now bad anxiety (bad alot different to any anxiety I have ever felt). I'm hoping it will clear up in a week or two.

I think SSRIs are overprescrbied. Most doctors don't seem aware of the dangers of suicide, violence, and withdrawal symptoms they cause. I have a problem with them being prescribed for shit like irritable bowl syndrome, premature ejaculation, and very mild depression. However, for some people they are a life safer. for me I think they helped a bit, but the side effects aren't worth staying on them any longer.

to anyone thinking of going on them, do your research. find out what the side effects are, and read about the difficulty they can cause getting off them. I would definately recommend life style changes and counselling well before starting antidepressants. they should be used more as a last resort.

 

[lagger]

Thank you so much for your stories.. All i can say is Wow.

 

[opi8]

I've tried Pristiq, Zoloft and Campral and all I got was side effects. They're definitely over prescribed.

When discussing SSRI's or SNRI's to your doctor, don't mention "withdrawal symptoms", it's "discontinuation syndrome" and according to my GP, they're only "mild".

 

[psytaco]

Yeah 'discontinuation syndrome' is definately a pharmaceutical company euphemism for withdrawal symptoms. i'm sure they are mild for some people, but as other people in this thread have mentioned they can be pretty severe.

Alot of doctors seem to be pretty oblivious to the severity of them or even their existance. Most doctors have told me that zoloft doesn't have withdrawal symptoms. However, I have found that quite a few recognise that it can be nasty getting off them.

Most doctors I have spoken have pointed out the effexor and paxil are particularly difficult to get off though.

i was reading an article about in the states where pharm companies are wanting to get approval for drugs from the FDA that they cherry pick the studies to present that have favourable results compared to those that don't. its been alledged that participants in the trails who withdrew due to intolerable side effects were said to have withdrawn for other reasons. Also, because the trials generally only lasted a couple of months, in many cases this was too early for some of the side effects such as weight gain, loss of libido, and withdrawal symptoms to be reported. There have also been lawsuits about people on SSRIs committing suicide or even homacides. As far as I know none of these have been successful.

SSRIs are big money for pharm companies, and are one of the most widely prescribed drugs, at least in the psychiatric area. There is alot of money at stake when it comes to showing them in a positive light. As Angel dust pointed out there was a metastudy done of SSRIs, that showed they are only marginally better than a placebo effect for all but patients that are severly depressed.

 

[Mr Blonde]

So do you suffer from depression or bipolar lagger? SSRI's are often no good for bipolar. I have rapid cycling bipolar, before it was diagnosed as such the doctors had me on SSRI's and SNRI's. Citalopram made me incredibly angry. Effexor made me sick and lifeless. I believe there was another I tried as well but the name escapes me.

I haven't been diagnosed with bipolar, but have been on both sertraline and citalopram and both triggered manic episodes, the citalopram worse for some reason with increased delusions and eventually psychosis.

As for treatment for depression, I personally know a few people who have benefited greatly from treatment with an SSRI. They had to try out a few to find the right one, but once they settled on a medication and got some counselling as well they recovered, tapered off the meds slowly and have been doing great since.

I've noticed a lot of hate for SSRI's on this website, I personally think they aren't too bad (obviously not for me lol) and have helped a lot of people.

It's surprising reading on here that most doctors aren't aware of the discontinuation syndrome. Most pharmacists I know are well aware of it and will happily give emergency supplies of an SSRI/SNRI in order to avoid the patient suffering the WD.

 

[Angel Dust]

Thanks Psytaco for the compliments I'm amazed I came out of it all OK too! I'm a tough bitch haha. And congrats on getting off the zoloft - hope the anxiety stops really really soon. I had to laugh at your "staring down dodgy fuckers" on the trains. Probably not funny for you at the time, I'm sure. Lucky you didn't get into any shit. There are some dodgy fuckers on the trains haha - I'm on the Frankston line, probably not the worst but pretty dodgy at times. Last year was good - the insane McKinnon station thing, the dude getting bashed by a gang of fucking arseholes at Malvern for example. Ahhh, you gotta love PT!

One thing I didn't say before was I had a psychotic episode on the aropax (AKA paxil). I had moved back to my mum's (as I was incapable of living alone at this point), and it was either the second or third day after I started taking it. I had drunk a bit of alcohol and it ended with me with a knife at her and my sister's throats threatening to kill them because I thought they were after me or something. Who knows what the fuck I was thinking. I am definitely not a 'get a knife and threaten people' type! Also thought there were tiny people hiding all around the house, under the furniture etc who wanted to kill me, I was running around looking for them apparently, talking to them etc. I had never ever had any psychosis before that, and again, never ever had it again. Luckily my mother is not an idiot and doesn't freak out too easily -she managed to get me away from my sister and eventually into my bedroom and I crashed, it got to about 3am, lucky I got tired . I can imagine what could possibly have happened if she had called the jacks, they tend to shoot psychotic people waving knives etc around quite regularly

I'm not sure if I'm allowed to post links, this should be OK, it's not of a commercial nature and could be categorised as harm reduction perhaps? Fucking scary shit.I doubt the fact all these people were on SSRIs and SNRIs is mere coincidence. And if you've taken them and had really weird stuff happen yourself it's not too hard to figure the drugs could cause people to do this stuff http://www.ssristories.com/index.php

And the term 'discontinuation syndrome' was concocted at an Eli Lily symposium after all the pharma companies realised that so many people were suffering bad withdrawals. It's withdrawal as far as I'm concerned. There is obviously a physical addiction to these things so withdrawal seems the appropriate term.

@ Opi8, doctors STILL think withdrawing is mild? All these years of copious evidence to the contrary? HA HA HA. Read some medical journals you lazy motherfuckers.Do your homework. Fucking bullshit. Actually as I wrote before I think GPs have no business prescribing this stuff. Should be psych docs only. It's like this is some other countries.Not that they'd necessarily know anything more though. Not the biggest fan of psychiatrists - met too many who were just so fucking clueless. And some were just really freaky weirdos. Hard to find a good one, but it is possible, so I won't diss the entire profession!

@ Bobbydarren, interesting, a new effexor. Just what the world needs. Fuck you Pfizer.
I was hoping years back there would be some Australian class action lawsuit against them for Effexor. I'd have been on it so quick. Thought about suing the psychiatrist for negligence too, but I didn't have the money for it.

@ Cartoonhead - right on What psytaco said!

@Lagger - yeah bi-polar and SSRIs etc are definitely a big no-no. They should be a big no-no for everyone

 

[Mr Blonde]

I'm not sure if I'm allowed to post links, this should be OK, it's not of a commercial nature and could be categorised as harm reduction perhaps? Fucking scary shit.I doubt the fact all these people were on SSRIs and SNRIs is mere coincidence. And if you've taken them and had really weird stuff happen yourself it's not too hard to figure the drugs could cause people to do this stuff http://www.ssristories.com/index.php

Posting those kind of links is fine. Thanks for sharing it, and your story as well.

 

[psytaco]

Thanks Psytaco for the compliments I'm amazed I came out of it all OK too! I'm a tough bitch haha. And congrats on getting off the zoloft - hope the anxiety stops really really soon. I had to laugh at your "staring down dodgy fuckers" on the trains. Probably not funny for you at the time, I'm sure. Lucky you didn't get into any shit. There are some dodgy fuckers on the trains haha - I'm on the Frankston line, probably not the worst but pretty dodgy at times. Last year was good - the insane McKinnon station thing, the dude getting bashed by a gang of fucking arseholes at Malvern for example. Ahhh, you gotta love PT!

Haha. yeah my train line is pretty dodgy northern suburbs one, but its not frankston dodgy. Still seen some messed up shit on it and at the stations. i don't know, there were times on the ssris when I just really didn't give a fuck what happened to me, and could give me a bit of a mean streak. Also, if people were drunk and would be rude to me I would get very aggressive back to them. prior to antidepressants I was never like that. probably the fact that I had started doing kickboxing a year before getting on the meds didn't help things Maybe a bit too much over confidence.

That link you posted is scary. I would be interested to know how many of these people didn't have something else going on like some sort of severe personality disorder.

its quite sobering reading all the stories on the net about people having terrible withdrawal symptoms, and fucked up side effects as a result of ssris. homicide being the worst obviously. although nowhere near severe, alot of people claim to have permanent loss of libido or sexual dysfuction even after being off their meds for months or years.

 

[lagger]

citalopram made me throw my subway sandwich at a poor bloke that cleans malls!
I was eating it and tried to throw the bag in the bin, it missed and this cleaner said "oi, why dont you come and pick that up?!" Instantly my brain switched to psychosis and I threw my subway at him while yelling IM GOING TO FUCK YOUR MOTHER DEAD and other really fucked up insults until the whole mall was looking at me. This was day ONE. By night time I had spiders crawling over my skin and allo these weird sharp pricks goinjg through my body and all i could do was be fidgety. It also made me CRAVE alcohol, so i drank 3 bottles of wine which finally put me to sleep. Day two I threw out the Cipramil.

It actually felt a lot like when you dose on MDPV too high and get all the bad anxious side effects.

 

[psytaco]

^ I'm sure that wasn't funny for the cleaner, but fuck that is funny to read. i can read the headlines now 'antidepressant blamed for assault with sandwich'.

yeah when you just start taking ssris you can feel like you are on a stimulant (I guess some could be classed as stimulants). Effexor made me feel like I was on some really dirty nasty speed. Zoloft gave me the body feeling you get on acid. stayed with me for about 2 weeks. i was kind of annoyed when it stopped giving me that feeling, it was quite nice. i also felt pretty euphoric for a number of days when i first started taking zoloft.

 

[psytaco]

^ I'm sure that wasn't funny for the cleaner, but fuck that is funny to read. i can read the headlines now 'antidepressant blamed for assault with sandwich'.

yeah when you just start taking ssris you can feel like you are on a stimulant (I guess some could be classed as stimulants). Effexor made me feel like I was on some really dirty nasty speed. Zoloft gave me the body feeling you get on acid. stayed with me for about 2 weeks. i was kind of annoyed when it stopped giving me that feeling, it was quite nice. i also felt pretty euphoric for a number of days when i first started taking zoloft.