• The Dark Side 💕 Welcome Guest 💕
    Posting Rules Bluelight Rules
    Notable Threads Urgent Hotlines
    Bereavement Mindfulness
    Suicide Support Anger Management
  • TDS Moderators: AlphaMethylPhenyl | paranoid android

Help! Do ssris work?

D

developingcolor

Greenlighter
Joined
Oct 17, 2011
Messages
23
I've been depressed for at least 4 years and it only seems to be getting worse. I get to these points during the day where all i can do is fall onto my bed and cry for 10 minutes literally. I'll cry and then just feel like complete shit after i'm done. I've abused drugs in the past, I tripped on 2ce two timer per weekend for about 5-6 months at 30mg doses. I've everything but crack, meth, and heroin.
I've been drug free for 2 months now. I have so many insecurities that they could eat me alive. I used to weight 280 lbs when entering 10th grade, then by 11th i was down to 160lbs. I had so much loose skin that i had to have surgery done to get it removed. now i have horrible stretch marks going down both of my sides and a huge scar. i look in the mirror and just see a disfigured monster that no one would want. I have absolutely no social support. I'm in my second year at a university and I can't make friends. I don't know how to and i'm usually too depressed to want to. I've dated a few girls before and didn't car when we broke up, but i fell in love with a girl i met last november. We dated for 8 months until she broke up with me. There was a lot of problems in the relationship. I would get mad over small things and drag them out, and she would be possessive and clingy. She's a cutter. She has a huge bulbous scar on her shoulder, cuts literally all down her arm, engravings cut into her skin which say "control", "liar", and something else that i can't remember. A month into dating, we cut our arms together (this is my first time cutting ever) and licked up each others blood, then we made out to fuse it. We had sex afterwards and i'd never felt closer to a person than i did then. A week later we cut our legs and pressured some blood into two vials, put a cork on them, and made a necklace out of them. I have a necklace with her blood, and she has one with mine.(unless she got rid of it, haven't talked to her in two months since the breakup). I absolutely loved her and i feel like she hates me now. I know she does. I'm just tired of feeling depressed all the time. its every single day and i don't know what to do. I'm afraid of ssris because all i ever hear about them is bad things. i hear about them causing a loss of sex drive, horrible withdrawals when trying to quit them, emotional numbing (doesn't sound bad right now). Can anyone help?
 
Im on ssris now. Im on citalpram 40mg. I started on 20mg and got moved on to 40mg. IV been on then for about 8 weeks. Sometimes I think they work but sometimes a don't. IV misused drugs over the years. Od twice. Once from drinking too much and thinking everyone hates me. Then again few years later but when a drank loads and then had a gram o coke again thinking im a fuck up in life and dont need to be here. Any way since then like you I have tried alsorts except heroin dont intrest me! I suffer from anxiety really bad as well. Any way I one day I told my misses loads of stuff she told me to go the docs I did that's when I got them tabs. Then since have been referred to a pyshcologist. Ssris don't fuck ya sex drive up but does 'slow' ya down though. Don't about W/D though. Yet to find out. But ya doctor shouldn't take ya off with out tapering you off them. You go to one and talk to them. May help you out :-)
 
Better question is: do you want to try medication for your serious sounding mental health issue? If your university has mental health services it might be worth checking out as well.
 
Ssri's can help but its a guess know wich one will work. You need to try them all.

You def sound like you need someone to talk to. It would help a ton.
 
Check out the dark side forum! The people on there seem really experienced understanding and compassionate, not to mention helpful! Best of luck, I know it's horrible when you're depressed like that. Feel better! <3
 
naturalsux said:
Ssri's can help but its a guess know wich one will work. You need to try them all.

You def sound like you need someone to talk to. It would help a ton.
Click to expand...

all antidepressants... it is a guess... these drugs are not very well understood and there are so many, and several major classes of them.... im not afraid of them just i would rather take a drug that i am comfortable with like amps, benzos, opiates.. than ssris... or any antidepressant

TDS is very helpful too.. to even just read if you're down...
 
I always found SSRIs to weave their magic with me. Great for getting on your feet and bringing a little blue sky back to life. There aren't any real studies into how they will affect people's brains into old age (serotonin depletion, etc) and I always found my dose to stop working after about 12 months. And the side effects - be prepared to experience some...some will last for only a few weeks, others throughout the duration. I would recommened an SSRI as a short-term pick-me-up for moderate depression...give it 12 months and see how you get on. Keep a very close eye on your being, your body, and make regular check-ins with your gp. Good luck dude! :)
 
They work for some people, they don't for others. Please speak to a psychologist, your individual body chemistry is different from everyone else.


SSRI's, nor any medication, will be able to compete with your actions, especially when you choose to engage in behavior that hurts yourself and others. I'm going to move this over to the dark side because I don't feel qualified to give you the response you deserve, but they will take care of you in TDS. <3
 
^ yeah this is something definitely the op should speak to a professional about... that's the best advice...
 
There are many more treatment modalities available than just SSRIs. No competent mental health practioner is going to guarantee that any particular treatment is going to be effective for an individual. Finding something that works for an individual patient is usually a bit of trial and error-but once in a while the first option tried does work nearly perfectly.

Something to be aware of with SSRIs and some other antidepressants is that stopping treatment, especially suddenly without tapering down can cause a lot of unpleasant effects. Taking some action seems warranted as it sounds like things have been untenable for a while.
 
SSRIs work, I have used them when everything else failed. I was having daily panic attacks/anxiety, and horrible depression.

Eating right, taking supplements/vitamins, daily cardio exercise, and meditation all did not work. I am not sure if therapy really worked either?

You may have to try different ones before you find one that works. I was on prozac and it worked but I hated the side effects, Zoloft sort of worked for me but I would drink way too much booze daily and smoke herb so I am not sure how effective it was? I tried Wellbutrin but the dose was way too high and it made me feel anxious and when I'd sleep for 7-8 hours I'd get up and feel as though I'd drank lots of coffee and stayed up all night for a day or two.

I now take lexapro and it works for me. I also practice meditation, and do lots of cardio exercise.
 
I've been on and off SSRI's for a number of years.

I've never noticed any difference really, I still felt depressed and very self-loathing.
Still didn't see much point in living.

Withdrawals from SSRI's are a bitch, brain zaps and such, not pleasant.


Though I guess after I quit the Effexor earlier this year, using MXE quite heavily (200-700mg a day depending on the day), I became a lot more suicidal; tried and failed doing helium with a cpap mask attached.


Am currently on 150 Effexor, 300 Wellbutrin and 150 Trazadone.

Don't expect a miracle, depression won't just go away with a magic pill, you will still have to work at it.
 
I was on Lexapro 10mg daily for 9 months for social anxiety and depression. My goal? To be able to talk to people, especially girls, easier.

Did it work? YES. Was it worth it? HELL NO. It was easier to talk to people because my fears were numbed, but all my emotions were! It only got worse as time wore on. Love, hate, anger, joy, sadness... I was emotionally beginning to flat-line. My libido was damaged too. So I quit. And the withdrawal was (and still, 3 months in) absolute hell beyond my wildest imagination. Even though the worst is over, anhedonia is a BITCH I tell you.
 
Don't work for everybody. I've been on Prozac and Zoloft in the past, made me crazy manic, batshit crazy, horrible side effects, not worth it.
 
I know some people for who they've worked and some people for who they haven't. I'm supposing your doctor brought this up? I think you should try discussing alternative options with him/her, always better to try and aviod the meds. I think it would do you good to see a psychiatrist maybe. The thing about the blood necklaces and stuff suggests some very deep-rooted emotional issues. I hoep things will work out for you, don't give up.
 
I take SSRI's and they have worked for me. The best one that's worked for me is escitalopram. After escitalopram i would say zoloft (sentraline)Ive been on prozac, effexor, celexa, wellbutrin, agomelatine and zoloft. Have been taking celexa for a month but hasnt seemed to be working for me the way it did years ago. My problems are depression, social anxiety, no motivation to do anything, inability to make friends or general enjoy myself. What escitalopram did for me was, i had more confidence, wasnt worrying as much, less anxiety and paranoia, i was able to sociolise and function well in college. The reason i stopped taking escitalopram and zoloft were because of the sexual problems :/ To be exact, its like loss of libido, loss of interest in sex and difficulty having an orgasm. It sucks but its a side effect of all SSRIs unfortunatly. That doesnt necesarily mean you will get this side effect. Depending on where you live agomelatine might be available to you, its a newer antidepressant that is a 5ht2c antagonist and melatonergic agonist which apparently doesn't cause sexual side effects, i didn't really take it long enough to know if it was effective for depression. So yes, in my experience antidepressants are effective and they have helped me. I would recommend talking to a psychologist/therapist before jumping to take medications. If your really feeling bad, like you feel really stressed and overwhelmed, i would go to the psych ward for a few days, weeks, or whatever, that way the doctors can test you, see your behaviours and talk to you daily and give you the best advice.

Soo to conclude: yes antidepressants -generally- work. they wont solve all your problems you should still get counseling to deal with the issues in your life that are causing the depression. talk to a psychologist & a psychiatrist if you can! if your in one of those countries where the mental health programs arent covered, there should still be free counseling resources out there, usually universities have counselor offices
 
Professional help and diagnosis are pretty important here. Most of us have issues, you're not alone for sure.
They have helped me in the past. Celexa didn't but it works for many people thats a good place to start. Effexor was mentioned it helped me but made me jittery. Zyprexa really worked for me dunno if its an SSRI. Be wary of side effects and report them to you're doctor. Be patient and try to stay positive. It may take you a while to find the right med and for some to take effect. Please don't cut yourself. Never done it but i understand why you do it and what its about.
 
SSRI's work great for me, though it took years before I actually found the right SSRI. I was first prescribed fluoxetine (Prozac) when I was 13 and then I got switched to citalopram a few years later - neither of those worked particularly well for me, even on higher doses. After that, I was trialled on other varieties of anti-depressants like SNRI's and DNRI's, but the side effects from those were worse than any of the SSRI's I'd previously been prescribed. The SNRI gave me unbearable anxiety and the DNRI caused me to have seizures.

Several years ago, my doctor returned me to SSRI's, but this time I was given paroxetine (Paxil/Aropax) and it worked like a charm! I still have days when I feel depressed (I think it would be rare for any anti-depressant to completely stop depression), but overall I'm in a much better state of mind and I no longer get the suicidal feelings I used to. The side effects from paroxetine have been very minimal for me... I have a tremor and a bad memory, although that could be caused by other drugs I take, so I can't link it entirely to the SSRI. I do get withdrawals if I suddenly stop taking it, but that's not an issue if I keep taking it every day as prescribed.

My advice: ask your doctor about SSRI's if you think they are worth trying, but keep in mind that some SSRI's are more effective than others. Also, SSRI's can take at least several weeks to start working, so you have to stick with them. They won't solve all your problems, but they can help. Counseling often works well along with medication too.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top