AI reckons that SSRIs in general have substantial benefits for 50%-70% of people who need help with their depression or anxiety.
I think that figure is far too high, as although I'm aware that more people tend to post online about negative experiences rather than positive ones, it still seems to me that vast numbers of people find this class of meds offer them very little help, especially for anxiety. Which they are supposed to be also helpful for.
Mirtazapine does help me sleep, even years after starting it, but neither it nor the 2 other SSRIs I tried previously; paroxetine, and sertaline, made the slightest difference to my anxiety. The Drs told me that each one would help me with my anxiety. They did absolutely fuck all for me in that regard. I get the impression that the whole class of drugs are broadly similar. If one doesnt work, there's not going to be a huge difference in another. Kind of like how all benzos are broadly similar, with only relatively minor differnces between different ones, along the hypnotic and anxiolytic scales.
.I don't see any point in going through the horrors of withdrawring from a long term mirtazapine script, just to try one more SSRI that most likely wont do anything for my anxiety either. I have heard it said by many that venlefaxine helped their anxiety. If I knew that earlier, before I'd been on Mirtazapine for so long, I'd have tried it. But now that I have, I don't think it's worth it. I very highly doubt it would help in the least bit, and all the horrors of withdrawing from a long term mirtazapine script would be totally in vain.
With hindisght I now believe that my low mood was more a reaction to my life situation, with the difficulties being caused by my undiagnosed Autism and ADHD, rather than actual clinical depression. I faked a couple of the ridiculously brief 5 question "depression test" I had to answer with the GP in order to get started on the scripts. It was obvious how I needed to answer, in order to 'pass' the test. Within less then 5 minutes I was started on a long SSRI journey, with no idea of how difficult coming off these meds is. I either wish I'd never started them at all, or at least tried venlefaxine much sooner, and then if that wasnt working after a few months, I'd have just stopped using them completely.
Isn't hindsight wonderful. If I'd have known what I know now all those years ago, I would have done things very differently. I was not advised well by the GPs at all. No mention was made of the difficulties of the 'withdrawl syndromes', said by some to be even worse than the withdrawals following long term benzodiazepine use. I'm not entirely convinced about that. But at some point I may try coming off mirtazapine. I'll probably have at least a couple of months of severe insomnia to look forward to, and God knows what other symptoms besides. No mention was made of the benefits of trying something like Venlefaxine for anxiety, when the other 3 anti-depressants had failed. Either the GPs did not know about any of this, or they neglected to inform me.
There was no internet back then, with ready access to huge numbers of individual experiences, and any other information that might have been life changingly helpful.
