Mental Health What has your expereince been with antidepressants?

[Mafioso]

Just curious about your personal experience, mostly whether it has been positive or negative, or what positive or negative symptoms you have specifically.

Brief background would be appreciated, but I'd like to keep it fairly brief.. drug history and mental health history mostly.

How long have you been on it? what specific one(s) are you on? Positive and negative effects?

 

[paranoid android]

I took anti-depressants along with mood stabilizers and anti-psychotics for what we thought was Bipolar but was actually just alot of anxiety due to living with someone wjo was making my life hell and the resulting insomnia. Also my overuse of Alcohol in my teens and early 20's probably didnt help.

!. Effexor aka Venlafaxine was the absolute worst drug i have taken. Not only did it's side effects of no orgasms, bad headaches, no appetite to the point where eating a bowl of rice was hard and insomnia suck worse then any drug i have taken. But the withdrawals where worse after stopping this medication then Fentanyl and Benzodiazepine withdrawal combined.

2. Tricyclics. I found Amitriptyline and especially Trimipramine to work really well but this was most likely due to the fact that they work well for sleep. Trimpramine is especially good at treating some peoples insomnia. I didnt find Nortriptyline to work very well though.

3. Remeron aka Mirtazapine. This worked good for sleep but left me feeling so groggy that was hardly a improvement. Also it will literally make you eat sugar out of a bag.

4. Wellbutrin aka Zyban aka Bupropion. This is the only anti-depressant i have had that i would consider a mood elevator. It really does help for things like SAD pretty good cause it kinda perks you up. Also a nice side effect is increased libido

 

[aihfl]

Antidepressants have a bad rap around here, but they helped me tremendously when I was dealing with about a 25 year drinking habit (10 of those daily drinking - being drunk for days on end etc.). I first tried mirtazapine, which my regular psychiatrist prescribed for sleep and when a rehab psychiatrist later added citalopram, I was telling a friend, I don't know what's different, but something's different. I'm definitely biased toward antidepressants because I haven't had any of the ill side effects, which I understand can be pretty gnarly. I resisted the rehab psychiatrist at first insisting I wasn't depressed, and that I was already on mirtazapine, but he floated the idea to me that maybe I haven't felt well in so long that I'd forgotten what it's like to feel good. The sexual side effects don't really concern me much since I'm on Adderall and that also makes it difficult to bust a nut. The only antidepressants had direct experience with is trazodone (sleep), mirtazapine (sleep), doxepin (sleep) and citalopram. The mirtazapine has been great because it helps me to be much less dependent on benzos (prescribed for panic) or worse, Ambien. I've never sleepwalked in my life and sleepwalked and took a nasty fall on Ambien. Trazodone would be my least favorite out of the three due to the "hangover" but nothing was as bad as Ambien.

I've been on mirtazapine since 2015 and citalopram the following year. Was on doxepin from 2015 to this year, but had to be discontinued this year due to the interaction with Adderall, but in general I think it is a good drug and helped me stay asleep. I've been taking trazodone off and on for over 10 years.

I had a psych workup done earlier this summer and I am officially GAD, Panic Disorder, ADHD and Autism Spectrum, and the only drug for me which needed to be addressed medically is AUD. Although I am prescribed benzos, to me, not even alprazolam packs as much of a punch as booze and I was disinclined to abuse it.

 

[invegauser]

@Mafioso: a long time, 17 years give or take. many mixed experiences as i don't think they were for me. way too much info to keep it brief, so i'll say it works for some and not others. as long as someone finds something that works while being able to manage symptoms as well as what side effects if any at all. that's what counts.

@paranoid android: good to read your posts again.

 

[Hanse]

I took anti-depressants along with mood stabilizers and anti-psychotics for what we thought was Bipolar but was actually just alot of anxiety due to living with someone wjo was making my life hell and the resulting insomnia. Also my overuse of Alcohol in my teens and early 20's probably didnt help.

!. Effexor aka Venlafaxine was the absolute worst drug i have taken. Not only did it's side effects of no orgasms, bad headaches, no appetite to the point where eating a bowl of rice was hard and insomnia suck worse then any drug i have taken. But the withdrawals where worse after stopping this medication then Fentanyl and Benzodiazepine withdrawal combined.

2. Tricyclics. I found Amitriptyline and especially Trimipramine to work really well but this was most likely due to the fact that they work well for sleep. Trimpramine is especially good at treating some peoples insomnia. I didnt find Nortriptyline to work very well though.

3. Remeron aka Mirtazapine. This worked good for sleep but left me feeling so groggy that was hardly a improvement. Also it will literally make you eat sugar out of a bag.

4. Wellbutrin aka Zyban aka Bupropion. This is the only anti-depressant i have had that i would consider a mood elevator. It really does help for things like SAD pretty good cause it kinda perks you up. Also a nice side effect is increased libido

Did you try the TCA Clomipramine?

 

[Jabberwocky]

I would do a lot of extensive research before putting them in your mouth.

I have been on them now for 9 years and not because I want to but because the side effects are so fucken bad coming off even when doing so gradually.

I was put on cymbalta 5 years ago as I was wanting to know why I tried killing myself and went bonkers having a nervous breakdown. I found that I had neglected myself by not doing thorough research and just taking my doctors advice. With this particular SNRI there is discontinuation issues where it is very painful to get off. There was a class action lawsuit too against ElyLilly for it.

Any how these meds don't work for everyone. After so many things that happened to me I tend to view them as a bandaid solution that doesn't really resolve underlying issues which are enforcing the depression / anxiety in the first place. In the end you may find the antidepressants did nothing but rob you of time you can't get back as they made you too numb to act on issues yourself and not that of others.

I have found doing a personal evaluation of every year you have lived to be helpful. I.e. you write age 20 and list all the events that happened. List the depressive one's first. You will realise you have been repressing thoughts that you didn't know existed and never got closure on.

I have been seeing psych's off and on for 20 years. The one thing that they don't teach you is responsibility and how to accept and appreciate yourself instead they teach you to blame others as a form of closure.

Since I begun opening up the can of shame and sorting out my life it has been nothing but positive although taking days to process some things and letting myself cry means that I am making progress.

Part of the issues with psychs is they don't correspond with your way of thinking and learning. See for me I like seeing everything as a jigsaw puzzle to know how things are interconnected rather than work one section and then forget that section and begin another.

Also shame on my fucken psychologist telling me to take a certain kind of antidepressant when she knew I was an alcoholic. That Lexapro made me put on 40 kg in the beginning and there I lost myself. I also believe the antidepressants made me drink more then my normal amounts as it escalated out of control. Others have reported the same

 

[Dresden]

Negative.

 

[mtu mwendawazimu]

4. Wellbutrin aka Zyban aka Bupropion. This is the only anti-depressant i have had that i would consider a mood elevator. It really does help for things like SAD pretty good cause it kinda perks you up. Also a nice side effect is increased libido

Same in my case.

I tried Zoloft, didn't do anything for me.

I need that dopamine in order to have a mood elevation and boy does Wellbutrin do that. Did it so well I abused the hell out of it and got taken off it.

 

[Mycophile]

Antidepressants have a bad rap around here, but they helped me tremendously when I was dealing with about a 25 year drinking habit (10 of those daily drinking - being drunk for days on end etc.). I first tried mirtazapine, which my regular psychiatrist prescribed for sleep and when a rehab psychiatrist later added citalopram, I was telling a friend, I don't know what's different, but something's different. I'm definitely biased toward antidepressants because I haven't had any of the ill side effects, which I understand can be pretty gnarly. I resisted the rehab psychiatrist at first insisting I wasn't depressed, and that I was already on mirtazapine, but he floated the idea to me that maybe I haven't felt well in so long that I'd forgotten what it's like to feel good. The sexual side effects don't really concern me much since I'm on Adderall and that also makes it difficult to bust a nut. The only antidepressants had direct experience with is trazodone (sleep), mirtazapine (sleep), doxepin (sleep) and citalopram. The mirtazapine has been great because it helps me to be much less dependent on benzos (prescribed for panic) or worse, Ambien. I've never sleepwalked in my life and sleepwalked and took a nasty fall on Ambien. Trazodone would be my least favorite out of the three due to the "hangover" but nothing was as bad as Ambien.

I've been on mirtazapine since 2015 and citalopram the following year. Was on doxepin from 2015 to this year, but had to be discontinued this year due to the interaction with Adderall, but in general I think it is a good drug and helped me stay asleep. I've been taking trazodone off and on for over 10 years.

I had a psych workup done earlier this summer and I am officially GAD, Panic Disorder, ADHD and Autism Spectrum, and the only drug for me which needed to be addressed medically is AUD. Although I am prescribed benzos, to me, not even alprazolam packs as much of a punch as booze and I was disinclined to abuse it.

What drug, if any, has helped most with your depression and your GAD?

I have some similar issues, GAD, social anxiety at times, probably Autism Spectrum disorder to an extent, and almost certainly undiagnosed depression, and while Klonopin helps my social anxiety greatly it neither helps with my generalized anxiety or depression and can make me tired.

My Lexapro helps with OCD to an extent, but that's it, and seems to have very little if any effect on depression.

I'm wondering if something else might help more and some have suggested Welbutrin because I also have some issues with fatigue and want something that perks me up a bit.

I am also very curious too about Ketamine infusions but think it would be hard to get them prescribed.

 

[Jabberwocky]

Before you take up an antidepressant read some medical journals on different tests

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/?term=haldol&cmd=DetailsSearch

 

[aihfl]

What drug, if any, has helped most with your depression and your GAD?

Probably the citalopram. After that last stint in rehab the difference in how I felt was pretty profound. Lexapro is basically the same thing - a stereoisomer of citalopram.

I have some similar issues, GAD, social anxiety at times, probably Autism Spectrum disorder to an extent, and almost certainly undiagnosed depression, and while Klonopin helps my social anxiety greatly it neither helps with my generalized anxiety or depression and can make me tired.

I don't use the Ativan except for in cases of acute anxiety that needs immediate relief - situations in which I would have used alcohol in the past. I don't want to build up a tolerance to it, plus I tend to hoard it anyway out of a fear (which may be irrational) of running out at an inopportune time.

I am also very curious too about Ketamine infusions but think it would be hard to get them prescribed.

Simco did this (I haven't seen him around in quite a while, but you could try sending him a PM). It's actually not that difficult to find a provider, but it's expensive as shit (around $500/session in my area) and none of the providers in my area will bill insurance. Also, regular benzo users will have a reduced response - that's what I've been told at least. I'm also kind of skeptical of anything that promises a quick cure for any psychological/psychiatric problem, especially if it costs a left nut.

 

[Mycophile]

Probably the citalopram. After that last stint in rehab the difference in how I felt was pretty profound. Lexapro is basically the same thing - a stereoisomer of citalopram.


I don't use the Ativan except for in cases of acute anxiety that needs immediate relief - situations in which I would have used alcohol in the past. I don't want to build up a tolerance to it, plus I tend to hoard it anyway out of a fear (which may be irrational) of running out at an inopportune time.


Simco did this (I haven't seen him around in quite a while, but you could try sending him a PM). It's actually not that difficult to find a provider, but it's expensive as shit (around $500/session in my area) and none of the providers in my area will bill insurance. Also, regular benzo users will have a reduced response - that's what I've been told at least. I'm also kind of skeptical of anything that promises a quick cure for any psychological/psychiatric problem, especially if it costs a left nut.

Well I don't necessarily think anything can necessarily guarantee a quick cure for psychiatric problems, but if certain things can have a quick and strong impact that's pretty good, plus, I've always wanted to try Ketamine recreationally as well but never got the chance, and while I know therapeutic doses are lower it must still feel nice.

Since I am a regular benzo user maybe I'd need more, so hopefully if I could even get it they'd give me a higher dose but I bet I'll never end up getting it cause that is really expensive and I'd want to use insurance but like you said, I probably wouldn't be able to.

If I can pay for it I'll do it though.

I'm probably more quickly likely to try to grow some mushrooms and see if I can use these to mircodose which I have also heard can help with anxiety and depression.

I've never microdosed, but I have had very peaceful mushroom trips and I think at this point in my life if I could trip even semi regularly on mushrooms it could actually benefit my life, but I'm more interested in mircodosing than just tripping.

I don't think there's anything, treatment wise or drug wise, that can be a guarantee, but I'm interested in things that can be transformative quickly and really shake things up and rock me to my core.

I don't care if it's skydiving (never done it) or a sweat lodge (I had a great experience with that), floatation tank (didn't do what I hoped it would), mircodosing, Ketamine or whatever else.

What I just haven't found to be effective are SSRIs or medications where you have to wait weeks or months and only to think that MAYBE it MIGHT be doing something.

I think I need things that will really snap me out of my current situation, even if they are unpleasant, at this point if I want to make some headway.

 

[Ne0]

I took anti-depressants along with mood stabilizers and anti-psychotics for what we thought was Bipolar but was actually just alot of anxiety due to living with someone wjo was making my life hell and the resulting insomnia. Also my overuse of Alcohol in my teens and early 20's probably didnt help.

!. Effexor aka Venlafaxine was the absolute worst drug i have taken. Not only did it's side effects of no orgasms, bad headaches, no appetite to the point where eating a bowl of rice was hard and insomnia suck worse then any drug i have taken. But the withdrawals where worse after stopping this medication then Fentanyl and Benzodiazepine withdrawal combined.

2. Tricyclics. I found Amitriptyline and especially Trimipramine to work really well but this was most likely due to the fact that they work well for sleep. Trimpramine is especially good at treating some peoples insomnia. I didnt find Nortriptyline to work very well though.

3. Remeron aka Mirtazapine. This worked good for sleep but left me feeling so groggy that was hardly a improvement. Also it will literally make you eat sugar out of a bag.

4. Wellbutrin aka Zyban aka Bupropion. This is the only anti-depressant i have had that i would consider a mood elevator. It really does help for things like SAD pretty good cause it kinda perks you up. Also a nice side effect is increased libido

I can't personally see it as very good side effect if you watch porn for 4 hours every day. Problem with increased libido is that it never can be satisfied, anyone who's done amphetamine induced sex or porn marathons knows that. I actually see decreased libido as good side-effect.

 

[psychlo0015]

I take lexepro. It's supposed to help with generalized anxiety but does nothing for mine (I required buspar a few months after starting lexepro). All it does is level my mood out keeping me at basline but while reducing libido.

 

[AlphaMethylPhenyl]

Just saying, they have a warning with antidepressants. You may feel suicidal as the medication begins to take effect, but its suicidal in that you have motivation back. I'm not explaining it very well, but it passes in these instances. I believe that it can be a sign that the medication is working. Most estimates give two months to see if an antidepressant works.

 

[Ne0]

Just saying, they have a warning with antidepressants. You may feel suicidal as the medication begins to take effect, but its suicidal in that you have motivation back. I'm not explaining it very well, but it passes in these instances. I believe that it can be a sign that the medication is working. Most estimates give two months to see if an antidepressant works.

Two months before the medicine has any positive effects?, so it means I either need be on come fore 2 months or just use say king of drugs that made positive good effect instantly. Not sure if doctor gives you 2 months payed sick leave. >Ketamien treatment is usually 100% instant effects of depression also electric therapy. Well right now I need to use lots of different drugs to be funtional for work, so I hope after 2 months my depression is gone. If tou have true depression you are not able to work or do anythign other, beceuase tru and real depession is totalt anehdonia, you are not able to enjoy enything. SO better get medicine that makes yous leep 16 a day, eat spmethign and teh nback t o sleep, ,ruvh more cheap tha ncoma or using drugs.

 

[Xorkoth]

Ketamine appears to work for some people with treatment-resistant depression in two ways. The first is that oftentimes a profound exprience on ketamine will give you a lot to think about and make you feel fresh and new because of its impact. But the other way is that ketamine, probably because of the metabolite norketamine, seems to do something pharmacologically that removes depression for a time. It seems to work better for some, and also for longer each successive time. There are various ways of thinking on how to best do it. Our old member Jamshyd (RIP old friend) actually was the first I've seen to report on this, and he had a regimen he would do every so often, where he'd continually low dose throughout the day for a week, I believe it was. Never getting more than very slightly altered. Afterwards his crippling depression would be alleviated for weeks or longer. People for whom it works, it can be kind of a miracle. This use of ketamine is in its infancy, but memantine, another dissociative, is prescribed for mood sometimes. It seems rather clear than NMDA antagonism (the mechanism of action behind most dissociatives) has a very real application in medicine that goes beyond anesthesia.

 

[AlphaMethylPhenyl]

That's one of the issues in the system, that antidepressants are said to work in two months, up to three, as I'm aware. People have all kinds of experiences with them, though.

Ketamine is becoming more of an option, but only in treatment-resistant cases, as I was told.

The FDA has granted a fast-track to psilocybin, as well. It should be used in clinics before too long.

 

[Xorkoth]

I was not aware of that, that's fantastic news. therapist-guided psychedelic sessions are, for many, going to be by far the healthiest approach since it's one or several individual experiences and not a daily medication. Plus, instead of masking, it gets right to the core of you and produces change in a real and meaningful way. Or, it can anyway. The chances of success increase dramatically when done with guidance and in a controlled setting. Back before psychedelics were demonized and illegalized, they (and MDMA even moreso) were being used in therapy and were considered a miracle.

 

[aihfl]

MDMA assisted psychotherapy is entering phase 3 trials. I posted about it awhile back in DITM.