Mental Health How long before you know an SSRI isn’t gonna work for you?

Shant

Bluelighter
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Aug 28, 2019
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301
I’ve been in a cycle of suboxone for 3 weeks, heroin for 1 week. For about 3 years. I assume it’s the source of my depression. They put me on Zoloft, 50mg. It’s been 5 weeks. I feel no improvement...perhaps I’ve even declined. I stopped listening to music in the car & switched to talk radio. For me, that’s a clear early symptom of depression.

How much longer with the Zoloft before I ask to be weened off? Thanks all,

- Shant
 
Hey Shant! It really kills me to say this, because I totally respect your desire to be happy, but this type of thread doesn't really fit here. Your depression is a serious thing, but this is a forum specifically for folks who want to use drugs, but are concerned about their safety and need advice. So, while yours is definitely meaningful to both yourself and I, it's not really suited to Basic Drug Discussion.

I will throw you a bone and say you should begin to notice some changes after a couple of weeks and by about the six week mark, you should be able to at least begin taking an inventory of how the medicine makes you feel and whether to continue with it.

The long-term depression and/or anxiety that come with quitting an Opioid dependency is a common reason why people relapse. I've quit Heroin and Methadone, both multiple times. After quitting Methadone, I was a shell of a person for almost 6 months. I remember something as simple as getting out of a hot shower into the relative cold of the bathroom seemed like a difficult, emotional task. I already lose shit and am a little unorganized, but the crazy emotions I was experiencing made it impossible to focus on anything. Remembering new peoples' names was impossible. I really couldn't look people in the eye and talk at the same time, otherwise I would forget what I was talking about. It's difficult.

I'm going to move this over to the recovery forums. I think that they're a more appropriate area for this.
 
I've always heard 1 month as a rule of thumb.

Tell your doctor you feel no improvement - there's gotta be something out there that'll help. Just be patient :) i had to be too.
 
2-6 weeks. Something “not working” may just need to be titrated up though which takes additional weeks.
 
I’ve been in a cycle of suboxone for 3 weeks, heroin for 1 week. For about 3 years. I assume it’s the source of my depression. They put me on Zoloft, 50mg. It’s been 5 weeks. I feel no improvement...perhaps I’ve even declined. I stopped listening to music in the car & switched to talk radio. For me, that’s a clear early symptom of depression.

How much longer with the Zoloft before I ask to be weened off? Thanks all,

- Shant

It takes up to 8 weeks to start working for some people, so 8 weeks. If you feel nothing I'd try 100mg and if in a few weeks time there's still no improvement, tell your doctor.

EDIT (for my post being edited by mod): just to clarify: when I said "if you feel nothing I'd try 100mg" I should have expanded on that as I MEANT, if your doctor suggests it. When I initially said "try something else" (edited to: tell your doctor) I also meant discussing another SSRI with your doctor, not just finding one yourself.
 
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Hey Shant! It really kills me to say this, because I totally respect your desire to be happy, but this type of thread doesn't really fit here. Your depression is a serious thing, but this is a forum specifically for folks who want to use drugs, but are concerned about their safety and need advice. So, while yours is definitely meaningful to both yourself and I, it's not really suited to Basic Drug Discussion.

I will throw you a bone and say you should begin to notice some changes after a couple of weeks and by about the six week mark, you should be able to at least begin taking an inventory of how the medicine makes you feel and whether to continue with it.

The long-term depression and/or anxiety that come with quitting an Opioid dependency is a common reason why people relapse. I've quit Heroin and Methadone, both multiple times. After quitting Methadone, I was a shell of a person for almost 6 months. I remember something as simple as getting out of a hot shower into the relative cold of the bathroom seemed like a difficult, emotional task. I already lose shit and am a little unorganized, but the crazy emotions I was experiencing made it impossible to focus on anything. Remembering new peoples' names was impossible. I really couldn't look people in the eye and talk at the same time, otherwise I would forget what I was talking about. It's difficult.

I'm going to move this over to the recovery forums. I think that they're a more appropriate area for this.
Thanks Keif, sorry about putting it in the wrong forum and thank your putting it where it belongs. I appreciate your advice too. Those symptoms you described are spot on. Although I can still look people in the eye, I constantly forget what I was talking about mid-sentence. I literally have to ask the person I was speaking with to tell me what I was just saying. Very embarrassing. Can’t tell if it’s the opiates (long term or current use) or if my mind has paid the price for years of smoking tar.

Tell me something...how many months before you were able to sleep well again (without meds or weed to help)? I haven’t had a single dream in 3 years because I only get a few hours of sleep a night. I guess I’m not reaching the REM phase. Just wondering if I’ll ever get em back? I’ve heard from other addicts that after they got clean their sleeping patterns never recovered & it scares the shit outta me.
 
2-6 weeks. Something “not working” may just need to be titrated up though which takes additional weeks.
Titrated up...you mean increase the dose? Sorry I should probably know what titration means by now.
 
I've always heard 1 month as a rule of thumb.

Tell your doctor you feel no improvement - there's gotta be something out there that'll help. Just be patient :) i had to be too.
They recommended Wellbutrin but I don’t like the fact that it works on dopamine. I’m barely getting 3 hours of sleep (with ambien, weed, & flexeril) as it is. So I insisted on Zoloft, which worked wonders on my cousin. But they said something about Wellbutrin being preferred for addicts. What do you guys think?
 
as of my experience with SSRIs its effect is immediate , people just seems to recognize its effect after 2 weeks because its weak effect, imo
if 50mg did not give you music enjoy enhancement you should **edit - please no playing doctor**
SSRIs effect is 20% permanent when you still take it, tolernace was not able to completely block their effect even after many years
Thanks for the reply hombre, but can you explain the 20% thing? I didn’t realize escalating tolerance was an issue with SSRIs.
 
They recommended Wellbutrin but I don’t like the fact that it works on dopamine. I’m barely getting 3 hours of sleep (with ambien, weed, & flexeril) as it is. So I insisted on Zoloft, which worked wonders on my cousin. But they said something about Wellbutrin being preferred for addicts. What do you guys think?

Wellbutrin is actually used to help with smoking cravings and i heard even off label for cocaine cravings.

I was on it. I liked it. It's pretty activating.

But they took me off once i admit that i abused it.
 
Wellbutrin is actually used to help with smoking cravings and i heard even off label for cocaine cravings.

I was on it. I liked it. It's pretty activating.

But they took me off once i admit that i abused it.
Yeah I’ve gotta buddy who snorts em. Insists it’s identical to cocaine in terms of feeling. But im done with stimulants. So nothing about Wellbutrin with opioids? And before you started abusing em, did they hinder your sleep at all? What mg were you on?
 
Yeah I’ve gotta buddy who snorts em. Insists it’s identical to cocaine in terms of feeling. But im done with stimulants. So nothing about Wellbutrin with opioids? And before you started abusing em, did they hinder your sleep at all? What mg were you on?

It feels like 20% pure coke IMO. Or something lile that. Maybe less. I actually almost ODed off snorting 1500mg in an hour or two.

I imagine mixing with opioids could balance each other out. Problem is you have less and idea of how close you are to ODing on either one. Or both. Sort of like a speed ball? I honestly am not sure this is just an educated guess.

They didn't really hinder my sleep. I started on 100 or 150mg then went to 300mg eventually.

Do you have anxiety? I don't have much and that's i think part of the reason it worked. IMO SSRIs deal with anxiety better.
 
I think all my anxiety is opioid related. I wonder if the fact that I keep going back and forth from subs to tar is the reason the Zoloft ain’t working. It very likely is the source of my depression after all.
 
Titrated up...you mean increase the dose? Sorry I should probably know what titration means by now.
Yeah that’s right my love.

Sorry I didn’t read your first post, now that I have I can tell you 50mg of sertraline is a starting dose. You can go up to 200-250mg. Hopefully a psychiatrist prescribed it, and they would suggest increasing to 100mg for another two weeks and so on until you’re at the therapeutic dose (closer to 200mg).
 
i didnt get anything from zoloft until 75mg. reaching that dose took six months. at which point i experienced significant improvement.
 
No kidding? That’s huge! Honestly I was thinking that if I feel absolutely nothing on 50mg there’s no point in titrating (thanks Sireena 😉) up but if you’re saying that you felt nothing til 75mg, maybe I’ll ask my doc to bump it to 100mg. Unless you all think I should go to 75mg first.

But I keep coming back to the suboxone 3 weeks heroin 1 week cycle must be wreaking havoc on my neurotransmitters. I think this is the plan. Stay on subs for 2 months. No cheating. If I still feel depressed, I’ll ask to bump my dose. If that doesn’t work after a month, I’m done with SSRI’s. They’ve always scared me anyway. Much about the way they work is still mysterious. That’s true for most drugs though I guess.
 
Yeah that’s right my love.

Sorry I didn’t read your first post, now that I have I can tell you 50mg of sertraline is a starting dose. You can go up to 200-250mg. Hopefully a psychiatrist prescribed it, and they would suggest increasing to 100mg for another two weeks and so on until you’re at the therapeutic dose (closer to 200mg).

Wait...so you don’t even reach therapeutic levels until upwards of 200mg?? I’m very reluctant to go so high. I don’t like SSRIs...don’t like messing with my neurotransmitters period. Especially since it’s not like you can take a blood test to prove your serotonin levels are off anyway.
 
I waited 4 weeks on Sertraline, did 2 on an SNRI then was like, I miss ejaculating and I'd rather be taking psychedelics so went off them.

I hope you find them more useful!

they also gave me constant nightmares and suicidal ideation so that wasn't cool either.
 
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