• TDS Moderators: AlphaMethylPhenyl | Eligiu | deficiT

Mental Health what antidepressants have actually worked for you?

Hi everyone. Didn’t read all the replies (sorry) but I thought I would just post a quick reply to the OP’s question. Atm, I’m shooting black so I can’t say for sure if they are working, but I do remember how I felt before I relapsed and it was better than I had been doing. The antidepressants are 40mg Prozac and 300mg Wellbutrin. I’ve been on and off the Prozac for a while, and a couple of months ago I went off of it because I thought it wasn’t working anymore, and after that I went into a deep depression. It was horrible. It lasted a couple of months before my psychiatrist put me back on the Prozac and I got out of it. I’m on other medications as well but I don’t want to ramble on about those so I’ll just leave it at that. Hope that helped
 
I'm considering this, but 1) I'm on Klonopin and Lexapro and was just warned that benzos have a bad interaction with ketamine

(were you on any other drugs or benzos when you got Ketamine?)

2) I was warned many of the ketamine doctors are taking advantage of people for a cash grab, and I'm personally wary of using it illegally, for fear of being arrested, but also because I really want to get better and don't want to mess myself up by taking too much or mixing it with anything I shouldn't be.
I wasnt on benzo's at the time but was taking opiates (not together at the same time though). Obviously, purchasing it illegally is a concern for being arrested... but if you order it on the DN, the chances of even being caught is EXTREMELY small, especially if you order it domestically. If I were to do it all over again (and I couldnt get the pharma grade Ketamine), id order it on the DN without hesitation, it helped that much. It changed my life actually.
 
I wasnt on benzo's at the time but was taking opiates (not together at the same time though). Obviously, purchasing it illegally is a concern for being arrested... but if you order it on the DN, the chances of even being caught is EXTREMELY small, especially if you order it domestically. If I were to do it all over again (and I couldnt get the pharma grade Ketamine), id order it on the DN without hesitation, it helped that much. It changed my life actually.

Yeah, maybe...it would be on the top of my list of illegal substances to order along with 4-ACO DMT and if it's actually out there, REAL authentic mescaline and some kind of pure smokable DMT.

I've been trying to work up the balls to try to figure out the deep web and order either an RC or something illegal for YEARS now.

Truth is, it's just as much the fact that I am SUPER computer illiterate and easily confused by tech. stuff and most of those sites also use bitcoin and I don't know if I could figure it out.

I'm always wishing I knew someone in real life who was used to ordering this stuff and who would be a good trip sitter and we could go in an some kind of an order together and then hang out and use whatever we ordered....but now I am probably treading on dangerous ground saying that hahaha....I mean, I'm not gonna go asking for sources or trying to organize a trip-out party publicly on bluelight hahaha....been here long enough to know the rules...but I think for me it's like one of those new things where once I did it once I'd probably think it wasn't a big deal and try it out more often, but just figuring it all out myself and plus just really having one friend who might or might not even be willing to trip sit me makes me wary (most of my friends in real life, believe it or not, want NOTHING to do with any drugs other than weed or booze...like, most are SCARED of anything else except this one guy...)

Most say that the deep web and bitcoin/cryptocurrency really aren't THAT hard to figure out, but I do remember just one person (I don't think they were a bluelight member) said that it's really easy to accidentally get in trouble on the deep web and that if I'm not very computer literate and wary of schysters and rip-off artists then I should stay away.

Not sure if everyone agrees with that though.

I mean, I just wish ALL drugs were legal for adults in the privacy of their own homes when not driving cars, but keep dreaming right...lol...
 
Could you describe what happens when you get eye aversion? Is it like what I described?

And which medication that you took worked the best for eye aversion?

As for parnate and vortioxetine, I know nothing about the latter, but isn't parnate an MAOI?

But what class is vortioxetine in??

And does it not have all the side effects of Klonopin like fatigue and depression?

For me with eye aversion in the past, I could be rather shy, talk away, and have a weird almost pain/compulsion to look away rather than have eye contact. Sometimes almost like a sensory overload, but I tended to be that way with sounds and everything a bit before. I have some OCD traits.

I don't have it right now and do well with presentations and meetings. I would say I have a normal amount of anxiety with public presentations and such now, and can be effective with getting my points across. I usually get stuck with more presentations on my team now because I communicate. Better than not being able to leave the house, haha.

Parnate and vortioxetine were the best for me, though I also always worked in therapy and advanced professionally / had experiences.

Parnate is an MAOI and was beneficial for me.

Vortioxetine is a newer SSRI-esque drug (they try to say it is unique but still has a lot of SERT inhibition, haha). I did actually find it more useful than even parnate, but that is just my personal experience. Supposedly it has beneficial cognitive/memory effects, but I don't know for me personally if it was significant independent of reducing my depression.

As for side effects everyone differs. Certainly I do better with it than when I was on clonazepam, but I can't speak for you. Probably 50% of people get nausea and GI stuff, but I never had anything significant. Coverage is limited.

Luvox inhibits CYP1A2 strongly, along with others, which changes the metabolism of caffeine.

Yeah, it is unfortunate when people just consider OCD as being a neat-freak or OCPD. I have a friend with quite disturbing OCD and it can be torture. Onslaught of terrible intrusive thoughts all day every day, hoarding, fears.
 
Last edited:
For me with eye aversion in the past, I could be rather shy, talk away, and have a weird almost pain/compulsion to look away rather than have eye contact. Sometimes almost like a sensory overload, but I tended to be that way with sounds and everything a bit before. I have some OCD traits.

I don't have it right now and do well with presentations and meetings. I would say I have a normal amount of anxiety with public presentations and such now, and can be effective with getting my points across. I usually get stuck with more presentations on my team now because I communicate. Better than not being able to leave the house, haha.

Parnate and vortioxetine were the best for me, though I also always worked in therapy and advanced professionally / had experiences.

Parnate is an MAOI and was beneficial for me.

Vortioxetine is a newer SSRI-esque drug (they try to say it is unique but still has a lot of SERT inhibition, haha). I did actually find it more useful than even parnate, but that is just my personal experience. Supposedly it has beneficial cognitive/memory effects, but I don't know for me personally if it was significant independent of reducing my depression.

As for side effects everyone differs. Certainly I do better with it than when I was on clonazepam, but I can't speak for you. Probably 50% of people get nausea and GI stuff, but I never had anything significant. Coverage is limited.

Luvox inhibits CYP1A2 strongly, along with others, which changes the metabolism of caffeine.

Yeah, it is unfortunate when people just consider OCD as being a neat-freak or OCPD. I have a friend with quite disturbing OCD and it can be torture. Onslaught of terrible intrusive thoughts all day every day, hoarding, fears.

So it sounds like you have almost EXACTLY the same thing I do (off Klonopin at least) as far as "eye aversion"!!

You mean like, you would get very uncomfortable making eye contact with people and kind of worry then that they'd sense you looked uncomfortable and then that would make you more worried? (that's EXACTLY how it is for me)

And then would you have trouble also cause how much or how little eye contact you made with people would be on your mind so you might also think to yourself (ok, I HAVE to make eye contact right now since I'm talking to this person and if I don't at all they'll think I'm weird" but then you'd also think "ok, now I'm making TOO much eye contact so it's time to look away"...and question if you'd made enough eye contact or too much??

That's mine to a T...and it made life nearly IMPOSSIBLE to live and would lead to panic attacks till I got on Klonopin and other than Kratom (I love it but it gives me too many side effects) or other GABAergics which are also bad to take too much of (booze, Phenibut, etc), nothing else worked for it.

Now I am actually a teacher and don't have this issue cause the Klonopin masks it (notice I say "MASKS"...not a "CURE" by any means...), and I'd have NEVER thought I could be a teacher before, but I still fear that without either Klonopin or SOMETHING that works for this issue that I would not be able to do my job, and since Klonopin has started giving me side effects like severe fatigue and depression I want to taper down or even off it, but the one time I managed to taper off 5 years ago, I was off it for 9 months and while the lethargy and depression went away, the anxiety came back so I had to get back on it (wait...Did I say this before? Sorry if I'm repeating myself).

So, let me ask you: which of the two drugs, Vortioxetine or Parante (or both combined?) is it that has helped you with your eye aversion problem, or did it somehow go away by itself, and if it did, what do you think made it go away??

Cause that's probably what I need to look into if I can switch to that from Klonopin.


I mean, I'd rather not be on an MAOI, so I'm hoping it's the Vortioxetine, but maybe even if it was the Paranate, if nothing else worked with few enough side effects, I'd consider it.

With both the Vortioxetine and Parnate, are there are any drugs (as far as SSRIs I'd be asking OTHER than the typical ones which can cause serotonin syndrome like serious serotonin releasers and MAOIs: DXM, MDMA, Ayahuasca, for example ) that it's NOT safe to combine them with??

The drugs that I like most and would prefer not to HAVE to give up because of a medication are mainly: alcohol, Kratom, weed, Dexedrine/Adderall/Vyvanse, shrooms, Phenibut/F-Phenibut, nitrous, and I am COMPLETELY dependent on caffeine.

If whichever of the two that makes your eye aversion problem go away does not SERIOUSLY interact with most of those to the extent that you'd be risking your life or health to combine it with them, that will make it even more likely for me to want to try it.

As for Luvox, when you say it changes the metabolism of caffeine, what does that really mean? Does that mean it's actually DANGEROUS to drink coffee on it? What happens if you do, or even drink a very large amount of coffee on it?

Also, do you drink coffee/caffeine, and if so, about how much a day?


For some reason, my OCD triggers me to drink a lot of coffee, and yet the caffeine makes the OCD and anxiety SOO much worse. While the eye aversion problem started for me at age 14 and was curbed by Prozac until it came back at age 23, it was pretty much directly the consumption of large amounts of caffeine that led to it reocurring and needing Klonopin, (I can't say it would DEFINITELY not have come back though...but certainly LESS) and I wish I had known that then before I got addicted to Klonopin...

I have tried to quit many times, but I believe the extra fatigue now caused by the Klonopin, along with some bizarre OCD tendency driving me to drink large amounts, is what keeps me dependent and addicted.

I did at least manage to seriously cut down my consumption by using an online weaning supplement...but now I've escalated again and will probably use the same supplement to quit again soon.

At one point I drank between 6 and 8 1/2 cups of coffee a day, then when I used the detox to quit I was no longer dependent in only 7 days, but out of just not wanting to be tired from my Klonopin I still drank 1-2 cups a day....now it's escalated back to around 4--5 max, which is still way too much, but at least not as bad as it used to be.

If I could permanently quit caffeine, or at least never drink more than 1 cup a day, I'd be very happy and I know my anxiety would be WAY improved cause it's always been so much better when I wasn't drinking much.
 
You're not gonna get better like you want if you still use eight+ drugs for fun/to mask symptoms.

I know that, but in my defense, I don't ALWAYS use them to mask my symptoms, often just for fun (ok, that's a lame excuse but true)....yeah, I have used all of them many many times to mask symptoms..and yes, they are bad for my mental health, but I just don't really want to be on something that would KILL me or cause SERIOUS problems if I used those out of the bunch that I don't think I could resist right now....really, mainly drinking most of all honestly. I could totally give up some of them, probably most of them for a really good medication, but it's mostly alcohol and caffeine that would be hard for me to PERMANENTLY give up.

Sure, I won't lie, I have used the majority of those at times (some much more than others) to self-medicate, and I always know I'm not helping myself get better and only hurting myself and I'm really working on using far fewer substances now...haven't been 100% successful yet but I'm working on it and have made some progress with some of them.

The ones I would most often use to mask symptoms would be booze for anxiety and depression and caffeine for tiredness, but I will totally not lie and say that the past year I've been unsuccessfully masking depression and fatigue symptoms with Dexadrine, which is why I am giving it up, and that before that I used Kratom for my issues but had to stop because it gave me too much WD.

I would never debate anyone telling me that the best shot I have of mental (and physical health) is really to be pretty much straightedge (other than prescribed meds), and that I am by nature a very self destructive person, cause I totally am.

I was more asking about which, if any of those, would KILL me or give me like serious problems like heart problems or seizures or serotonin syndrome if I combined them with a med, at least so I know and can make an informed decision.

For example, yesterday Madness00 told me that if you drink on Wellbutrin you can have seizures and if you combine it with amps you can have heart problems, so I mean, I could TOTALLY give up amps to use it IF it were a really good med for me (I mean, I plan on giving up amps anyway).....but social drinking is too hard for me to give up right now, and I simply wouldn't feel safe taking a drug which could give me seizures if I drank, so I was glad he gave me that info.

I mean, I'm an addict, I know it, and I have worse problems with some drugs than others, but the fact is, unless there's ZERO way my mental problems will go away unless I give up drinking forever, I simply AM GOING TO DRINK sometimes...sometimes heavily....and since I know this fact about myself, I cannot feel safe taking Wellbutrin or anything that could give me seizures or kill me if I drink on it.

I just need to know what recreational drugs REALLY BADLY cause issues when combined with certain meds I'm considering, and then, based on which drug I'd have to give up, and how good the med is, and the relative risk, make whatever choice I feel is best for me.

I'm too prone to get upset and go drinking as a release to take something like Wellbutrin for example, but if someone tells me there's an amazing med that can help me if I never use amphetamines, Kratom or Phenibut ever again, I would almost certainly give them up.

It's risk and reward....being an addict and someone with mental health issues, and you are 100% right of course.

I really do need to be as healthy as possible if I want real relief from my issues.

Thanks.
 
Last edited:
Yeah, thinking about how much eye contact was made in general and whether I was acting in a way that didn't match the situation or not helping out were parts of my aversion at times. Each independently helped with my symptoms, though again, I worked with therapy and over time at getting in a healthier state and not overthinking things. I can't fully attribute all change to one particular drug, therapy, or experience. However, I did find myself less bothered with eye contact / social interactions with both medications separately.

MAOIs may not play nicely with some things, especially in some individuals, so you would have to be careful and not risk taking too much or especially polysubstance use. Some people can have amphetamines on MAOIs and are prescribed them even, as another poster already showed, but your individual response may be more drastic. Some individuals can't even tolerate caffeine on them or have side effects. Would have to be very slow and careful with doses of anything, and shrooms would have to be monitored and likely would be quite risky. I didn't have caffeine for a few months on it, but later resumed my usual 2-4 coffee cups. MAOI combinations can seriously harm and kill you if handled quite recklessly. I found fewer limitations and hassles overall than some made it out to be for general life and food. Vortioxetine is serotonergic and would not be taken with an MAOI, and has far fewer drug interactions.

Caffeine is extensively metabolized by cyp1a2, which luvox strongly inhibits. This means caffeine may last longer in your system / not be cleared as well if you were on luvox. If caffeine causes insomnia already then this might be exacerbated. I'm not sure 8 cups of coffee would be all that great on it in terms of lasting longer.


Well, AlphaMethylPhenyl has a strong point. Polysubstance use may not be tenable when you are trying to work on your issues. Treating substance side effects with other substances usually isn't the safest path. I'm not personally the biggest fan of 'self-medication' or similar terms, as I have seen many people justify very self-destructive patterns that don't seem to be beneficial and are counter to what they want, while proclaiming that they don't abuse substances and are just treating themselves because 'mental health hasn't caught up'. Granted, mental health certainly isn't there yet, and people aren't getting the care they need, but I am skeptical of not checking in and getting an outside perspective on mental health if the mental problems are significant enough that they lead to such misuse. Again there are definitely people missed by many systems and other benefits not listed, but I have a bit of skepticism and hope to give empathy.

I have seen some people turn around incredible self-destruction- I know it can be hard when we get in our own ways against what we want in the long term because of patterns of thinking and certain cycles of behavior. We can work to make change and break the cycles, even if it may take time or cause setbacks. Or at least something like that, not to sound too too positive.

Now as for coffee I use to say I liked 1-6 cups a day. Average 2-4. Sometimes just a small cup in the morning, sometimes 2 cups with a mid-morning fill, an espresso or double, and so on. I enjoy the taste (or have convinced myself that I do) and dislike caffeine pills and such. Affogato is a great dessert and mocha is my jam. My family drinks coffee quite extensively, my mom used to do 10-12 cups a day. I've done decaf from time to time, and given it up multiple times. On an oolong tea kick midday lately. Never had much of a problem with giving it up, besides a headache for a few days, but I seem to be that way with a lot of substances. Not quite a helpful paragraph in terms of giving up coffee but I encourage people to always try.
 
Last edited:
pristiq. not bad. first zoloft i ever had were too strong in the beginning, but even they had me stuck in a rut. though a day or 2 without pristiq and i don't wanna know myself. it takes 6-8 weeks to have any effect to start with.
 
Yeah, thinking about how much eye contact was made in general and whether I was acting in a way that didn't match the situation or not helping out were parts of my aversion at times. Each independently helped with my symptoms, though again, I worked with therapy and over time at getting in a healthier state and not overthinking things. I can't fully attribute all change to one particular drug, therapy, or experience. However, I did find myself less bothered with eye contact / social interactions with both medications separately.

MAOIs may not play nicely with some things, especially in some individuals, so you would have to be careful and not risk taking too much or especially polysubstance use. Some people can have amphetamines on MAOIs and are prescribed them even, as another poster already showed, but your individual response may be more drastic. Some individuals can't even tolerate caffeine on them or have side effects. Would have to be very slow and careful with doses of anything, and shrooms would have to be monitored and likely would be quite risky. I didn't have caffeine for a few months on it, but later resumed my usual 2-4 coffee cups. MAOI combinations can seriously harm and kill you if handled quite recklessly. I found fewer limitations and hassles overall than some made it out to be for general life and food. Vortioxetine is serotonergic and would not be taken with an MAOI, and has far fewer drug interactions.

Caffeine is extensively metabolized by cyp1a2, which luvox strongly inhibits. This means caffeine may last longer in your system / not be cleared as well if you were on luvox. If caffeine causes insomnia already then this might be exacerbated. I'm not sure 8 cups of coffee would be all that great on it in terms of lasting longer.


Well, AlphaMethylPhenyl has a strong point. Polysubstance use may not be tenable when you are trying to work on your issues. Treating substance side effects with other substances usually isn't the safest path. I'm not personally the biggest fan of 'self-medication' or similar terms, as I have seen many people justify very self-destructive patterns that don't seem to be beneficial and are counter to what they want, while proclaiming that they don't abuse substances and are just treating themselves because 'mental health hasn't caught up'. Granted, mental health certainly isn't there yet, and people aren't getting the care they need, but I am skeptical of not checking in and getting an outside perspective on mental health if the mental problems are significant enough that they lead to such misuse. Again there are definitely people missed by many systems and other benefits not listed, but I have a bit of skepticism and hope to give empathy.

I have seen some people turn around incredible self-destruction- I know it can be hard when we get in our own ways against what we want in the long term because of patterns of thinking and certain cycles of behavior. We can work to make change and break the cycles, even if it may take time or cause setbacks. Or at least something like that, not to sound too too positive.

Now as for coffee I use to say I liked 1-6 cups a day. Average 2-4. Sometimes just a small cup in the morning, sometimes 2 cups with a mid-morning fill, an espresso or double, and so on. I enjoy the taste (or have convinced myself that I do) and dislike caffeine pills and such. Affogato is a great dessert and mocha is my jam. My family drinks coffee quite extensively, my mom used to do 10-12 cups a day. I've done decaf from time to time, and given it up multiple times. On an oolong tea kick midday lately. Never had much of a problem with giving it up, besides a headache for a few days, but I seem to be that way with a lot of substances. Not quite a helpful paragraph in terms of giving up coffee but I encourage people to always try.

Ok, couple more questions/points on the bolded parts:

1st) I thought you said you were currently right now on BOTH Vortioxetine AND Parnate (and Parnate is an MAOI right??) and then you said "Vortioxetine is serotonergic and should not be taken with an MAOI", so I'm confused, which one are you currently on if they can't be mixed together?

2) If you are NOT currently on both, which of the two did you start on first, and which was the one which first seemed to help with the eye aversion problem?

3) If you are now only on one, then why did you choose to get off the other?


4) I don't mean to try to pin you in a corner, cause I know you said you "can't fully attribute the help with the eye contact aversion with either med" but if you had to guess which one you think helped more with that PARTICULAR problem, which would it be?

5 So you are saying you do NOT think that caffeine or stimulants makes your eye contact aversion worse

6 have you gotten drunk while taking vortioxetine and if so, did you have a negative interactions

7 And yes, I fully agree with what AlphamethylPhenyl said, cause honestly, it's possible to be on any med or therapy regime and still not get well if you just fuck yourself up too much, and I FULLY realize that my best chances of feeling my best would involve being as close to straight edge as possible NOT including prescribed meds.

Whether or not I CAN DO THAT...or do it in the near future, is the question.

Obviously I have mentioned I have a lot of self control issues with substances as all addicts do, and my question was relating to which of the substances I mentioned I have a predisposition to use would be TRULY DANGEROUS to take on these meds.

I did not suggest I would be unwilling to even attempt to stop taking any of the drugs I like if I found a good med that helps me, and there are some I truly believe I could stop or would stand a very good chance at stopping, even permanently if I got on a helpful med, but there are others, mainly alcohol and caffeine, which if they had REALLY dangerous interactions with, or even something like Luvox which makes caffeine last longer, since I don't see myself being able to quit coffee now, which would simply not be smart for me to take seeing as I doubt my self control.

I believe if I found the right med I could give up Dex/Adderall (I'm already trying to quit), Kratom (also trying to quit/moderate), Phenibut/F-Phenibut (only use them like once a month or LESS anyway), shrooms, etc if I found the right med.

It's really booze and caffeine where if I find out mixing a med with them is dangerous or will just produce more problems in my life where IF POSSIBLE I will want to find an equally effective med that I can take somewhat safely if I should drink alcohol or coffee, because I don't yet trust myself to abstain from them completely.

I mean, my caffeine addiction is not something I feel I could quit right now (even though I want to) and I am just too prone to drinking for it to be safe for me to be on a med that is really dangerous to ever drink on.

I think most doctors would agree with what I'm saying, that if I really don't think I see myself standing a good chance at never drinking alcohol or coffee on something that would be REALLY DANGEROUS to combine with it, then I should NOT be prescribed that medication.


I mean, if you are mentally addicted to sports with intense head injury risk and you know you won't be able to stop yourself from partaking in those activities, should you be on a regime of a blood thinner which is highly likely to cause intense brain bleeding that cannot be stopped if you hit your head while on it??

Probably not.

Obviously my feeling that I am unable to yet completely say I will never have a drink of alcohol or coffee or ANYTHING that could EVER negatively interact with a med again must mean I am not as committed as someone else who would....but more likely I'd say I just think I have less self control than that person and hence, it would be dangerous.

So neither an MAOI or Luvox sounds like a good choice at the moment for me.

Vortioxetine sounds interesting, and I've already been on 2 SSRIS (Prozac and lexapro, without bad interactions, so i could probably feel safe with that.

i mean, this is a harm reduction forum afterall, and if one doesnt trust oneself to safely avoid certain substances while on certain meds, than one must make the safe choice.

But i fully agree with what he said at least.
 
The first one that I've ever been on that I felt is legitimately helps is Wellbutrin (and Lamictal but that's not an antidepressant). I have bipolar but didn't find that out until I started on an SSRI (a pretty common experience, come to find out after being hospitalized many times and going through several PHP/IOP programs). I also have borderline personality disorder which I recognize that I had long before I started any psychiatric drug. Anyway, I'm on Wellbutrin 300mg XR and Lamictal 200mg and I finally feel like I'm starting to get my life under control again. The Wellbutrin works so well against some of the worst of my symptoms like anhedonia, fatigue, lack of focus, lack of energy, and overeating. Completely unlike anything I've every tried before, and trust me I've been on a LOT of psychiatric drugs in the past few years. Antipsychotics are so fuck terrible and I completely understand why people with schizophrenia stop taking their meds. Imagining what it's like to have a tenuous grasp on what's happening to you and then being put on this shit makes me so sad. I'm really glad to be off of them for good since Lamictal keeps me out of manic episodes well enough without having any psychoactive effect or changing who I am as a person. Wellbutrin is really a great thing, almost a stimulant, it's very subtle but overtime makes a huge difference. I still obviously have symptoms, that will never go away, but things are very manageable and I'm back to a place where I'm comfortable with who I am. The relative lack of drug-drug interactions compared to SSRIs/MAOIs is a huge plus too. A few notable ones that come from CYP2D6 inhibition (and really, that just potentiates a lot of drugs but some of them dangerously so and others in prevents from working at all).
 
Both parnate and vortioxetine were beneficial for me, independently, not together. I apologize for the confusing use of both and any implication that I used them together. I am currently on vortioxetine after switching off of parnate.

I started parnate first and it was the first drug for me to be fully beneficial for some of the social anxiety and eye aversion / overthinking issues.

I switched off parnate after a couple of years to try vortioxetine. Partially because I had some hypotension, though nothing major, but mainly to try a different agent with less possible interactions and limitations. I was doing decently and I have a habit of wanting to get off of medications, for better and often for worse. SSRI-esque drugs can't be used generally on MAOIs.

As for which medication helped me more with some of the social anxiety / eye aversion, part of me wants to say vortioxetine, but I believe it would be inaccurate to say that I had a fully independent trial. I had already started to have benefits in that area from parnate and advances from therapy, so perhaps from that beginning I made more progress on the vortioxetine at that time than I may have if I did not have those other starts. To choose, I will say vortioxetine.

For me, caffeine and methylphenidate do not make my eye aversion worse. I've known some people who are the opposite and get quite anxious or that robotic withdrawn state on stimulants.

I rarely drink and never excessively, so I can't say about being drunk on vortioxetine. My extended family on all sides drinks enough for me, haha.

Yeah, probably best to avoid MAOIs at this point in time if you believe your substance use / self-control issues could possibly endanger you. I mean, some people may benefit from NOT being able to take other agents safely on the medicine, the fear / disulfiram type methodology, but that can be playing with fire.

I am not sure I would equate finding the right drug with giving up substances, I think that can set up for more drug abuse/misuse if something doesn't work out and perpetuates the cycle of use. Other coping strategies and techniques may be beneficial, whatever works for the individual. Addiction can be hard, of course, and I know it can trick / grab hold of the mind. I mean I have a mom who worked in the medical field, who has COPD, who after multiple cancers and parotid tumors, still smokes quite readily after multiple programs to quit.

I joined Bluelight after losing some friends to addiction and extreme black-and-white thinking. Some people can return to 'normal' use of substances even with a history of addiction, and some struggle to do so. It may be beneficial not to portray it as going completely straightedge and entirely sober, but instead cutting down on excessive and dangerous use of multiple agents at the same time. Of course some people can't do moderate use (e.g. some alcoholics who even one drink sets them off), but some can, and reduce their overall pattern/burden of use. Some people fall into a trap of polarizing between complete sobriety and multisubstance abuse when a gradual or intermediate level may benefit them. It is individual. Can you learn to trust yourself/ build resistance in that area, do you know you cannot? It sounds like you have made good progress and recognize adverse effects.
 
Only Bupropione and it starts to work on second day at 150mg XR.
 
For returning to uni + sleep from general anxiety / depression
Zoloft 100mg - Good for anxiety / self-worth / self-love
Mirtazapine 10-30mg - Anxiety / Insomnia / Calm feeling.
Zoloft + Mirtazapine would be my best bet for temporary use.

Pristiq (desvenlafaxine) 100-200mg - works for some lifestyles. Lots of energy. But its a bit manic at times. Otherwise, it can be good, for many.

Best long term antidepressant:
Gym - Heavy weights - feels good
Meditation
Fresh Air / Nature
Friends (who I can be real with)
Being honest and true with/to myself - developing a relationship with myself.
DMT
Shrooms

Those last two won't guarantee anything. Just, I find they connect me with my center a bit more.

Adapting to the situations you find anxiety provoking is a better strategy than covering up symptoms. Then you become a different person to the other and yourself. Sometimes the natural anxiety is a good thing. I want to be very comfortable with it.
 
Last edited:
For returning to uni + sleep from general anxiety / depression
Zoloft 100mg - Good for anxiety / self-worth / self-love
Mirtazapine 10-30mg - Anxiety / Insomnia / Calm feeling.
Zoloft + Mirtazapine would be my best bet for temporary use.

Pristiq (venlafaxine) 100-200mg - works for some. Lots of energy. But its a bit manic at times. Otherwise, it can be good, for many.

Best long term antidepressant:
Gym - Heavy weights - feels good
Meditation
Fresh Air / Nature
Friends (who I can be real with)
Being honest and true with/to myself - developing a relationship with myself.
DMT
Shrooms

Those last two won't guarantee anything. Just, I find they connect me with my center a bit more.

Adapting to the situations you find anxiety provoking is a better strategy than covering up symptoms. Then you become a different person to the other and yourself. Sometimes the natural anxiety is a good thing. I want to be very comfortable with it.


Excellent Post! Very informative. Thanks
 
the best way to manage depression is by exercising, going outside, socializing, eating WELL, sleeping WELL, staying hydrated. considering therapy and positive reinforcement would be good. get some hobbies that make you happy. drugs tend not to address issues but cover them up.

NOW, that I've gotten that out of the way, I will say that 3-MeO-PCP & friends when used in very low doses are insanely helpful, and have no sides or comedown and take years to build a tolerance with low dosing. HOWEVER, this is high risk depending on your personality(It's a chemical cousin of PCP) and I'd avoid mixing it with SSRIs. IME and in many friends experience it can be very beneficial but it requires very meticulous moderation unless you wanna go out like Big Lurch. you could also potentially use memantine the same way.

just some food for thought
 
Sertraline 100mg daily was very good, I started Venlafaxine recently, took 75mg daily for GAD for 30 days, now I'm on 150mg like 20 days into treatment, I like Venlafaxine better, maybe cause I have attention deficit and I'm very hyperactive.
 
Paxil helped me alot the first time I was on it.I also worked out alot and was very active.Exercise really does help
 
I'll keep this about antidepressants and not anti-anxiety meds (which I also need, but better to stay on topic as that could be another thread, or at least later in this thread).

I've got depression along with generalized anxiety disorder, social anxiety, and some other stuff, but just for the depression I've tried Prozac and Lexapro and they have not worked.

The only things that TEMPORARILY made me feel not depressed are things that are really not meant for depression and which are short term like: Kratom, Dexadrine/Adderall, alcohol, Phenibut, F-Phenibut, and when over used, which is what I will of course do with all of them...they've all WORSENED my depression.

I want Ketamine infusions/nasal spray but I don't have the cash and would need my family to lend me money for it which they Refuse to do out of some puritan notion that only TRADITIONAL antidepressants work, and the only way I could imagine getting a prescrition for that is if with a new psychiatrist HE PERSONALLY goes along with it, which I have my doubts about most psyhchiatrists doing.

So, for those with depression, NOT including Prozac or Lexapro which I've tried but which have not worked, what meds have worked for you??

A few I've considered are Wellbutrin, Effexor and again, Ketamine, and yeah, psychedelics, but I'm not big on going on the dark web to try and find stuff as I could easily mess up and get in trouble as I'm not good with that stuff (and of course I'd never ask for links...).

Wellbutrin is one of the few traditional ones that sounds interesting, but thing is, I am skeptical about anti-depressants you take for a few weeks and then suddenly "feel better".

I'm pretty treatment resistant, and in my experience the only things that have a pronounced effect on either my depression or anxiety are things I can legit FEEL kick in and FEEL wear off.

That being said, those are often the things that are more easy to abuse or get me in trouble, but better the RISK of getting in trouble but possibly finding something that works (at least IN THEORY) than just taking something that doesn't work at all (and also, it not working does NOT mean it can't also have negative side effects....)

Thanks.
Zoloft worked for me in my late teen years pretty well. Also celexa is another good one that did wonders for me.
 
Have you talked to a doctor and/or therapist?

It's good you're able to work as a teacher.

It's possible to stop Klonopin. If you decide to just make sure you taper off to minimize withdrawal and acknowledge (so you can plan to address) the causes of your anxiety. If the side effects are bothering you be glad when they're not. The withdrawal doesn't last forever either. Try to manage environmental stress as much as possible so it doesn't bother you as much.

I haven't found an antidepressant that works. Masking the symptoms can get you out of the door but you have to address the cause to make progress. Don't beat yourself up expecting overnight results. It's gradual. First step may just be recognizing what is causing the depression and anxiety. Here's a hint that took me too long to figure out: You're in control of what you do to make your life better.

Moderating caffeine does help, and so does purposefully choosing what you do each day, being okay with not getting everything done, going to sleep on time, eating right, remembering to make time to have fun, working on your relationships etc. You're worth taking care of yourself. Be okay with making a good effort every day.

You mentioned psychedelic drugs a few times. How are you using them and what for? What benefits are you seeing from them?

I worry about eye contact. It isn't a big deal. Most people worry too much what others think of them.

You can choose constructive behavior. Everyone has self destructive thoughts but you don't have to act them out. Have you tried yoga or mindfulness meditation?
 
Top