discussion Experiences with antidepressants

[jrd30121994]

*not seeking medical advice, just creating conversation*
 

for my mentally ill sistrens, what have you found has helped you with your symptoms as far as medication/treatment goes

[selena_lavigne]

They put me on a tiny dose of one without telling me, i was two months sober and not having fun. The day they put me on it i thought OH MY GOD, SOBRIETY REALLY DOES WORK when they just put me on other drugs without telling me. 
Now i barely feel the effects of it and sometimes i forget to take it and don't notice.

Edited May 12 by selena_lavigne

[jrd30121994]

1 minute ago, selena_lavigne said:

They put me on a tiny dose of one without telling me, i was two months sober and not having fun. The day they put me on it i thought OH MY GOD, SOBRIETY REALLY DOES WORK when they just put me on other drugs without telling me. 

That sounds kinda illegal sis

[Earth Ripper]

Somatic trauma recovery therapy is the only thing that ever truly worked for me, and it inspired me to become a somatic trauma recovery coach myself. I've had too many friends who were on antidepressants for years and flatly told me it didn't solve anything except take the edge off enough to just keep working, stay active, "performing", etc.

 

If that's an important goal for people, fine, but it doesn't seem to be a real solution for the problem most people are struggling with, which is complex developmental trauma. Antidepressants have been proven to only be of real (and temporary) value for people with severe depression. Most people do not fit this category.

Edited May 12 by Earth Ripper

[selena_lavigne]

1 hour ago, jrd30121994 said:

That sounds kinda illegal sis

I was in my therapy session going on like oh my god, i feel so much better, i don't know what's going on and they were like oh yeah, we put you on antidepressants. I was extremely sleepy. I would sleep like 15 hours a day, i told them about it, and that was the psychiatrist's attempt to fix it, and this fixed that problem for me.

I feel like not being told what they changed in the medication for a few days allowed me to have a natural response and reflection on the medication and not be like OH NOW I'M ON THIS MEDICATION AND I NEED MEDICATION. It makes you go like, i feel better, and then a few days later they give you an explanation.

Nowadays i'm off of almost everything. So the treatment seems to have been effective.

They f***ing tied me to a f***ing chair and drugged me and put me in a dark room for over a day and then sent me to a psych ward, and then they did the same thing all over again 6 days later and then kept me in a psych ward for a month. But the other patients there were really awesome and we had a BLAST well as much of a blast as you can have in a psych ward. And i wrote a s*** ton of music. And overall like i have really awesome memories from that experience. Something to remember is that a nicotine patch does not take away nicotine cravings and withdrawals. When i left the psych ward, the nurse told me, laughingly, that a Nicotine patch MIGHT be as effective as one hit from a vape. So do not be fooled, caretakers of people with nicotine patch prescriptions, if you are addicted to Nicotine a Nicotine Patch is usually not enough. But I have to ask myself, was this necessary? Well they thought it was just cuz i was screaming pop culture facts while limping on the street in the middle of a snowstorm cuz my foot was hurting really bad. So i was like, super traumatized, even though i had the best time i could possibly have given the circumstances. I was constantly scared the police were gonna come and get me cuz i was writing a lot of crazy s*** and i had this fear that my phone was hacked, so to eliminate this feeling, i decided to stop writing in my private noted that i thought were hacked and send everything to the people i was writing it for, but as Taylor Swift says "All is fair in love and poetry." The depression started during and after this experience. Lots of people go through this unfortunately. Dammit, i was really depressed. 
And i'm only saying this, cuz one, i like talking about it, and two, i know a lot of people that have gone through similar experiences. 
Which is why the Fortnight video is really cool, cuz it's like a woman in a psych ward writing songs for somebody imagining that they are writing the songs back, and to float away from the negativity she floats into this world with her lover and they just have a s*** ton of sex through telepathy by the poems, that she thinks both of them are writing but really she wrote the entire thing because Post Malone's character is a figment of Taylor Swift's imagination.

I think, even though she could have leaned in even harder, i think Taylor Swift is SUPER cool for providing creative representation for people who have been in mental hospitals in a fun and emotional way.

And a lot of these people are still in mental hospitals and they have this really cool art to watch to get them through and be like HEY that b*tch Taylor Swift gets me. And she is providing this entertainment on a global scale reaching audiences who are judgemental and speak ill and take away opportunities from people who have mental health struggles. So Taylor Swift i do not think your latest album is a 5/5 but i do admire your work and appreciate that you have used your platform and your most treasured and prized possession, your albums, to help aid in this shift, in the perception of those with mental health struggles and those who get hospitalized along with the MANY other important themes you have explored on Midnights and The Tortured Poet's Department. 

Edited May 12 by selena_lavigne

[JoeAg]

hi legy 

 

I've been on a bipolar med (erroneously! it's called lamictal and i was prescribed it when i was going through a horrible breakup as a 20 y/o ) for about 7 years and I'm currently tapering down on it. it's not been the one for me! I'm currently starting to feel …more alive lol, and i didn't even realize i was missing some of that?

 

but on the FLIPSIDE! what IS working great! is the wellbutrin i've been on for almost a year, which i take in tandem with my vyvanse  it's the best antidepressant I know of, it curbs my anxiety and has helped me grow my confidence as of late as a partner with vyvanse 

[LCTV]

idk but I was on Montelukast for allergies and it completely ****** with my emotions I was either happy delulu or pissed af at nothing. I told them Id rather have allergies and let me know if theres something else without the mood effects

[Steve Jobs]

On Prozac and Wellbutrin for anxiety. They've been pretty helpful. Only annoying side effect is I can't c*m in the morning 💀

[shyboi]

20 minutes ago, Steve Jobs said:

On Prozac and Wellbutrin for anxiety. They've been pretty helpful. 

 

i thought wellbutrin would give you more anxiety ??? Is it working good for you? 

[Yayo94]

Sertraline 150g, went from 50>100>150

they did wonders for me. The first three-six weeeks were a rollercoaster, I probably had 2 spirals (mini-breakdowns) during the process but they helped me get to a place where I wasn't overwhelmed by the smallest trigger or by any overtly emotional situations. I still felt my emotions but they weren't so overwhelming that I was debilitated. They're definitely not the final solution, but they were a life jacket that I needed to stop myself from drowning in darkness. 
 

I think if people don't feel like they have other options and can't seem to do anything to help, I would recommend them. You still have to put in the effort to confront yourself and your life but they make it easier. 
 

I've been on them for about a year and six months, I'm slowly wheening off them because I definitely feel capable and in control, and don't wanna just be stuck on them forever. If I am then so be it, it is what it is, but it's all a process. 
 

one step at a time

if you're worried about the stigma I like to think "we use medications to help us, if I had a broken leg I'd be doing the same" and there's no shame in that

[Steve Jobs]

40 minutes ago, shyboi said:

 

i thought wellbutrin would give you more anxiety ??? Is it working good for you? 

My doctor did mention that it might cause more anxiety in the first couple weeks, but thankfully I didn't notice any. From what I understand they give it to "undo" the side effects of Prozac (tiredness, decreased sex drive, lack of motivation)

[midnightdawn]

I was on Prozac for a few months after going through a bad patch. As others have said, they don't necessarily solve your problems but take the edge of so you can function a bit better. In hindsight it gave me a break from the stress and overwhelm I was feeling. I guess they kind of numb you, which is not always a bad thing if you're really struggling to keep your emotions in check.

They did make me very sleepy though. I'd end up having small naps during the day which is not like me at all. Having a full nights sleep and then being a bit tired and drowsy the next day got old fast. And I had a few other side effects that were enough to make me stop taking them.

Edited May 12 by midnightdawn

[CottageHore]

2 hours ago, selena_lavigne said:

They put me on a tiny dose of one without telling me, i was two months sober and not having fun. The day they put me on it i thought OH MY GOD, SOBRIETY REALLY DOES WORK when they just put me on other drugs without telling me. 
Now i barely feel the effects of it and sometimes i forget to take it and don't notice.

How did they administer the medication to you without you knowing? I'm genuinely asking. Like didn't you have to take the SSRI in pill form or did you think the pills were something else because this is giving malpractice and lawsuit lowkey 

Edited May 12 by CottageHore

[Aethereal]

My experience is that I was having anxiety episodes in the morning when I woke up but very calm for the rest of the day.

 

Also, I seldom would get fast heartbeats as a side-effect and don't use soda or energy drinks while you are using them

 

 

Edited May 12 by Aethereal

[TheArgonaut]

Desvenlafaxine + Lamotrigine and some Ketamine infusions here and there for the Sewersidal thots 

[Headlock]

4 hours ago, Earth Ripper said:

Antidepressants have been proven to only be of real (and temporary) value for people with severe depression.

This is not true 

[Mr. Peanutbutter]

I take prozac for depression/anxiety and it has helped me immensely 

[GentleEarthquake]

I've been on sertraline for like three years, it's fine i guess

[Alldeezy]

I've been on mine for 3 years. It's honestly made me emotionless but I actually love that tbh. Plus the bonus it has drowsiness so use it as sleeping tablet now.

 

I should try and move off them but if I dont take them I'll have brain zaps or will get in to a super low mood and I like not feeling anything

 

Im scared because im on my last packet and I have aniexty to ask my doctor for another prescription 😭

[Earth Ripper]

1 hour ago, Headlock said:

This is not true 

It is. Look it up. It is explicitly acknowledged on national (US) centers for health too.

 

People's perception of depression is literally stuck in the 80s. The "chemical imbalance" theory of depression holds no scientific merit whatsoever anymore. Recent research trials show that if you remove placebo effect, things like exercise are just as effective as antidepressants.

 

Furthermore, long term trials show that antidepressants have no long-lasting effect, and the only measurable improvement happens in the first few months. That + the fact that antidepressants don't cure anything but only freeze the underlying symptoms makes it a very overprescribed "treatment" that serves few people in a meaningful way. Even the vast majority of people who get preventive treatment before stopping their medication end up relapsing anyway because of withdrawal symptoms/the disruption of emotional blunting, which is a side effect of antidepressants that many people erroneously take for effectiveness. Taking antidepressants, then, just creates a vicious cycle of avoidance.

 

None of this is controversial either. You will find study after study, trial after trial,... easily online. The success of antidepressants is literally marketing.

 

https://www.bmj.com/content/383/bmj.p2873

 

https://www.bmj.com/content/383/bmj.p2730/rr

 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6001865/

Edited May 12 by Earth Ripper

[Headlock]

2 hours ago, Earth Ripper said:

It is. Look it up. It is explicitly acknowledged on national (US) centers for health too.

 

People's perception of depression is literally stuck in the 80s. The "chemical imbalance" theory of depression holds no scientific merit whatsoever anymore. Recent research trials show that if you remove placebo effect, things like exercise are just as effective as antidepressants.

 

Furthermore, long term trials show that antidepressants have no long-lasting effect, and the only measurable improvement happens in the first few months. That + the fact that antidepressants don't cure anything but only freeze the underlying symptoms makes it a very overprescribed "treatment" that serves few people in a meaningful way. Even the vast majority of people who get preventive treatment before stopping their medication end up relapsing anyway because of withdrawal symptoms/the disruption of emotional blunting, which is a side effect of antidepressants that many people erroneously take for effectiveness. Taking antidepressants, then, just creates a vicious cycle of avoidance.

 

None of this is controversial either. You will find study after study, trial after trial,... easily online. The success of antidepressants is literally marketing.

 

https://www.bmj.com/content/383/bmj.p2873

 

https://www.bmj.com/content/383/bmj.p2730/rr

 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6001865/

Sis, no offense, but a letter to the editor and an article with this declaration of interest: "The author is co-chairperson of the Critical Psychiatry Network." is not the calling card you think it is. While it is very much valid that medication alone does not help everyone, and over prescription is a thing, saying that anti-depressants do nothing and that there is no scientific basis to them is just… false. Like, literally false. And this doesn't even begin to cover that the term "anti-depressant" is such a vast umbrella of medications which have multiple different methods of action, act on different neurotransmitters, are used in different doses for different lengths of time for different diagnoses, can be used in combination with other medications, etc.

 

And not to get into a debate on alternative medicine, but you dismissing treatments of depression with verifiable and reproducible clinical trials, and then promoting Somatic Experiencing is… a choice.

 

The correct advice to give to someone is: talk to a doctor. If you are interested in other forms of treatment that don't involve medications (short or long term), tell them that.

[selena_lavigne]

6 hours ago, CottageHore said:

How did they administer the medication to you without you knowing? I'm genuinely asking. Like didn't you have to take the SSRI in pill form or did you think the pills were something else because this is giving malpractice and lawsuit lowkey 

Listen, let's start with the fact that if the Berklee College of Music Police and the security lady who was sitting at the 150 dorm elevator desk let me charge my phone for 20 minutes so i could call my mom and go to a hotel, none of this would have happened. 
I couldn't walk to the charging stations in the game room because my foot was swollen. I asked them for help, they said they wouldn't help me since i didn't have my student ID. So they said i could either sit on the street in the snowstorm, or they would call me an ambulance. My phone was f***ing dead b****. So no matter what if i couldn't charge my phone i was f*cked. And it was stupid of me right? To assume that my college that i studied at for 10 semesters would help me charge my phone. I couldn't do s***. Then the people in the ambulance that belonged to Beth Israel Medical Center decided to hospitalize me, and drug me, because i was honest with them about a question they asked me and they overreacted IMMENSLY and treated me like s***. Their reaction to my response to their question, and their decision to put me in a psych ward because of how i responded to the question is what you would consider and i would consider to be illegal.

Edited May 12 by selena_lavigne

[Earth Ripper]

1 hour ago, Headlock said:

Sis, no offense, but a letter to the editor and an article with this declaration of interest: "The author is co-chairperson of the Critical Psychiatry Network." is not the calling card you think it is.

I posted BMJ because it is a very famous and respected resource for health professionals, and (and this goes for Moncrieff) because it directly references the relevant research published in (non-psychiatric) medical journals. So let's discuss that science then.

 

1 hour ago, Headlock said:

this doesn't even begin to cover that the term "anti-depressant" is such a vast umbrella of medications which have multiple different methods of action, act on different neurotransmitters, are used in different doses for different lengths of time for different diagnoses, can be used in combination with other medications, etc.

This is irrelevant. Studies show no significant impact of drug type:

 

"Our analyses failed to reveal any effect of drug type on efficacy or on the relation between severity and efficacy. It is possible that differences associated with drug type might be found with the inclusion of clinical trials conducted after the approval process, but analyses of head-to-head comparisons suggest that they are not likely to be large enough to be of clinical importance"  Source

 

Identical result in another trial:

 

"When one antidepressant was compared with another, no significant difference in efficacy and tolerability was found." Source

 

Even the study that all media jumped on to prove that antidepressants were effective plainly admits that the difference between types of drugs is negligible:

 

"Our assessment overall found few differences between antidepressants when all data were considered" Source

 

That same source acknowledges that (a) most studies proving efficacy are funded by the industry; (b) efficacy rates of the same drug dropped as the drug lost its novelty; (c) efficacy rates dropped in placebo controlled studies in general; (d) longer use of antidepressants has been linked to an increasing number of adverse side effects.

 

1 hour ago, Headlock said:

While it is very much valid that medication alone does not help everyone, and over prescription is a thing, saying that anti-depressants do nothing and that there is no scientific basis to them is just… false. Like, literally false.

You can repeat this but can you back it up? Show me the science.

 

Again:

 

"The response to placebo in these trials was exceptionally large, duplicating more than 80% of the improvement observed in the drug groups. In contrast, the effect of placebo on pain is estimated to be about 50% of the response to pain medication. A substantial response to placebo was seen in moderately depressed groups and in groups with very severe levels of depression. It decreased somewhat, but was still substantial, in groups with the most-severe levels of depression. ... [T]he increased benefit for extremely depressed patients seems attributable to a decrease in responsiveness to placebo, rather than an increase in responsiveness to medication."

 

So I was actually being too optimistic earlier. Antidepressants have not been proven to work for people with severe depression either lol.

 

Identical conclusions were reached with bipolar patients:

 

"Studies suggested that patients treated with antidepressants were not significantly more likely to achieve higher response and remission rates in the short-term or long-term treatment than patients treated with placebo and other medications." Source

 

Medically speaking (I'm not arguing against placebo lol, placebo is great if it helps people but that is not a good sell for antidepressants, as, as I said, other treatments work just as well without the potentially dangerous side effects), there is no scientific basis for the theory that antidepressants work. In fact, you'll find plenty of medical professionals openly admit that they don't know how antidepressants are even supposed to work.

 

Two years ago, the theory that depression is linked to serotonin was finally debunked, after two decades of scientists not taking it seriously anymore. This has made little to no impact on health professionals and their prescriptions for antidepressants though. Why is this relevant?

 

"The chemical imbalance theory of depression is still put forward by professionals ... The general public widely believes that depression has been convincingly demonstrated to be the result of serotonin or other chemical abnormalities, and this belief shapes how people understand their moods, leading to a pessimistic outlook on the outcome of depression and negative expectancies about the possibility of self-regulation of moods. The idea that depression is the result of a chemical imbalance also influences decisions about whether to take or continue antidepressant medication and may discourage people from discontinuing treatment, potentially leading to lifelong dependence on these drugs." Source

Edited May 12 by Earth Ripper

[CottageHore]

1 hour ago, selena_lavigne said:

Listen, let's start with the fact that if the Berklee College of Music Police and the security lady who was sitting at the 150 dorm elevator desk let me charge my phone for 20 minutes so i could call my mom and go to a hotel, none of this would have happened. 
I couldn't walk to the charging stations in the game room because my foot was swollen. I asked them for help, they said they wouldn't help me since i didn't have my student ID. So they said i could either sit on the street in the snowstorm, or they would call me an ambulance. My phone was f***ing dead b****. So no matter what if i couldn't charge my phone i was f*cked. And it was stupid of me right? To assume that my college that i studied at for 10 semesters would help me charge my phone. I couldn't do s***. Then the people in the ambulance that belonged to Beth Israel Medical Center decided to hospitalize me, and drug me, because i was honest with them about a question they asked me and they overreacted IMMENSLY and treated me like s***. Their reaction to my response to their question, and their decision to put me in a psych ward because of how i responded to the question is what you would consider and i would consider to be illegal.

Get a pro bono lawyer and sue

[Digitalism]

All I know is that my father takes them and when he doesn't want to he becomes an ass h so imo they work