What do you think of taking antidepressants?
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I think for those that have clinical depression, they can be literally a life saver. I have heard people that have gone onto to them say that they feel normal for the first time in their lives.
Both.
Yes, if you have clinical depression and nothing short of balancing those chemicals in your body is going to help you.
Yes, if you need some help getting enough of a handle on your depression to make some real and lasting changes to your life in order to stop being depressed and get on with your life.
No, if you are just looking for a pill that will make it possible for you to tolerate the intolerable.
@Merriment tolerating the intolerable can be a big reason for depression… at times, pills are recommended when going through some event… that’s mostly where depression arises from anyways…
I think for the majority of people, they can work really well. Unfortunately, they weren’t very effective and the side-effects were brutal with my particular neurochemistry. The Psychiatrist never found a mix that worked well for me (after trying hard over a long period of time), and I ended up stopping the treatment. I still think it was the right decision to try the drugs, even knowing it happened not to work out in my particular situation.
The takeaway is that SSRI’s are the current state-of-the-art treatment for depression. They are effective for most people, but not everyone.
For me, no. But I’m against most prescription drugs.
I’ve been reading that IF you have severe or clinical depression you may be helped by them. But that generally they don’t work if you are a victim of mild depression. SSRI’s ? That what you’re asking about like Prozac? And that studies are showing no difference between sugar pills and ssri’s in most cases. We can send a man to the moon, but…..you know.
@Aster ” that studies are showing no difference between sugar pills and ssri’s in most cases. We can send a man to the moon, but…..you know.”
I haven’t heard this. Which studies are showing this result?
If you really, really need them.. then yes.
Antidepressants are for people that need outside help snapping themselves out of it. Theyre for people that would be lost without them. Not because your boyfriend breaks up with you, you didn’t get the promotion, etc.
I’d say yes. I took them for about a year. They did make me “happier”, but I stopped taking them.
@meagan: Now, watch how you generalize. My breakup is what made me start taking them… but the breakup triggered my panic disorder. My combination of pills makes me feel great. My heart is still broken into a zillion pieces, and that thought often makes me sad and anxious, but the pills help me control myself where I wouldn’t normally be able to on my own. For me, the breakup was the entire reason why I started taking them. And, they’ve changed me.
I’ve just been put back on them due to chronic nervous disorder…I don’t want to be on them but I am in too much pain. Stress and anxiety have overtaken my body…it’s no longer a case of will to be happy..my body just won’t that happen. Or maybe it is me… whatever…hopefully they will work!
They can be your light at the end of the tunnel if you need them.
They can literally be a life saver.
I dislike the idea of my mental health being held hostage by a pharmaceutical company. If it weren’t for high doses of Paxil and Valium, I wouldn’t be here now though. I’m frustrated now that whenever I reduce the Paxil dosage, the black hopelessness is back within a week. The medication doesn’t restore a “normal” emotional balance, only a feeling of numbness and indifference.
I suppose that I must come to accept that, like any other medication for chronic disease, it’s take the medicine or die.
@lynneblundell Do you need to talk about it? PM me if you feel the need for a sympathetic ear.
Yes for some, no for others.
For some, it brings on classic mania or med-induced mania. For others it can be the only thing helping them heal.
I don’t understand why so many people who are helped by SSRI’s want to stop taking them unless their side effects are unacceptable.
I’d rather be numb than depressed.
@Aster Yes, but emotions show us that we’re still alive.
@Aster so there’s a logic behind doubling up SSRI’s. They are often prescribed to suicidal patients, so it’s literally a life-and-death situation. Because of this high risk, and the fact that it can take a month for the drugs to take effect, it makes sense to try to cover as many bases as possible.
Also, your statement is a bit misleading. The study you referenced concluded that for mild depression SSRI’s are ineffective, but that they were effective for severe depression. I think this is an important point to note, because someone reading this might misinterpret that information and avoid taking a treatment that could possible save their life.
Also the guy you linked to equated SSRI’s to mind-control drugs. I realize he’s got a Ph.D., but I don’t think such a comparison is particularly valid, and undermines his credibility.
To your second question: the side effects made it tough to function. I was constantly drowsy and fatigued, which made it difficult to do much of anything.
@lopezpor yes, I realize that tolerating the intolerable is a big cause for depression. I just don’t think you should medicate and numb yourself to a shit reality. Instead you should seek help to get past the depression but be seeking to change your reality as much as you can.
I know too many people in shit situations who take a pill to keep their heads from exploding from the frustration instead of taking action to change things. What a waste that is.
@gorillapaws I’m sorry. I thought I said that they can work for clinically depressed individuals but not so much for mild depression.
I cited the AMA Journal; not the guy w/a Ph.d . I was married to a
Ph.d for Many years and am well aware they don’t know it all.
I’m against antidepressants. Partially because they led to my mother’s death. Mostly because I’m against the use of synthetic chemicals in general.
@gorillapaws That’s exactly how I was treated, Valium because it was fast-acting coupled with the Paxil that takes up to a month to start working. After 4 months I was weaned off the Valium.
I had bad reactions to Prozak, but Paxel saved my life.
Paxel will shut off all mid range emotions, so if you are always down, you won’t feel it.
It will not shut off the extreme emotions, so when you reach a moment of extreme sadness, you don’t realize it until you pass the mid-range limit, and you suddenly go from zero to wailing.
It did help me immensly, though.
If you’re clinically depressed, you can probably come up with a dozen reasons not to take antidepressants. That’s part of the disease – if you’re depressed you don’t think things will ever be better. But things can get better, if you have the fortitude to do something about the disease.
Pharmaceuticals don’t work for everyone. And yes, in some cases they make things worse. But they help an awful lot of people. And I’m including those nearby the person with the diagnosis.
More than other diseases, depression eats away at the people close to the person with the diagnosis. If you elect not to treat it, then those around you suffer as well. Get treated; everyone deserves it.
@filmfann All I know is that her prescription was wrong, & she passed out in the garage a few minutes after she took it. There was no ventilation, & the carbon monoxide killed her. The court ruled it “suicide brought on by the stress of raising a small child”. It was exactly a month before my 2nd birthday. The anniversary of her death was yesterday.
I am so so sorry. What was the problem with the prescription? Dosage amount, or misfilled?
@filmfann The doctor apparently meant to write 2 pills, but it looked like a 3. 2 pills still sounds like too high of a dosage to me, though.
I’m on Lexapro and Wellbutrin, and I don’t feel numb. Actually, except for my heart being ripped to shreds and anything relating to that, I’m happy. I’m happy at work, I don’t hate people, I don’t get angry nearly as easily, I’m friendlier… and when I have to cope with the broken heart thing, it cuts down on my anxiety. I still get really anxious about it and had a huge panic attack very recently because of it… but before the meds, I had at least one panic attack every day. I was unable to work, get out of bed, eat, shower.
The only time I’ve experienced numbness was when I took two doses in a 12 hour period. I had forgotten them in the morning, so I took them at night, and then I took my regular dose first thing in the morning, not thinking. I was numb as numb gets. I had therapy that day, and the only thing that provoked a reaction was when we were talking about the broken heart thing. That made me cry. Everything else, I just kind of sat there. Even on a double dose of medication, I cry over him. Seems rather significant to me.
Anyway, yeah… I would say I had severe depression. But I also had an undiagnosed panic disorder too. So… I don’t know. But I definitely don’t feel numb. Actually I’m in a pretty good mood most of the day, I’m motivated, and I work hard. The biggest issue I have is that they both cause insomnia, and I have to take a pill every night to sleep. But the sleep I get from that pill (normal old OTC sleep aid) is better than my natural sleep, I wake up less and I sleep longer. I do have issues getting out of bed after 8 hours, but once I’m up and about I feel more refreshed than I did when I slept normally. So also to those people who say you don’t get a refreshing sleep when you take a pill to sleep, that’s hogwash ;)
They help…..and I’m on way too many RX @Facade….insulins, BP x 5, etc. It’s something I have to do to stay alive.
Chemicals do need a boost.
The stuff is really powerful, and as with all things powerful, can lead to great good or really bad results. I have seen both effects in the same person. Wonderful once they got the dose right.
I have taken them in the past for chronic depression, and though they helped me survive a very dark time of my life, they didn’t actually cure anything. The cure turned out to be a dramatic improvement in life circumstances brought about by a change of job. I don’t think I would have made it that far without them though.
@6rant6 I loved your answer. I was on my medication for about a year and stopped, because I “missed” having these feelings. They were what home felt like to me. I’d rather be miserable than happy. Life is twenty times worse now that I’m off my meds. But the passion that I have in my depressed life is like a drug itself. I can’t stand not having these extreme feelings.
@jazmina88 I was heading down that path also, Paxil, Valium, alcohol, caffeine, nicotene, until I realized where I was headed. It was just slow suicide rather than the more efficient means of a bullet. I’ve now cut out one and drastically reduced two others.
Sometimes they save lives. Severe depression can be a life-threatening illness.
I’m pretty sure they are the reason that I’m alive and occasionally content.
There are a lot of antidepressant medications besides SSRIs that help many people.
Am I a rare case that feels happy and not numb?
@poofandmook – The breakneck pace of your original post makes me think you are, actually, the other end of the spectrum of responses to antidepressants. Elevated to a point of giddiness. I had the same response to Effexor. Nothing could rain on my parade… not even impending disaster.
That the meds are keeping you from sleeping to the point that you have to take another med to “come down” is your first clue that you are over treated.
@Merriment: actually… I was feeling a little up when I wrote that. I’m usually not that way. Things can definitely rain on my parade, lol. I think of The Really Horrible Thing often, and I always have to sit and calm myself down for a minute or two. I’m usually very relaxed.
I should also note that since the very beginning of my start on meds, which was 5 mg of Lexapro and no Wellbutrin, I have had insomnia. When I try to sleep, I am relaxed and tired and yawning. I just can’t cross that threshold.
I misrepresented myself :\
@poofandmook – I intended no offense. Your original post totally reminded me of myself when I was on Effexor…it was horrible! Never, ever, ever again!
I haven’t ever taken Lexapro but I didn’t have any trouble sleeping with Wellbutrin. I did develop the side effect of muscle pain and rigidity. No more Wellbutrin for me.
Hope the sleep thing works itself out…nothing more depressing, to me, than being unable to sleep.
@Merriment: Oh I didn’t take any offense. I re-read my post and realized exactly what you were talking about. Believe me, if I was giddy, I would definitely know something was wrong.. but I’m comfortably medicated.
I’m sleeping more than 8 hours a night, so I’m thinking of trying only half a pill. The thought of trying to sleep with nothing, though.. makes me very anxious. lol
@stranger_in_a_strange_land Thankoo! <<hugs>>
Everyone in my family is on antidepressants. I’m not kidding. Everyone, except maybe my niece. You can never have a conversation about anything faintly distressing, or they run to their rooms & take another pill. Hell, you can’t talk about anything at all. They just stare off in space.
@Draconess25 Depression can run in families. My mother was being treated for it before she died (she had heart disease). I’m on my second episode; the first starting 19 years ago after being wounded in Desert Storm, this latest episode for the last 7 months after losing Meghan.
Some depression is reactive to a life event, others seem to come on for no reason. It seems the type I have is of the reactive sort.
I’m not sure if the medications actually cure depression or just act as a chemical strait-jacket, forcing your mood away from the blackness but also taking away other feelings (enjoyment of food, sex drive, etc). In my first episode of depression, I took the medication for three years, but only came out of the depression after meeting Meg.. The depression may well have been driven away by my love for Meg and my attention to her needs (her situation being far worse than my own).
@stranger_in_a_strange_land The only true cures I’ve seen for depression are: A) Slowly climbing out of it, but it’s all too easy to slip back in. It’s like a 2 steps forward, 1 step back kind of thing. or B) An event that’s equally as powerful coming along to snap you out of it. But like all emotions: fear, happiness, anger….sadness is so transitory & variable. The stronger your emotions are, the stronger your heart is. But it takes an equally strong mind to keep said emotions at bay.
@Draconess25 You may have something there. The event that pulls you out of it has to be at least as strong as that which put you in. Strong emotions over a period of time alter brain chemistry (I’m guessing).
@Draconess25 That’s terrible that the authorities mis-classified your mothers death. They likely did the opposite with my great uncle; they classified his death as an accident, but it was likely suicide after his second stroke.
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