antidepressants - s&d, CoD, evil bitches, cash cows and saviours of sanity

On the other hand I was and am a hobby writer, not a working writer, so I don't have the discipline of writing or creating daily anyway, which might well get you through.

To this I can only say "GIMME THE ANTIDEPRESSANTS NOW."

About a month ago we added Lithium. Hopefully that will pick up any depression wellbutrin can't handle.

*raises hand* 300 milligrams a day. No noticable side effects.

I was on Effexor for a little while after a hospital stay two years ago. It worked incredibly well at pulling me from the deepest depths of depression. But I hated the "brain shivers" I got and became scared when I read that the dependency it could cause was dangerous for bipolars. Anyway I got off.

I wonder if the interweb has done me more damage in terms of "information" about my meds?

Great thread.

I am so surprised I didn't post on it eh.

Maybe Dom's revive should warn me off this thread, but hey.

It's been suggested that I go back on these. I'm a little reluctant, for various reasons, but I don't want to dismiss it outright if it's the best way forward. So I thought I'd bump this and see if anyone else had anything to say.

(more detail about the reasons may be forthcoming later, but I've typed out my epic rants and, well, tl;dr.)

i heard that the part of yr brain that makes serotonin atrophies because it's not being used anymore, if yr on antidepressants too long. so you come off them perma-depressed.

my cat has just been prescribed Elavil. How can I use this to my recreational advantage? Is it worth popping one? He seems quite content at the moment.
-- kyle (akmonday), Tuesday, May 4, 2004 3:33 AM (4 years ago) Bookmark Link

haa wtf?

I think the best idea is to listen to your doctor and not to people on the internet. I understand that if you live somewhere where your doc might make money from your meds you might feel apprehensive, but they're still muvh more informed than us/you/i.

HA, a true ilx question.

xp

i heard that the part of yr brain that makes serotonin atrophies because it's not being used anymore, if yr on antidepressants too long. so you come off them perma-depressed.

-- jeremy waters, Monday, July 28, 2008 8:31 PM (7 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

where did you hear this, it sounds like a bunch of bullshit.

dowd OTM

Plus there are tons of internet wackies who will tell you that if you are even thinking of talking about SSRIs, you're a brainwashed bitch who needs more yoga and chakra realignment. Those people always get me mad butthurt.

Listen to your doctor and those that know you well & care about you IRL.

Also there is nothing wrong with being on any medication and don't let anyone else tell you otherwise. Not that I's saying you should; once again, talk with a good doctor about this.

i think the real questions we need to be asking ourselves is how we can get our pets to score more drugs for us

where did you hear this, it sounds like a bunch of bullshit.

-- bell_labs, Monday, July 28, 2008 9:40 PM

i can't remember. it's one theory as to why people have such a hard time coming off SSRI's.

My mom-in-law's dog was prescribed klonopin. Six ml a day! It kind of lead to her getting addicted to klonopin (sorry dog, no pills for you).

Normal human dose is one-two ml a day.

x-post
well afaik there are very few studies about long-term antidepressant use and the research is far from being able to tell us anything like that.

i'd be really curious about seeing the results of actual studies , and it worries me that there aren't more. but when people say stuff like that i assume they got their information from a scientologist or something.

maybe it is bullshit, i dunno. have to have a bit of a google.

what's the generally accepted view of why some people have such a hard time withdrawing, especially long-term users?

I wouldn't be totally shocked if having serotonin provided via meds led to natural production being slowed/replaced/etc by the brain, just from the standpoint that the body usually gets rid of draws on its resources that become unnecessary. However if you were underproducing IN THE FIRST FREAKIN PLACE, that doesn't really change anything, does it.

i think that it's thought that there is a temporary reduction in SSRI production but i've never seen any claims that it causes permanent brain damage. i know that some people bounce back. and the people that generally respond to SSRIs are people with a genuine deficiency to begin with, not people with situational depression, so it makes sense they would be depressed when they go off them.

can i just say (as a long-term user ... 10 years?) that i missed my lexapro for three days last week, and by the third day i was considering throwing myself under a bus. i mean, not really, but that's how it felt.

i'm not saying one way or another about brain damage but just reiterating that if you're going to take these things be careful not to miss doses or just go off whenever you feel like it.

yeah, i know that feeling and it sucks :( there is no way i'd last 3 days even.

listen to your doctor, yes, they know a lot. but they aren't God, and they're often lazy (or, overworked, if you'd like) mofos who always take the option that's easiest for them. really easy to throw pills at a patient (pills recommended by that nice pharmaceutical rep lady who routinesly comes by and buys lunch for the whole office) and be off to the next one than try to suss out and deal with a patient's individual-specific problems and the causes of thos problems.

that's a therapist's job, not a doctor's

I wouldn't be totally shocked if having serotonin provided via meds led to natural production being slowed/replaced/etc by the brain, just from the standpoint that the body usually gets rid of draws on its resources that become unnecessary. However if you were underproducing IN THE FIRST FREAKIN PLACE, that doesn't really change anything, does it.

Well, it depends on if the baseline post-drugs is even lower. Obviously a major study is needed, if one isn't already underway. There are definitely many other chemicals that the body will stop producing if it's being supplemented from outside, but -- outside of steroid users' legendary shrivelings -- I don't know which ones bounce back and which ones don't.

I know it's helped quite a few people, but Effexor frightens me -- some patients apparently have to take it for life, as the (reportedly super-intense) withdrawal symptoms never stop.

exactly. LOTS of people bypass the therapist stage.
xpost

I have already asked parents and boyfriend, but nobody I know well enough offline to ask has been on them (yeah, I know! I don't know many people right now, it has to be said), hence digging up this thread. I'm aware that I've let myself get a bit jaded about them with not much to back it up, so I wanted to read some personal experience.

Already booked a doctor's appointment - he's a super-smart guy and he's usually a sympathetic listener, but in the past his advice has seemed more aimed at getting the newly-diagnosed depressive on some kind of standard plan. I wouldn't try to do anything without listening to him first, but if he says I should be on them I'd like to feel a bit more comfortable with the idea myself first.

re effexor: the last time i missed a dose for over 48 hours was when i was 17. it was also the first time. i'm not saying the withdrawal doesn't suck, it clearly does, and it is 100% of the reason i've never tried to discontinue effexor. i've heard of people having brain zaps for up to a year afterwards.

it sucks that the most frightening thing about pregnancy is that i would have to go through withdrawal, and if it was unplanned, i'd have to go through it while my body was going through all of these other changes...that is even scarier to me than actually giving birth.

but honestly? i don't know if i'd be anywhere without antidepressants. i might have eventually become this stable, but i really doubt i would have made it. i do think they helped me, but i definitely have really mixed feelings about it.

i used effexor for a couple of years and yes, the headaches that i got when i would miss doses were quite scary. like migraines but without the pain; you'd feel weird zaps and tingles, like your brain was spinning around in your skull. actually it was not unlike coming down off of hard drugs (the illegal kind).

and back to granny dainger:

at this point, every large healthcare organization, whether hospital or university system or HMO or PPO, has split off it's mental health care from it's general health care. because they're really different things. so complaining that your doctor gave you pills is a bit like complaining that you went to the doctor with a toothache and he gave you pain pills. if you wanted oral surgery, why didn't you just go to the dentist? i would be surprised if a GP gave you pills but no recommendation to a therapist.

Yeah, I get that all the time. I can never remember if I actually did miss a day or not

Same over here. My memory's so bad that I should probably start using my dispenser again but, er, I forget to fill it. (I always thought pill dispensers would make good band merch, I think at least a couple of people have done that but more people should do it.)

I used to get pills with the days printed on the packet but thattlonh gone