Anyone know how to get around the paywall?
The Mystery of When to Stop Antidepressants
11–20 of 72 posts
Re: The Mystery of When to Stop Antidepressants
#12There's a disconnect between what the meta-analysed randomized clinical trials are saying about antidepressants (that they are at best minimally effective relative to placebo) and what relapse rates suggest (that people relapse when withdrawn from antidepressants because the antidepressant was effectively treating the underlying depression). This conflict is resolved when antidepressants are acknowledged as addictive…
Could antidepressant just be a placebo requiring to be addictive then?
And could hooking off an addiction be very similar to depression?
Would any psychoactive works? If so maybe why not using a less dangerous psychoactive drug if it is a placebo that works good enough to alleviate the pain?
Re: The Mystery of When to Stop Antidepressants
#13Anyone know how to get around the paywall?
Google for "The Mystery of When to Stop Antidepressants" and click through there. Didn't work for me in 'incognito mode' but it did when running normally. YMMV.
Re: The Mystery of When to Stop Antidepressants
#14Lexapro (Escitalopram) saved my life. I don't care what any meta-analysis says: years of diet, exercise, and meditation did 5% of what 1 month of Lexapro did for me. I will take it until I die.
I've had a similar experience with venlafaxine (Effexor). I feel no need to go off the drug. I don't care if it's addictive -- I'm able to function and feel happy. That far outweighs $60 every couple of months. I wouldn't want to risk losing my stability and capacity to enjoy life.
Re: The Mystery of When to Stop Antidepressants
#15Lexapro (Escitalopram) saved my life. I don't care what any meta-analysis says: years of diet, exercise, and meditation did 5% of what 1 month of Lexapro did for me. I will take it until I die.
Be careful. I am no expert, but do know that at least some people will have bad influences from antidepressants.
(An ex gf was dependent on antidepressants years after the reason she needed them. She was quite messed up, until she started to quit very slowly. [Details might be sensitive, comment if you want me to email details.])
Re: The Mystery of When to Stop Antidepressants
#16Lexapro (Escitalopram) saved my life. I don't care what any meta-analysis says: years of diet, exercise, and meditation did 5% of what 1 month of Lexapro did for me. I will take it until I die.
Myself likewise. I don't wish to revisit the pit and wallow through the cognitive fog. An interesting aside: why do users of antidepressants feel the need to reduce their dose? It's a benign addiction, like moderate caffeine dependency. One reason is that there _is_ a trade-off; these drugs make us a little dull and less interesting to ourselves.
Re: The Mystery of When to Stop Antidepressants
#17Unfortunately, you cannot cite clinical trials as the sole means to determine individual patient relapse potential.
Many doctors, especially psychiatrists, use clinically-proven if-then-else type criteria tools created by professional psychiatrist bodies.
As your therapy progresses, depending on how you score with the criteria, the doctor will opt to:
- Taper down and cease medication
- Reduce medication dose and supplement with behavioral therapy
- Stay on the current dose
- Increase dose if your symptoms worsen
Re: The Mystery of When to Stop Antidepressants
#18There's a disconnect between what the meta-analysed randomized clinical trials are saying about antidepressants (that they are at best minimally effective relative to placebo) and what relapse rates suggest (that people relapse when withdrawn from antidepressants because the antidepressant was effectively treating the underlying depression). This conflict is resolved when antidepressants are acknowledged as addictive…
I suspect you need not go that slow. I am NOT a Dr., but have talked at length with mine about this. I won't go into specifics or detail as people need to talk to their Dr.s about these methods.
All meds have a half life, your taper rate will be based on that and your personal metabolism rate, which can and almost always is altered by the meds themselves.
Further confused that a huge percentage of people who suffer depression need no meds and instead need a thyroid test, and not just a "give blood and see where you were at that moment" test, but a real, pain in the butt, complicated test, which I suspect is why they don't give them as a first line test. I was blown away I was never offered one.
As you get down to the lower doses, it gets harder, some you will have to take to a compounding pharmacy, others you can crush and get a good scale and weigh out what milligram or microgram you need; others, if you feel safe doing so can be taken intranasaly via a Flonase sprayer depending on if the med is water soluble and what the mixed shelf life is, which can be hard data to get at times.
I can say there is no worse kick than Effexor, that is for damn sure, and that was only 2-3 weeks in. That had a permanent change on me for life, instilling a bit of timidness in me regarding certain things that happened as I was detoxing.
Good Luck, hope you get off them and manage to learn how to manage your life without them, that is exactly where I am as well. They work, but I don't like the fake happy feeling. They try to tell me that is what my normal is, and I am just not remembering my true normal, that I don't buy, I remember my youth before this all started.
Re: The Mystery of When to Stop Antidepressants
#19There's a disconnect between what the meta-analysed randomized clinical trials are saying about antidepressants (that they are at best minimally effective relative to placebo) and what relapse rates suggest (that people relapse when withdrawn from antidepressants because the antidepressant was effectively treating the underlying depression). This conflict is resolved when antidepressants are acknowledged as addictive…
A close family member was on antidepressants for almost two years after being misdiagnosed with depression (that's a whole different story though).
The tapering process was _very_ rough. At first the doctor recommended tapering by 1/4 each week for four weeks, but with the first reduction she had headaches, vertigo and nausea for nearly two days.
After that the doctor changed the recommendation to tapering by 1/8 of a dose over the following 6 weeks. The first day of each reduction was more bearable, but still similar to a nasty hangover,
SSRIs may be a lifesaver for many people, but starting them is not something to be taken lightly.
Re: The Mystery of When to Stop Antidepressants
#20There's a disconnect between what the meta-analysed randomized clinical trials are saying about antidepressants (that they are at best minimally effective relative to placebo) and what relapse rates suggest (that people relapse when withdrawn from antidepressants because the antidepressant was effectively treating the underlying depression). This conflict is resolved when antidepressants are acknowledged as addictive…
Can confirm. The part that's really telling IMO is that a lot of the withdrawal symptoms are not at all related to depression: they're dizziness, vertigo, and strange electrical feelings in your head – not symptoms of depression or relapse. Minimally reinforcing in terms of "drug liking" or "wanting to take more" in my experience, but there is definitely profound physical dependence.
Anyone who tells you anti-depressants are not habit forming is a rep for a pharma co. that has not been sued to change their stance on that statement yet.