#ashwagandha
Many People Taking Antidepressants Discover They Cannot Quit
161–170 of 233 posts
Re: Many People Taking Antidepressants Discover They Cannot Quit
#162 It's the other heroin. People can't get off the stuff, and it's everywhere.
In about 2012 I visited Copenhagen, capital of Denmark, which was until recently allegedly the self-reported "happiest nation on earth". I found it extremely weird that everyone was perfectly dressed and all the interiors were spotless, but nobody was smiling. It was like I had walked on to the set of some kind of dystopian movie. Mentioning this to an American woman who appeared and who had been resident there for some time, she simply laughed and leaned closer. "It's because they're all on antidepressants!"
Re: Many People Taking Antidepressants Discover They Cannot Quit
#163That brings back horrible memories. I took an SSRI for several years, initially prescribed by a GP. But the problem was that I wasn't "depressed". I am bipolar, and sometimes got stuck in down mode. The SSRI did make me more functional. But what it mostly did was make me affectless. That is, I could be sad or happy or angry or whatever, and I felt pretty much nothing. However, I still did whatever someone who was sad…
Interesting - I have bipolar too (that is, bipolar II), also misdiagnosed as pure depression for a while. However, the SSRI didn't flatten my affect, but instead amplified my hypomania to where it was severe enough to be diagnosed. Now I'm on lamotrigine and sertraline, and the two together keep me stable and up.
How did you end up getting properly diagnosed for Bipolar disorder? I'm currently taking antidepressants after battling SOME kind of mental illness for most of my adult life. I'm really inside my head, and often have very existential, self-doubting moods, to the point where I have burned a lot of bridges (jobs, friends, relationships) with antisocial behaviour (that I would never logically think is the right thing to do), but in the right mood, having also tried MDMA, I act completely normal, can hold conversations, etc. (but that's once in a blue moon normally).
Re: Many People Taking Antidepressants Discover They Cannot Quit
#164The "Chemical Imbalence Theory", although heavely popular and promoted, is largely unfounded on science: https://joannamoncrieff.com/2014/05/01/the-chemical-imbalanc...
Since there's a lot of quoting of studies on this topic, I hope that everyone reads this very informative (and long) blog post by a psychiatrist on SSRIs and their effectiveness:
http://slatestarcodex.com/2014/07/07/ssris-much-more-than-yo...
Re: Many People Taking Antidepressants Discover They Cannot Quit
#165That brings back horrible memories. I took an SSRI for several years, initially prescribed by a GP. But the problem was that I wasn't "depressed". I am bipolar, and sometimes got stuck in down mode. The SSRI did make me more functional. But what it mostly did was make me affectless. That is, I could be sad or happy or angry or whatever, and I felt pretty much nothing. However, I still did whatever someone who was sad…
Interesting - I have bipolar too (that is, bipolar II), also misdiagnosed as pure depression for a while. However, the SSRI didn't flatten my affect, but instead amplified my hypomania to where it was severe enough to be diagnosed. Now I'm on lamotrigine and sertraline, and the two together keep me stable and up.
Hmmm. I suppose that I was hypermanic. And maybe it wasn't so much that I was affectless, but that it wasn't appropriate affect.
OK, for example, I would be driving, in a hurry. And without much emotion or warning, I'd find myself running red lights and whatever. Laughing. I remember an accident, where the other driver said something like "Where the hell did you come from?" And I almost said something like "God sent me to kill you!" But I didn't, fortunately.
That SSRI truly made me a danger to society and myself.
Re: Many People Taking Antidepressants Discover They Cannot Quit
#166Earlier quoted context omitted.
Interesting - I have bipolar too (that is, bipolar II), also misdiagnosed as pure depression for a while. However, the SSRI didn't flatten my affect, but instead amplified my hypomania to where it was severe enough to be diagnosed. Now I'm on lamotrigine and sertraline, and the two together keep me stable and up.
How did you end up getting properly diagnosed for Bipolar disorder? I'm currently taking antidepressants after battling SOME kind of mental illness for most of my adult life. I'm really inside my head, and often have very existential, self-doubting moods, to the point where I have burned a lot of bridges (jobs, friends, relationships) with antisocial behaviour (that I would never logically think is the right thing to…
I found a psychiatrist who asked me whether amphetamines made me happy or nervous. I said happy. He said bipolar.
Re: Many People Taking Antidepressants Discover They Cannot Quit
#167Earlier quoted context omitted.
SSRI’s are no more effective than placebo or exercise in multiple studies: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3674785/#
Exercise is harder than taking a pill - remember these are antidepressants. Also, when you're depressed anything that gives you hope is likely to actually help and that means placebos too. Having said that, I would hope actual drugs work better than a placebo.
This is a dangerous opinion and can inspire guilt in folks struggling with mental disorders. Not cool.
Re: Many People Taking Antidepressants Discover They Cannot Quit
#168Earlier quoted context omitted.
Interesting - I have bipolar too (that is, bipolar II), also misdiagnosed as pure depression for a while. However, the SSRI didn't flatten my affect, but instead amplified my hypomania to where it was severe enough to be diagnosed. Now I'm on lamotrigine and sertraline, and the two together keep me stable and up.
Hmmm. I suppose that I was hypermanic. And maybe it wasn't so much that I was affectless, but that it wasn't appropriate affect. OK, for example, I would be driving, in a hurry. And without much emotion or warning, I'd find myself running red lights and whatever. Laughing. I remember an accident, where the other driver said something like "Where the hell did you come from?" And I almost said something like "God sent…
Ooooh. Yeah, that's definitely full-blown mania. Delusions of grandeur, risk-seeking behavior, euphoria.
Re: Many People Taking Antidepressants Discover They Cannot Quit
#169Earlier quoted context omitted.
Lithium sucks, or so I've heard. Modafinil (antinarcoleptic, originally) plus lamotrigine (anticonvulsant, originally) works well for me. It's easy to tweak the ratio as circumstances warrant. Edit: About sex. My wife at the time did like that I took longer to reach orgasm. However, after we separated, I discovered that wearing a condom made orgasm unreachable. And that did become a problem. Albeit an amusing one, in…
Don’t discount lithium, it may turn out better than modafinil for you.
I've been using that mix for several years. And I'm not interested in changing.
But why do you say "better"?
Re: Many People Taking Antidepressants Discover They Cannot Quit
#170Earlier quoted context omitted.
Interesting - I have bipolar too (that is, bipolar II), also misdiagnosed as pure depression for a while. However, the SSRI didn't flatten my affect, but instead amplified my hypomania to where it was severe enough to be diagnosed. Now I'm on lamotrigine and sertraline, and the two together keep me stable and up.
How did you end up getting properly diagnosed for Bipolar disorder? I'm currently taking antidepressants after battling SOME kind of mental illness for most of my adult life. I'm really inside my head, and often have very existential, self-doubting moods, to the point where I have burned a lot of bridges (jobs, friends, relationships) with antisocial behaviour (that I would never logically think is the right thing to…
I was in weekly talk therapy with a psychologist and checking up with a psychiatrist every few weeks to fine-tune my meds, the two were in close contact, and one of them (don't remember which) picked up on my periodic euphoria and social extroversion.