191–200 of 233 posts
I can’t emphasize enough how serious these drugs are, and what a prison they can become.
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Meta studies still show that antidepressants help more than the placebo https://www.bmj.com/content/360/bmj.k847
And multiple studies show them no more effective than exercise: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3674785/ The bigger problem is “depression” is not reproducibly measurable, because it has no falsifiable or biomedical marker.
You say this as if it were a bad thing but if SSRIs are as effective as exercise wouldn't that mean that they are very effective?
If you were to tell me a fat burning pill were no more effective than exercise I would start taking it.
I was up to 10mg/daily of Lexapro for two years. When my doctor and I agreed it was time to stop taking it, his advice was to go down to 5mg for a week, then stop. When I tried stopping after the 5mg dose I had constant vertigo symptoms and incredible difficulty sleeping. What I ended up doing was cutting the pills in half for a few weeks, then quarters, then removing one day a week from the schedule until I was down…
Same experience for me, and in fact I had the brain-zapping withdrawal symptoms while I was taking a steady dosage. The zapping happened with both Zoloft and Lexapro. It happened regularly many times per hour. When asked to describe it, I tell people the zapping feels like my mind is lost for a fraction of a second. For that tiny moment I really think I'm completely non-functional, and the thought of this condition l…
The "Chemical Imbalence Theory", although heavely popular and promoted, is largely unfounded on science: https://joannamoncrieff.com/2014/05/01/the-chemical-imbalanc...
To offer the converse, I had a very traumatic event in my life and was put on an SSRI, which helped me function. After almost 2 years of taking it, I didn't think I needed it anymore and I tapered myself off very slowly but regularly, keeping logs and setting alarms. While in the beginning I felt some vertigo and other symptoms, I tapered very gradually, and was completely free at the end of my taper. My symptoms nev…
Psychiatric meds in general, and SSRIs in particular, are super idiosyncratic.
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Bupropion is marketed as Zyban as a smoking cessation aid meaning that people are coming down on it when they quit Zyban, after they quit smoking. I've done this, twice. I've also used Ritalin in the past. It works similar, and from my memory the coming down is also similar.
I tried Zyban years ago. After 7 days I stopped smoking and then had this weird time slowing down effect. I guess most people don't have that effect but I wonder how many do.
Is there a reason why people are trying to stop taking it? If it helps your life, why not keep using it? For example, I have been taking antihistamine daily for the last 18 years for skin allergy. My QoL is significantly better with it, and unless there is some magical cure, I don't see why I should stop just because it's a "drug", "chemical" or "unnatural". For example, from the article, > "A year and a half after s…
I also took antihistamines for a long period of time (15ish years) and eventually I got to the point where I got multiple nosebleeds every day I took one. Nobody told me that could happen when I started taking them. I went off for a year (thankfully I discovered nose strips to get me through the night) and now I can take the occasional antihistamine again without my nose bleeding all over. As a result I'm a bit more conscientious of what long term effects I need to be looking out for in any other meds I take regularly. Living without is just unfortunately necessary in some cases.
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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.
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> the worst side effects I've ever faced from stopping have been screwed up sleep/wake cycles, irritability, and a few days of headache I wonder if that's worse than a newborn.
Much worse, something that can't be compared. Anyone would prefer a newborn which is an external person that you provide care and watch grow. Sure it will keep you up but it also provides emotions to help fuel you past those weak moments. When you are internally off where you can't sleep the affect is different.
Newborn creates hormones, sure, but needs constant attention and requires high maintenance. There's no voluntary break. Ours needs to eat every 3 hrs. Can set my clock to it, and can't sleep right after feeding (she's gotta sleep first, or go through intestine pain). I know it isn't the end of the world, and given the psychosis I been through worse, but this is flat out rough [for me].
I wish I'd get positive emotions during weak moments. I mean, if I'd have that, they wouldn't be weak moments. After one hour of crying and trying to solve in every way I can think of I become desperate and feel lost. Its those moments I need to control myself and realise it isn't about me; its about her, our newborn. She's the one who's suffering, and doesn't know better. I wonder if it helps to cry with her.
>Yet withdrawal has never been a focus of drug makers or government regulators, who felt antidepressants could not be addictive and did far more good than harm. They're not addictive. They cause dependence. There is an important difference. Addictive things increase incentive salience of stimuli associated with the drug. They increase wanting. And that increased wanting leads to increased usage. Dependence on a drug…
1. When I consider stopping antidepressants, I'm not filled with anything like the dread I was when I thought about giving up the addictive pills.
2. I forget to take my antidepressants sometimes. I forget to refill the prescription sometimes.
3. I have never had any desire to take more than the prescribed dose of my antidepressants.
It's an important distinction, and unfortunately one that folks in the recovery community sometimes miss. In my experience the above characterization usually brings it home much better than some heavily medicalized description of addiction vs dependency.