201–210 of 233 posts
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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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And of course, all patients read the long pamphlets extensively /s. We depend on our doctors to explain risks like this. And at the time I was discontinuing (not abruptly) the concept of “brain zaps” was met with great skepticism. I am fairly certain that some of the side effects you list (electric shock sensations) were added more recently. It took years of patients being ignored for the idea to be taken seriously.
If you don't read the leaflets you need to learn to say "doctor, I never read the leaflets. please can you explain what's in there?" Or ask that of the pharmacist filling the scrip.
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And of course, all patients read the long pamphlets extensively /s. We depend on our doctors to explain risks like this. And at the time I was discontinuing (not abruptly) the concept of “brain zaps” was met with great skepticism. I am fairly certain that some of the side effects you list (electric shock sensations) were added more recently. It took years of patients being ignored for the idea to be taken seriously.
I've also rarely received accurate advice regarding the likely effects and side-effects of anti-depressants - but I think calling brain zaps a 'risk' is a bit much. Maybe my zaps were nicer than yours, but I don't remember them being particularly painful - except one time I fell in the shower. Anti-depressants, especially something like venlafaxine, are strong meds for a strong condition. It would be surprising if th…
Anti depressants along with support from my family and therapist saved my life. Prior to taking anti depressants I would get into moods so depressed that I would have significant chest pain and headaches. The headaches were so severe that without any consideration I almost jumped from the roof of one my school buildings. Within the first week of taking anti depressants (wellbutrin, I later switched to prozac) I would…
This sounds a bit like you discovered Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. That's actually a very insightful, practical approach you developed.
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but when you look across 522 studies with more than 100k participants, evidence of efficacy is indisputable: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29477251
The Cipriani study is a nice meta-analysis: "The random-effects summary SMD for all antidepressants was 0·30" This site explains SMD: http://handbook-5-1.cochrane.org/chapter_9/9_2_3_2_the_stand... . This site shows what 0.3 looks like (actually shows 0.2 and 0.5): http://rpsychologist.com/short-r-script-to-plot-effect-sizes... . Typically, when people are summarizing this line of research saying that there is no eff…
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The last thing we need is people who clearly lack a basic understanding of a field as complex as mental health to start working for start-ups in that field.
It's bad enough that the ultracrepidarians post in these threads. I dread to think what would happen if they ran start-ups.
I'd really hate to play Scrabble against you.
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> don't have friends Hey, you can work on that! Especially now that you have medication that seems to catch on.
Oh, hmm thats kind of you. I understand that reaction. That probably sounded rather sad, so I reflected whilst writing this response. First and foremost I have one very good friend (my partner!), and a rather good relation with my mother (my father passed away, alas). I consider my mother like a friend, who given her age needs me more and more and this will increase. Same with my mother-in-law. That's both OK, but al…
I am actually going through something that is in some aspects the same, yet as a whole kind of the opposite. I have close friends, but they no longer live in the same city as I do. I emigrated for work two years ago. I didn't really like the city much, and at the time I also felt kind of heartbroken to say goodbye to my friends.
As a result I too did not feel like making new friends, but for opposite reasons: I did not want to root down in this new city, and then break my heart all over again when work finished (I knew it was a temporary thing). So in the last couple of years I have spent most of my time on work, and only "mildly" socialised. Slowly and almost unnoticeably, the relative social isolation has worn me down.
Last year while travelling I met the woman that I want to share my life with. As she lives in another country, we have been in a long-distance relationship (despite both of us having bad experiences with that before and swearing we'd never repeat that). In some sense this made the social isolation worse: we spent so much time on Skyping every day that we forget to meet our friends.
My contract is nearly ending, and our plan was that I would move in with her soon. I am really looking forward to this, and to end this period of solitude. However, she has lived in her city for nearly a decade, is "settled in" and has a network of friends. By comparison, I'm moving to for her - while the city she lives in is nice, I would not have thought of moving there if not for her. I will also have to build up yet another network of friends (like you, I am in my thirties, and I too notice how this is getting harder).
This created an unbalance in our relationship: I "need" her much more than she "needs" me, as I would have noone else in that city when I arrive. This asymmetrical dependency resulted in a a strange kind of tension, making me hyper-oriented towards her to the point where it resulted in me becoming unstable.
So now we changed the plan: I'm looking for a temporary place to live, in some kind of shared appartment arrangement with (ideally) lots of roommates to socialize with and explore the city with. That way I can find my own ground in the new city and discover on my own terms whether I'd like to live there, and what I like about it. We will still see each other most of the time, and after a few months still intend to move in together. But this new plan will take the pressure off the relationship.
I am all with you that friends are often a bit of a distraction, but to me the good friends are an enhancement: they support and enable more than that they distract. I hope that some day you will find a few of those kind of supportive friends, and that they will ease your burdens. Until then I am glad to read that you have a supportive partner and family! And I wish you good luck with parenting.
(aside: after posting my message I was actually a bit worried that I would come across as one of those people who insists on constantly trying to cheer up their depressed friend, but actually only puts more pressure on them that way (I have experienced that). I'm glad it didn't come across that way - well, either that, or you're too polite to mention it)
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…
I'm not a huge fan of anti-depressants, but this is just silly. Smiling lots is mostly a cultural difference and Americans seem to be the odd ones out there, not the other way around.
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> If there were substantial long-term risks associated with antidepressants, we would have seen them Drug makers have no incentive to see them. I can say from experience that I have seen them. I spent two months out of work when I had to discontinue Effexor. Other people complained about “brain zaps” and were largely ignored. My doctor never warned me. The evidence is there but there if you look, but there is no one…
Discontinuation effects are listed on the patient information leaflet for venlafaxine. Patients, at least in the UK, are always given this leaflet with every packet of medication. https://www.medicines.org.uk/emc/product/4487/pil > If you stop taking venlafaxine suddenly you may get withdrawal reactions (see section 3) [...] > Do not stop taking your treatment or reduce the dose without the advice of your doctor even…