The Challenge of Going Off Psychiatric Drugs • Hacker News Board

Re: The Challenge of Going Off Psychiatric Drugs

#161

Post by askvictor » Tue, Apr 02, 2019, 4:47 AM UTC

ctdonath wrote: post #2

Underdiscussed: the horror of missing a couple doses of antidepressants. Being on such meds may work, keeping the patient stable. Nobody mentions that when a couple doses are missed, the result can be a week of anger & angst as resumed medication balances back out again - living hell not just for the patient, but for those around. Weaning off such meds is difficult, reducing doses by literally counting out & down ind…

Not easy to get on.

The first month of antidepressants is hell, since you're compounding depression or anxiety with the nausea of the onset symptoms. Risk of suicide increases considerably in that first month or so.

There's some recent research that due to the onset effects, the surveys of the patient's well being at the 8 week and 12 week marks are inaccurate or even useless, since it's really hard to objectively measure your state of mind compared to before you started.

Re: The Challenge of Going Off Psychiatric Drugs

#162

Post by YjSe2GMQ » Tue, Apr 02, 2019, 4:50 AM UTC

com2kid wrote: post #84

JamesBarney wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here is one trial there are 100's of others on the same website. https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/results/NCT01441440 P.S. My statement wasn't an anecdote.(I think you're using that word incorrectly)

The outcome measures for that study are all related to decrease of depressive symptoms, they are not measuring increase in happiness. (Also no one is taking effexor to get high!) An SNRI isn't going to make people feel happy or joyous. It may lift the fog of depression and allow one to feel happiness, but it doesn't create it on its own. Joy in a pill, without long term side effects, doesn't yet exist.

> It may lift the fog of depression and allow one to feel happiness.

Well if removing pain isn't happiness. It was for me. At least I don't think any more of how killing yourself is only a problem because of the people that will stay alive and suffer because of your suicide.

Re: The Challenge of Going Off Psychiatric Drugs

#163

Post by tylerjwilk00 » Tue, Apr 02, 2019, 5:13 AM UTC

bobowzki wrote: post #154

tylerjwilk00 wrote: post #150

I was prescribed a benzo for insomnia and thought nothing of it. I went from enjoying a good night's sleep to completely dependant on it just to function. The only way to describe it was that I became "psychologically fragile" such as if things didn't go exactly according to expectations I would be in a state of panic and fear. It was horrible. I decided then to go cold turkey (no one told me otherwise) and it was he…

I'm curious what type and dosis you were prescribed? (I'm an MD).

I believe it was temazepam. I do not remember the dose.

Re: The Challenge of Going Off Psychiatric Drugs

#164

Post by wetpaws » Tue, Apr 02, 2019, 5:24 AM UTC

captainredbeard wrote: post #82

GlenTheMachine wrote: post #10

I am on Klonopin and Remeron. My diagnosis is anxiety, but really it's insomnia. I had a horrible, multiple-year episode of insomnia that started in my early thirties. For about three years I got maybe one night a week of decent sleep. I was mentally and emotionally out of it; I'm kind of surprised I still have a job after that. A few years in, I found a psychiatrist who was willing to experiment and we discovered th…

For the sleep, try wearing blue light blocking glasses all day until you are able to sleep reliably. It sounds ridiculous but I read a study in the Journal of Bipolar Disorder a few years back (can't find a link right now) about this. I've given a pair to a friend suffering from a multi-day manic phase (with zero sleep) and it stopped it dead in the tracks, within six hours in this case. It makes you look a bit dorky…

Why just not take melatonin which is cheap af?

Re: The Challenge of Going Off Psychiatric Drugs

#165

Post by plutonorm » Tue, Apr 02, 2019, 5:34 AM UTC

com2kid wrote: post #9

I generally am supportive of people seeking psychiatric treatment, but wow, this woman's case seems, in retrospect, rather mismanaged. It is like her doctors tried to medicate away an epiphany. Realizing that "the glittering balls and designer clothing has no real underlying substance" and being depressed that one's life is limited to such things, is not a cause for medication. It sounds like she was struggling to be…

I'll just leave this here.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positive_disintegration

Re: The Challenge of Going Off Psychiatric Drugs

#166

Post by sjg007 » Tue, Apr 02, 2019, 5:40 AM UTC

mastox wrote: post #160

sjg007 wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That 8% are likely bipolar.

Source? My understanding is the 8% would also include people with just family history.

Here: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2922360/

The issue with SSRIs for people who are bipolar is that it can trigger a manic episode.

Re: The Challenge of Going Off Psychiatric Drugs

#167

Post by sjg007 » Tue, Apr 02, 2019, 5:42 AM UTC

wetpaws wrote: post #164

captainredbeard wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For the sleep, try wearing blue light blocking glasses all day until you are able to sleep reliably. It sounds ridiculous but I read a study in the Journal of Bipolar Disorder a few years back (can't find a link right now) about this. I've given a pair to a friend suffering from a multi-day manic phase (with zero sleep) and it stopped it dead in the tracks, within six hours in this case. It makes you look a bit dorky…

Why just not take melatonin which is cheap af?

Doesn't always work.

Re: The Challenge of Going Off Psychiatric Drugs

#168

Post by Debugreality » Tue, Apr 02, 2019, 6:16 AM UTC

empath75 wrote: post #23

dmortin wrote: post #8

Does depression go away after a while if taking meds? Or does the person having depression need to take meds for the rest of his/her life to avoid relapsing?

Depends on whether the depression is situational. People don't like to admit that sometimes people are sad because their situation, and not because of something inherent to themselves. Sadness -- even persistent sadness -- can sometimes be a healthy response to an unhealthy environment, that drives you to try and change your situation for the better. The problem is when the sadness becomes the crippling kind that pre…

I think you forgot to talk about the other option - it can be situational or chemical as happened to my wife who became depressed as a side effect of another hormone drug. Once chemically unbalanced there is no firm finish line, she may be on anti depressants for life or her chemical base line may tip back to normal and she can get off them...

Re: The Challenge of Going Off Psychiatric Drugs

#169

Post by azernik » Tue, Apr 02, 2019, 8:14 AM UTC

fraudsyndrome wrote: post #149

tcj_phx wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sometimes less treatment is better than more treatment. If your friend will let you go to his appointments, maybe you can advocate on your friend's behalf. If he's ordered to submit to involuntary mental health treatment, you can probably request judicial review on his behalf. This would be to let the court know that your friend was doing better before the ECT treatment, and that you are concerned that some of his pr…

Thanks for the reply How can I, advocate on my friend's behalf against a Psychiatrist who has been working with him for years when I have no expertise in the field? Do I trust that his Psychiatrist has already thought the same thing? Maybe I can leak some info to him (like those articles) so he can think for himself and talk to his Psychiatrist about it. Technically he was doing better pre-ECT, but stress got to him…

My dad has (probably?) paranoid schizophrenia, and life stress was definitely a trigger for that.

I am skeptical of tcj_phx's advocacy of resistance to lithium. It's a very effective drug with horrific side effects, and it seems to have worked pre-ECT. It sounds like the psych involved is aware of the safe limits for lithium, as hitting the maximum safe dosage for one drug is usually what (in my experience) causes psychiatrists to start mixing different meds. (Which comes with its own problems, since as side effects multiply they get harder to understand.)

Re: The Challenge of Going Off Psychiatric Drugs

#170

Post by Aromasin » Tue, Apr 02, 2019, 9:44 AM UTC

wetpaws wrote: post #164

captainredbeard wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For the sleep, try wearing blue light blocking glasses all day until you are able to sleep reliably. It sounds ridiculous but I read a study in the Journal of Bipolar Disorder a few years back (can't find a link right now) about this. I've given a pair to a friend suffering from a multi-day manic phase (with zero sleep) and it stopped it dead in the tracks, within six hours in this case. It makes you look a bit dorky…

Why just not take melatonin which is cheap af?

Melatonin is just a very small part of all the variables involved in sleep. If you are excited or stressed you'll have high levels of adrenaline, cortisone, or cortisol. Diet will affect levels of ghrelin, leptin and insulin. Low testosterone levels, or antidiuretic hormones, can be found in many people. All these things will affect your sleep just as much, if not more, then melatonin does.