Ask HN: Beating depression with or without anti-depressants?

This is the reason why some people suggest not to listening to any comments. A lot of stuff here are factually incorrect:

  1) MAOIs are safe, and Parnate specifically is extremely effective. However, requires a special diet to adhere.
  2) Stimulants ARE prescribed very frequently to augment antidepressants in difficult cases, especially in people with serious illness.
  3) Moclobemide has every effect of an MAOI in effective dosages, including diet restriction. There are no effective drugs without side effects. Moclobemide is not thought to be particularly effective(mostly because on-label dosage is far too low), there is a reason why it's used infrequently.
  4) Etifoxine might be great for some, but it has significant risks of liver injury. There is a reason why Valium is still one of the most common anxiolytics prescribed worldwide.

50% are below the median.

Sorry, you are very very wrong about this. Have you ever talked to a _medical_ professional about depression or any mental health issue? They generally don't know what they're doing. Medical professionals only have one tool in their arsenal for depression: antidepressants. So a medical doctor will likely prescribe them, whether that's appropriate or not. Antidepressants are no joke. Sometimes they can help, but they can also cause really strange side effects, like increasing the possibility of suicide. And does the average doctor monitor all their patients regularly to make sure they're not having suicidal thoughts? Nope. And doctors generally won't know anything about the difficulty of getting _off_ the antidepressant if it didn't work.

Asking for advice on the internet is a very valid strategy, given the terrible state of mental health care in the US.

I found strangers online to be more effective than doctors, simply because they read to much on the matter, then they interact too much with you.

I basically got diagnosed online by 2 different people about 2 different issues, one is biological, and the other is mental. And they were right. This is nerds out there who read about topics constantly, way more than the average doctor, not even close. So a stranger can help.

Also depends on where you are located, doctors can be dogmatic, there is countries that give antibiotics before extracting teeth, and there is those who don't. Countries who believe ADHD can stay into adulthood and go undiagnosed, and others who believe it is impossible to have ADHD as an adult.

In the ADHD case, depends on who what countries are right, some group might be living a lie taking meds for an illness that doesn't exist, or the other group is suffering being undiagnosed with ADHD despite seeking help, the doctor just tell them its not possible to have ADHD.

I would rather research and try to solve my issues over hand my situation to the medical zeitgeist of my country. Also I am sure if I give myself days of research, thinking, talking to people, comparing situations over some doctor talking to me for 15 minutes then giving me the two meds given to everyone who enter that door (SSRIs and benzos), I might probably be up into something.

I will never stop researching my medical issues, I will never trust my doctors fully, I will always google, research, ask, ask second opinions. Some doctors care more than others, some doctors are capable more than others, you have no idea which ones the RNG gave you.

Here is a little meditation I wrote a while ago on my depression and my medication that still rings true for me.

https://dhubris.livejournal.com/14447.html

I don't know about your part of the world, but in Australia you may find a good GP (doctor who is a general practitioner) who can handle the medication process with you, or see a psychiatrist who usually has more expertise in this area.

Either way it can be a bit of a trial and error process until you find what works for you (which may be different than what works for me or others). Usually four to six weeks before medication reaches full effectiveness. If the medical professional writes you out a prescription without organising a follow up to see how well it is working, tear up the script and find another doc. Don't stop a medication cold turkey. Ramp down dosage under medical guidance.

Good luck!