I would say before resorting to exogenous chemicals, try working out. Weightlifting changed my life. Maybe it will help you, maybe not, but there seems to be a habit to treat symptoms rather than address underlying causes.
Ask HN: What is your experience with SSRIs?
21–30 of 64 posts
Re: Ask HN: What is your experience with SSRIs?
#22It's different for everyone. I can't stress that enough. But for me, it's amazing. It's like a silver bullet. It literally makes me happy. I know people say it's artificial happiness, etc etc but it really legitimately allows me to be happy. My stress levels go way down, and my self discipline increases. It doesn't turn me to a zombie-- I was a zombie before compared to now. Always distracted and held behind by my an…
Do you mind me asking what you were like before? I’ve had generalised anxiety disorder for ~12 years and have kept it manageable using some of the techniques you’ve described (breathing and meditation being the main two) however this year has brought some challenges that has really ramped it up and is now causing major issues that I’m struggling to manage. My doctor was happy to prescribe some for me, but I’m scared…
My anxiety was “manageable” for most of my life but this year it boiled over. I would get something like panic attacks multiple times a day with a racing heart and was constantly distracted by catastrophic thinking the whole day so I knew I couldn’t manage basic life by myself anymore. I’ve been quite happy with SSRIs but I wouldn’t mind going off them once my life and the world settles down.
Basically I felt like I didn’t have the mental energy to fight with just active methods like meditation and needed some passive baseline help from medication
Re: Ask HN: What is your experience with SSRIs?
#23I have been taking 10mg Lexapro for the past 4ish years for OCD. Has been working great with minimal side effects. I don't know if I'm less smart, but I don't care if I am, I'm able to enjoy life more.
I was very scared to start the medicine, and I wish I would have started sooner in my life. I was scared enough that when I finally dove in, I would cut the 5mg pills in half so that I would ramp up from 2.5mg.
Re: Ask HN: What is your experience with SSRIs?
#24I got on 10 mg escitalopram (Lexapro) in 2014 for social anxiety disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, and depression. I just tapered off these last few months.
Pros:
* Legitimate reductions to anxiety - no longer crippling most of the time.
* Made it harder to fall into depressive episodes. So, it did its job, I guess.
* Did not make me a blunted zombie or sterilize my brain.
Cons:
* Increased sleepiness: unable to wake up at "normal" hours without significant effort, frequent urge to take naps during the day. I slept a lot over the past 8 years, more than I would have liked to. My sleep schedule normalized as soon as I quit.
* Extremely hard to quit, even with a taper. You have to take it really, really, really slow. I developed severe appetite loss and nausea as a withdrawal symptom and ended up losing 13-14 lbs and became underweight. I've only just now got it under control.
Re: Ask HN: What is your experience with SSRIs?
#25SSRIs feel like a forced mood lift. Like Coca Cola gives you a sugar high. It has that same artificial-chemical vibe, just inside your brain. You are aware you are less depressed, and it's not from you, that's about it. You reason and perform intellectual tasks at the same pace as before, just less ruminating and negative mood. They also kill your sex drive and can cause some difficultly in the act of sex. This has f…
The sex issue is disturbing. I found that the drug (now I don't even remember which one) didn't eliminate sex drive... it just made it nearly impossible to, ahem, complete the journey to satisfaction!
And given the long ramp-up/taper-down time with these things, it's not as if you can just lay off them on date night.
Re: Ask HN: What is your experience with SSRIs?
#26SSRIs feel like a forced mood lift. Like Coca Cola gives you a sugar high. It has that same artificial-chemical vibe, just inside your brain. You are aware you are less depressed, and it's not from you, that's about it. You reason and perform intellectual tasks at the same pace as before, just less ruminating and negative mood. They also kill your sex drive and can cause some difficultly in the act of sex. This has f…
The sex issue is disturbing. I found that the drug (now I don't even remember which one) didn't eliminate sex drive... it just made it nearly impossible to, ahem, complete the journey to satisfaction! And given the long ramp-up/taper-down time with these things, it's not as if you can just lay off them on date night.
Yeah it would fit a little too well in a dystopian novel. I wouldn't be surprised if some of the benefit people see from SSRIs is no longer being distracted by sexual frustration, well outside of sex.
It's frankly irresponsible that the side effects are not mentioned upfront, psychiatrists and psychologists get away with too much individual judgement about what the patient should (or should not) know.
Re: Ask HN: What is your experience with SSRIs?
#27I had severe social phobia, generalized anxiety, and OCD growing up. After some time switching medications I started on citalopram (escitalopram is the reverse isomer and closely related) in my late teens. It changed my life massively for the better. I've dropped it from time to time, but have been on 20mg again since the pandemic.
Sexual side effects are common, and for me disappear after approximately three months. Drowsiness is also common, which is why I'm no longer on 40mg.
Re: Ask HN: What is your experience with SSRIs?
#28It's different for everyone. I can't stress that enough. But for me, it's amazing. It's like a silver bullet. It literally makes me happy. I know people say it's artificial happiness, etc etc but it really legitimately allows me to be happy. My stress levels go way down, and my self discipline increases. It doesn't turn me to a zombie-- I was a zombie before compared to now. Always distracted and held behind by my an…
Do you mind me asking what you were like before? I’ve had generalised anxiety disorder for ~12 years and have kept it manageable using some of the techniques you’ve described (breathing and meditation being the main two) however this year has brought some challenges that has really ramped it up and is now causing major issues that I’m struggling to manage. My doctor was happy to prescribe some for me, but I’m scared…
Getting off SSRIs varies from person to person. Typically if you're careful to slowly taper down your dose you shouldn't experience any weird side effects.
I can quit cold-turkey from a high dose without issue, but that seems to be rare.
Re: Ask HN: What is your experience with SSRIs?
#29For all the commenters mentioning sex issues with SSRIs, ask your doctor about Vortioxetine (Brintellix).
Re: Ask HN: What is your experience with SSRIs?
#30You should lay outside in direct sunlight few days a week, run/lift weights, go on walks in nature.
Physical exertion, vitamin D and testosterone from sunlight and exerting your breathing and cardiovascular system from running will in aggregate improve your mood and energy levels orders of magnitude better than they are now likely better than drugs will do as well without negative side effects, especially cognitive.
Start with walks and sunlight...
Give this a read about serotonin [1] very interesting point of view describing excess serotonin as an energy and metabolic inhibitor, depression inducing, harm-avoidance, hibernation chemical. SSRIs seem like a bad idea in this context. Whereas dopamine as the action chemical. Reduced light is associated with elevated serotonin and depression. You need to get out in sunlight daily off possible.
http://raypeat.com/articles/articles/serotonin-disease-aging...