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Recovering Emotions After 24 Years on Antidepressants

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Re: Recovering Emotions After 24 Years on Antidepressants

#41

Post by mysticmode »

tren wrote: post #25
mysticmode wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This! is what I believe not only in mental illness perspective but in every way. I'm bipolar type 2 and I have been on and off on medications for a long time and suffered a lot. For the past 4 years I've been continuously taking meds and my life, my work and my relationship with other people has improved and I'm quite stable. Like you said, people are different, the thing that works for one person doesn't necessarily…

Hey! I'm wondering how long it took you to get diagnosed as bipolar 2, and who diagnosed it - GP, psych? This last year I've been suffering depressive episodes that have really affected my capacity to function properly. They're always interspersed with really good days, maybe too good -- heaps of planning and ideas, unbridled optimism etc. It's hard to know what's considered to be the baseline for normal mood fluctua…

Hey, hi! Sorry to hear that. I can understand what you are expressing. I'll try to comment on what you've written. Just read it and don't take anything seriously that you should follow that in your life :) If there is one thing, I wanted to say then it is, find help my friend!

> I'm wondering how long it took you to get diagnosed as bipolar 2, and who diagnosed it - GP, psych?

I think I can remember, that I've been experiencing these mood fluctuations since I was 12 years old (7th grade in school). I have never been consulted a psychiatrist or psychologist or any form of therapy till when I was 17 years old when it went quite severe, I went psychotic with anxiety and depression when I was in high school. My parents had figured out somehow and took me to a psychiatrist. So, coming to the point, I consulted him for some 2 years and he diagnosed me as bipolar 2. And I've been on and off on medications for the next 5 years then somehow I started taking the meds continuously for the last 4 years due to too much suffering. Now I'm 27, though I wouldn't say I'm too optimistic about life and people, somehow I'm moving on with day-to-day activities and finding my joy in it now and then.

I said, medications saved my life, because through that I can be able to function on day-to-day activities. People helped and some are still helping me absolutely!

> They're always interspersed with really good days, maybe too good -- heaps of planning and ideas, unbridled optimism etc. It's hard to know what's considered to be the baseline for normal mood fluctuations.

Oh, my friend! This is the hardest part for me to understand really which is the emotional threshold and where will it lead me to. I really don't know, sorry!

Re: Recovering Emotions After 24 Years on Antidepressants

#42

Post by kradroy »

tren wrote: post #25
mysticmode wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This! is what I believe not only in mental illness perspective but in every way. I'm bipolar type 2 and I have been on and off on medications for a long time and suffered a lot. For the past 4 years I've been continuously taking meds and my life, my work and my relationship with other people has improved and I'm quite stable. Like you said, people are different, the thing that works for one person doesn't necessarily…

Hey! I'm wondering how long it took you to get diagnosed as bipolar 2, and who diagnosed it - GP, psych? This last year I've been suffering depressive episodes that have really affected my capacity to function properly. They're always interspersed with really good days, maybe too good -- heaps of planning and ideas, unbridled optimism etc. It's hard to know what's considered to be the baseline for normal mood fluctua…

It took me about 15 years to get my BPD2 diagnosis. I was diagnosed with unipolar depression in college. I don't remember how many different depression meds I tried. SSRIs, SNRIs, tricyclics, etc. I was often noncompliant for all the standard reasons, but mostly because I was an independent contractor prior to Obamacare. Insurance was a luxury then.

I was off medication for about 5 years before another bad depressive episode occurred. I was given Zoloft and that sent me into a noticeable hypomanic episode (3 days of being awake, productive and partially agitated). I was seeing a nurse practitioner who was fantastic. Eventually we settled on lamotrigine, which I've been on for about 4-5 years with no real issues. I've had 2 minor bouts of depression in the winter since starting on it. No manic episodes. It's really a bitch of a condition to treat.

Re: Recovering Emotions After 24 Years on Antidepressants

#43

Post by presscast »

Broken_Hippo wrote: post #28
presscast wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In all fairness, though, these aren't isolated incidents. There seems to be some subgroup of the general population that suffers from SSRIs. That's what's interesting here -- what binds these people together as a group. In other words, brushing this aside as "just a bunch of individuals" isn't useful, nor is it satisfying anyone's intellectual curiosity.

Yes, it does. Some individuals react differently. Some individuals cannot take aspirin daily for heart benefits, some cannot take ibuprofen for pain relief. Both these drugs can have reactions with other medications. It isn't an insignificant portion of the population, but we shouldn't allow those individuals create a dialogue that scares others away from trying the drug. If anything, we just need to spend a bit more…

Yes that's very much my point.

Re: Recovering Emotions After 24 Years on Antidepressants

#44

Post by joflicu »

throwaway895237 wrote: post #36
ssorina wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am also a bit skeptical when strong anti-Pharma opinions are expressed, based on personal experience only. Meta-analyses have shown that for severe depression, antidepressants are a first line of attack, only seconded or aided by CBT, but not interchangeable in terms of efficacy. It's kind of stupid to counterargue with yet another personal story, but for me not being able to take SSRIs has proven to be a real prob…

> I hope big pharma comes up with something else than benzos and SSRIs for anxiety, so that I can be relieved from the task of living my life spiting anxiety 70% of the day. Have you tried psilocybin mushrooms or DMT? I'd been on meds for years treating depression and anxiety. A few mushroom and DMT experiences have basically cured my depression and anxiety and opened up a whole new way of looking at things.

I have been curious about this as well especially since Michael Pollan's book "How to change your mind" came out. How did your experience go? I am not by any means a recreational drug user so have no idea where I can get DMT or mushrooms.

Re: Recovering Emotions After 24 Years on Antidepressants

#45

Post by astura »

rjkennedy98 wrote: post #15
psergeant wrote: post #4

The only thing that seems to be universally true about mental health is that we’re all different, and someone else’s experiences rarely apply perfectly to your own. I put off getting on the meds for at least 15 years longer than I should have done because of stories like this. They have been life changing lot positive for me with almost no downsides. In addition, I’ve read more than one story like this where the pers…

Keep in mind that for many people taking drugs is: a) not a choice they personally made (coercion by the school system or authorities or parents). b) they were lied to about the effects and side effects. c) they were prescribed 'off-label' which means essentially with no proven efficacy. When you say "Experiment, find what works for you" keep in mind how offensive that is to people who feel they were lied/coerced int…

"Off-label" does not mean "no proven efficacy."

Some off label uses have little to no research behind them, but some are well studied.

Re: Recovering Emotions After 24 Years on Antidepressants

#46

Post by gcb0 »

simen wrote: post #32
mnm1 wrote: post #17

It took me about a year to get to the point the author describes where I felt nothing and didn't care whether I lived or died. I wasn't suicidal--at last I don't think I was--but I was rapidly approaching that point. I was so desperate, I let the doctor put me on benzodiazepines for anxiety even though I knew from previous experience that I would not only become dependent but addicted. After seven years of that, I ha…

I sympathize with you, I really do. I've had some similar experiences. But you're overstating the case. Numerous meta-analyses have found that antidepressants do work for people with severe depression, much better than placebo. Unfortunately there's many people for whom they don't work, and even when they work you may have to try many different kinds to find the right one(s). The state of depression treatment is sadl…

just because it works better than placebo doesn't make it the best treatment.

all over the world, terapies works better than antidepressants, with infinitely less undesirable side effects for patient and society. yet in the US it is very common to treat depression (and many other conditions) with drugs alone.

arguments against drugs is not favor of "don't do anything". that argument would be extremely dumb.

just to give some perspective on how badly interpreted the data is in your argument: brain-splitting surgery, which is still used for epilepsy, also shows a cure for several other conditions, yet nowadays you would be a criminal for even suggesting it for things it was widely used 20 years ago.

Re: Recovering Emotions After 24 Years on Antidepressants

#47

Post by op00to »

This article is absolute bullshit and quite frankly dangerous. It seems to me this woman was emotionally vulnerable and taken in by a snake oil huckster masquerading as a doctor.

> Shortly after I started seeing him, my new doctor had me read the book Anatomy of an Epidemic by Robert Whitaker.

Robert Whitaker's theses in that book have repeatedly been scientifically disproven. It's anti-science drivel.

> The pharmaceutical industry also says that mental illness represents a physical problem with the brain that needs to be fixed. There are no studies that prove that this is true.

This statement is untrue. Literally three seconds of googling showed me this: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4471964/

Which basically says that when we deplete the body of certain neurotransmitters, people get depressed. That sounds like a pretty clear statement that there are biological processes at play in mental illness.

Re: Recovering Emotions After 24 Years on Antidepressants

#48

Post by epmaybe »

psergeant wrote: post #4

The only thing that seems to be universally true about mental health is that we’re all different, and someone else’s experiences rarely apply perfectly to your own. I put off getting on the meds for at least 15 years longer than I should have done because of stories like this. They have been life changing lot positive for me with almost no downsides. In addition, I’ve read more than one story like this where the pers…

I don't know if I'd call them localised experiences per say, as I feel it minimizes what patients experience. I've probably done that to commenters here in the past regarding depression and pharmaceuticals.

However, I largely agree with what you are saying, everyone is going to have different reactions to these medicines. They're all "dirty" (note that SSRIs are far more specific in effects than previous generations of antidepressants) in terms of the vast number of effects neurotransmitters have in our brain, so it's understandable that they wouldn't work the same for everyone.

Re: Recovering Emotions After 24 Years on Antidepressants

#49

Post by epmaybe »

throwaway895237 wrote: post #36
ssorina wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am also a bit skeptical when strong anti-Pharma opinions are expressed, based on personal experience only. Meta-analyses have shown that for severe depression, antidepressants are a first line of attack, only seconded or aided by CBT, but not interchangeable in terms of efficacy. It's kind of stupid to counterargue with yet another personal story, but for me not being able to take SSRIs has proven to be a real prob…

> I hope big pharma comes up with something else than benzos and SSRIs for anxiety, so that I can be relieved from the task of living my life spiting anxiety 70% of the day. Have you tried psilocybin mushrooms or DMT? I'd been on meds for years treating depression and anxiety. A few mushroom and DMT experiences have basically cured my depression and anxiety and opened up a whole new way of looking at things.

While psilocybin and DMT are being actively researched, I would shy away from recommending people try and use schedule I drugs until they're legalised or at least scheduled differently.

Re: Recovering Emotions After 24 Years on Antidepressants

#50

Post by op00to »

ssorina wrote: post #23
psergeant wrote: post #4

The only thing that seems to be universally true about mental health is that we’re all different, and someone else’s experiences rarely apply perfectly to your own. I put off getting on the meds for at least 15 years longer than I should have done because of stories like this. They have been life changing lot positive for me with almost no downsides. In addition, I’ve read more than one story like this where the pers…

I am also a bit skeptical when strong anti-Pharma opinions are expressed, based on personal experience only. Meta-analyses have shown that for severe depression, antidepressants are a first line of attack, only seconded or aided by CBT, but not interchangeable in terms of efficacy. It's kind of stupid to counterargue with yet another personal story, but for me not being able to take SSRIs has proven to be a real prob…

I'm a legal medical cannabis patient in my state, and it has been HUGE in helping me use CBT in controlling my anxiety. Far better than Benzos.
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