Story Antidepressants didn't work for me

[Joker2003]

After years of dealing with debilitating anxiety, depression, and a general sense of defeat, I finally decided to try antidepressants. Taking antidepressants was a last resort because literally nothing else is helping. I tried healthy diets, exercise, and social groups, but I still feel awful.

So a few months ago, I met with a psychiatrist and got on my first antidepressant. I was hoping that it would at least give me enough motivation to get out of the house and not want to die, but it did very little. The side effects were awful and included extreme insomnia, mild acne, body odor, and my gums began to bleed every time I brushed my teeth.

I met with the psychiatrist a few more times and switched to a different antidepressant, but that one didn't work either. I am now not taking any medication. I really thought that antidepressants could help me but they didn't. I am so tired of it all and wish to finally be at peace.

Did antidepressants help any of you?

Did you have any adverse side effects?

 

[hikikomorizombie]

i tried lexapro, lithium, prozac, zoloft, & trazodone :p nada. no side effects from what i can recall. lithium did give me a superrrrr big appetite though, which was kinda cool since i've never had much of 1 before, lol. & ofc the classic 0 libido thing, hated that.

 

[Joker2003]

i tried lexapro, lithium, prozac, zoloft, & trazodone :p nada. no side effects from what i can recall. lithium did give me a superrrrr big appetite though, which was kinda cool since i've never had much of 1 before, lol. & ofc the classic 0 libido thing, hated that.

So none of them helped at all?

 

[MatrixPrisoner]

I use Adderall off-label for depression. It's the only medication that gives me instant noticeable results. I've tried everything else and got the same side effects (appetite and loss of libido) and nothing more.

 

[Heartaches]

I'm very sorry antidepressants didn't help and gave awful side effects, medication is a very tricy and variable thing to navigate. Hope you can be at peace somehow

I've only been prescribed sertraline and another similar antidepressant (can't remember the name). It didn't help me much, only in the very beginning. Took sertraline between six months and a year and couldn't notice major improvements or side effects, only that I felt like a robot. A general doctor told me I might have started developing dependency but I have no way to confirm that. I wanna take meds again but I know they'll probably give me sertraline again and I hate that, I don't know why my doctors insist on it so much.

 

[hikikomorizombie]

So none of them helped at all?

nope, & if they did it wasn't enough to be noticeable to meout of all of em i'd say lexapro was the only 1 where i hesitated before getting off of it. my mom was adamant she saw a change in me, so i took it for a few more weeks afterwards but i still didn't feel any diff, so i stopped em.

i always gave each medication the proper 1-2 month waiting period you're supposed to give meds to take effect before quitting em though, so that i'd really know it was the right move.

 

[Young.Werther]

If you're comfortable sharing:
Do you still feel any side effects even after stopping (good or bad)?
Did it feel like you lost yourself/identity while taking?

 

[Joker2003]

If you're comfortable sharing:
Do you still feel any side effects even after stopping (good or bad)?
Did it feel like you lost yourself/identity while taking?

Luckily, all of the terrible side effect went away after I quit taking the pills. There were never any good side effects.

I didn't feel much different while taking the medication. I was still very sad, defeated, and depressed just like before I started taking it.

 

[Young.Werther]

Luckily, all of the terrible side effect went away after I quit taking the pills. There were never any good side effects.

I didn't feel much different while taking the medication. I was still very sad, defeated, and depressed just like before I started taking it.

Sorry to hear that. Thanks for sharing though.

Hopefully you'll find something to bring peace one way or another. Wishing you luck

 

[divinemistress36]

You could try transcranial magnetic stimulation or ketamine infusions . Helps some people

 

[denis]

Tried taking Escitalopram - didn't do anything to me. Increasing the dose invoked some weird sensations, teeth sensitivity, sleepiness, but no serious psychological shifts.

 

[BorderlineChellery]

I've tried pretty much every antidepressant and I've never really had one work. Most of them either make me really angry or more suicidal.
It can be really hard to find one that helps and that doesn't cause horrible side effects

 

[ropearoundatree]

Hi @Joker2003 - the antidepressant game can indeed begin to feel like a bit of a game of the roulette wheel for sure, with so many drugs, and different classes of them & what not (I think there were six, when I was last taking them, which was well over a decade ago)... so needless to say: some people, perhaps you, yourself will fall into this category? But at only the 3 mo. mark & with having tried only a couple of meds, do you for instance, happen to know if they were of separate or different drug classes (within the antidepressant realm/scope/or sphere: blanking on the same; category?). Anyway, just something to maybe think about, or consider, from somebody whose been on like at least no less than ten of them over time. They can combine them, even. Antidepressants, that is... But some people, are, indeed "med resistant," (can't remember if I've said that yet?). In addition to those other alternative therapies available, just previously mentioned, there is also ECT - w/which you may or may not be familiar. That for many or most, is viewed as sort of a more: "last line of defense." though, one in which, not everybody is willing to commit to, for reasons that can most certainly be understood.

Oh, and in my experience, which may or may not 'mirror,' your at all? The side effects, if present on a particular drug, are almost always present in the beginning, however, once on them for a while (as long as they generally take to kick in: which all depending, can be up to as much as 6-8 weeks, again, all-just-depending...) they tended to either blunt, go away altogether, or become more tolerable to the point where they didn't feel so severe, that they were interfering with my normal daily life, and functioning routine. That said, it wasn't always the case (that they got better) & so in those instances, I did (just) as you did. And cease to take them. Usually under my p-doc's care!

 

[ForgottenAgain]

After years of dealing with debilitating anxiety, depression, and a general sense of defeat, I finally decided to try antidepressants. Taking antidepressants was a last resort because literally nothing else is helping. I tried healthy diets, exercise, and social groups, but I still feel awful.

So a few months ago, I met with a psychiatrist and got on my first antidepressant. I was hoping that it would at least give me enough motivation to get out of the house and not want to die, but it did very little. The side effects were awful and included extreme insomnia, mild acne, body odor, and my gums began to bleed every time I brushed my teeth.

I met with the psychiatrist a few more times and switched to a different antidepressant, but that one didn't work either. I am now not taking any medication. I really thought that antidepressants could help me but they didn't. I am so tired of it all and wish to finally be at peace.

Did antidepressants help any of you?

Did you have any adverse side effects?

I took Sertraline and Venlafaxine. After around 3 or 4 weeks of side effects (feeling drugged, slow walking, drowsy, shaking) I started to stabilize and not feel such intense emotions. It became harder to cry too.

 

[Bianka]

Psych meds are a hit or miss. Talk to your doc, say it's not working

 

[cold_severance]

none of them helped and most didnt even had side effects, though when they did it hit hard, like zoloft made me nearly slip into psychosis. from what other people talk about meds efficiency, its best to switch psychiatrist and not the drug if its not working.

 

[girlsboysthems]

lexapro, effexor, trintellix, mood stabilizer thingy, seroquel and a few more. none helped, tried killing myself on effexor (had terrible withdrawal symptoms) and gained a lot of weight on seroquel. sucks dick.

 

[orAbleCk]

Been on them consistently going on 10 years and it's never helped me in the long run. Maybe minutely in the beginning where I'd have a little bit more motivation and improved mood but nothing that's lasted more than a week or two at most. So frustrating and I know there's tons of other meds I could try it's just at this point I'm tired of suffering from all the side effects. Had 20/20 vision for instance before taking these meds and now can barely see clearly like a forearm away from my face. Tired of the you have to give up something to gain something mindset you have to have with a med regime because it's really done me no favors. Have you considered that your medications metabolize abnormally for you - because apparently I did a test for that and that's why I don't really experience the positives of the medication I'm taking. My body just chews it up and spits it out before I'm able to benefit from it, at least from what I understand. Could be worth looking into something like Genomap/mind.

 

[lita-lassi]

i was on low dose generic prozac for a while but i honestly dont know if it helped or had any side effects. at the time i was stuck in a severely abusive relationship, fearing for my sanity and safety every day constantly. i was so stressed out that i was unable to remain sober or stable for a long enough chunk of time to assess anything. if the environment is constantly keeping one in panic attacks and crying jags and is progressively getting worse, its hard to tell the effectiveness of any medication. im just glad if there were any side effects they weren't bad enough to notice

edit: ofc then i fled for safety and had no way to tell my scrip so i went through some pretty shit withdrawal for a while :/

 

[druggedonsurvival]

Lexapro helped me for several years. I'm still on it now but here I am suicidal again. What that has taught me is that medications are not an all-purpose solution. If it was "working" before for me, why is it suddenly not working now? No, the truth is that it's doing exactly what it's designed to do: give me a seratonin boost. But obviously my problems are such that a little bit of seratonin is not going to resolve them. I think that is why antidepressants do not work for so many people, because our issues cannot truthfully be boiled down to a so-called "chemical imbalance." I don't want to say that nobody should ever take them though, because I think for some people they are helpful, but oftentimes it's simply not enough on its own.

 

[Naked Weapon]

I've tried every anti-depressant on the market and they've all been sugar pills for me. The only things that seems to help my mood are benzos, but taking those also means that I sleep 16 hours a day. I'm also currently trying out lamotrigine after dabbling in every other mood stabiliser (also sugar pills).

 

[FireFox]

I once read on a old comment on a depression online forum about anti depressants when prescribed by a doctors. The person explained that everyone has different experiences with various types of antidepressants some people will react better to certain types however others will not have good experiences vice versa.

The person explained further it is common that a person can end up trying different anti depressipants and then eventually finding the right one that works for them. It is trial and error unfortunately.

The human body is very strange and doctors are still learning everyday new things about people's experiences with modern medicines.

Keep talking to your doctor

 

[Joker2003]

I once read on a old comment on a depression online forum about anti depressants when prescribed by a doctors. The person explained that everyone has different experiences with various types of antidepressants some people will react better to certain types however others will not have good experiences vice versa.

The person explained further it is common that a person can end up trying different anti depressipants and then eventually finding the right one that works for them. It is trial and error unfortunately.

The human body is very strange and doctors are still learning everyday new things about people's experiences with modern medicines.

Keep talking to your doctor

Thank you for the advice, but I'm definitely done with antidepressants.

Psychiatry is such a new branch of medicine, and the evidence that psychotropic medication does anything beneficial at all is very much lacking. I've been depressed for nearly seven years now, and a recent MRI scan showed that I have multiple brain lesions (doctors currently think I have a demyelinating disease like multiple sclerosis). I may have biological depression due to neurological damage.

My psychiatrist basically said that my neurologist can take over on my mental health treatment.