Discussion Does anyone else feel better/the same without antidepressants?

[YourLocalEdgelord]

I wasted my time risking my health instead of improving it. Side effect after side effect and after five different meds, my doc just lost interest in finding another solution. What a scam. Back in spring, at only 20°C/68°F, I was overheating. He said literally "just deal with it". I wish I was making this up.

Then the heatwave last month at 41°C/105°F hit. Europe has like no ACs, btw. I was sitting in ice cold water and was STILL overheating.

That was the final straw.

Another doc who sees me for general health matters heard about this and immediately threatened to stop treating me if I don't continue my meds.

FUCK YOU ALL, JUST SAY YOU WANNA GET RID OF LOW INCOME INDIVIDUALS.

Anyway, good for all of those who found genuine help that way, but the rest of us get stigmatized and guilt tripped. I wanna talk more about that.

I'm free of meds now and feel BETTER than when I started.

 

[Salkak]

I was okay on meds . Was overheating too but still stayed on them. After a while things happened and I had to stop them. I felt amazing after stopping them but after 4 months I had something called delayed withdrawal from psychiatric meds use. It was unbearable anxiety and depression. I almost killed myself but my family saved me. Now I am back on meds but still have depression although not as debilitating. Basically High functioning depression and anxiety

 

[moriix]

the meds i tried last just made me feel very numb. i was spared some more unpleasant side effects but it definitely didnt feel.. good. I've read a lot of horror stories about meds which makes me really reluctant to try new ones :( but I've kinda reached my breaking point where I think I have to. also your doctors sound terrible, im so sorry they can be so cold and uncaring towards their patients. why even become a doctor if you hate helping people? smh...

 

[MessyNonsense]

Pharmacotherapy is over-glorified in our society. Yes some people get genuine relief on them, but for most of those people they don't realize that their meds are only a band-aid covering up the real problem. It's only a tiny fraction of a tiny fraction who actually have their problem solved by meds. I've said it before and i'll say it again: band-aid treatments can be great to give you relief, but you should use them to help support you while you do the thing that will actually fix the underlying problem.

Before anyone calls me a hippie (not that i'd take it as an insult), i'm talking about pharmacotherapy for mental health. If you just had a heart transplant and need to be on blood thinners or whatever (idk) then yeah meds can be great.

Sending hate to the shitty doctors of everyone in this thread

 

[alwayspissedoff]

I hate meds. they do nothing for me, and are a waste of money and time. even one caused me a fucking allergy and had to stop it. other ones nuked my libido...
yeah words can't describe how much I hate all of this.

 

[korchoi]

I fell into a state of severe depression after increasing my antidepressant dosage. I am also suffering from side effects caused by the medication, such as shortness of breath, fever, insomnia, Severe thirst and heart palpitations. I want to stop taking the medication, but I am not sure if that is possible.

 

[TwistedNightmares]

Antidepressants did nothing for me while I was on them. I still slept a ton and hated life even while I was taking a high dosage. As long as I am still trapped in an unhealthy environment, any type of medication will likely not work for me.

 

[Rev346]

I'm Stuck with them. Chronic pain and strains gave me depression and now if I go off of my meds the chronic muscle issues return in full force. Meds do nothing to my !mental psyche. That and I get withdrawal symptoms if I go 12 hours without a dose. in short, I wish I wasn't addicted to the meds but I have no choice unless I ctb.

 

[YourLocalEdgelord]

It's only a tiny fraction of a tiny fraction who actually have their problem solved by meds.

This right here. This tiny fraction have something in common: chemical imbalance. It's a serious and real condition. But it got rebranded to diagnose everyone with it who defies the system. Too loud, too defiant, too poor... congrats, you've got chemical imbalance!

No, the rest of us have a working brain and recognize our lives are shitty and unfair. It's not our fault. Drugs don't make a poor person wealthy. Drugs don't make violence disappear. Drugs don't conjure up a job when you already have a degree, hundreds of job application and STILL get rejected.

Before anyone calls me a hippie

I considered adding the above to the post before I even made this thread, but I've seen so many flock together to defend the shit out of psych meds. I know they actually help some people, but it's still a crime that about 80% of us who should never take those get them prescribed anyway. It's insane how brainwashed society is to either think dangerous drugs (that are reported to leave lasting damage in some cases) are used as bread and butter medicine, or that they can just insult and scream at us for our opinion. This is like the suicide discussions all over again.

I want to stop taking the medication, but I am not sure if that is possible.

wish I wasn't addicted to the meds but I have no choice unless I ctb.

There's resources online and on reddit that show how to taper VERY SLOWLY depending on dose and type of med. There's entire schedules lasting several months. For example, if your meds are capsules, you can open them and count the beads inside.

 

[Rev346]

I titrated off but even with doctor approval it was rough. Tin foil brain shocks, vertigo, and lethargy. Took about 3 months to get off and after being clean 6 months I ended up back in psych ward because physical muscle issues were so bad I began self harming again and prepping to ctb. Kept asking how to heal my back and I got lectured for thinking ctb was even a possible option by multiple doctors and then told to be put back on SSRI.
I'm so ready to ditch this worthless shell.

 

[YourLocalEdgelord]

Tin foil brain shocks, vertigo, and lethargy.

I see others mentioning brain shocks all the time. It baffles me that doctors just accept this. I had those too, as well as nausea, headaches, libido issues, heat and sweating. Good riddance

Kept asking how to heal my back and I got lectured for thinking ctb was even a possible option by multiple doctors and then told to be put back on SSRI.

What the fuck. Medieval times say hi.

 

[Rev346]

I see others mentioning brain shocks all the time. It baffles me that doctors just accept this.

I've told doctors that I don't like being addicted and having withdrawal symptoms. Their reply is "that's a discontinuation symptom not a withdrawal symptom." The phrase "discontinuation symptom" is even used in the scientific literature. It sucks.

 

[starboy2k]

FUCK YOU ALL, JUST SAY YOU WANNA GET RID OF LOW INCOME INDIVIDUALS.

i definitely resonated with what you said, especially with me taking hiv meds (ik it's not the same as antidepressants but sucks nonetheless ).
that biktarvy shit had me in hyperhidrosis overdrive, short of breath, fatigued and dead inside.

but this quote is specifically why i don't feel bad about the state of the economy and the slow erasure of the "middle class."
the normies fail to realize that when you get rid of the poor folks, you're very much next in line to become the new impoverished class.

they never learn.

 

[reajuu]

I took Zoloft for five months, honestlit didn't make a big difference for the first month I was sleeping a lot and was unable to get angry (don't know how to explain) and then nothing. I stopped cold turkey and it didn't affect me apart from having a migraine for like 2 days. I also tried Prozac for 4 months, and the first week I couldn't sleep and I had really weird dreams (I still have them sometimes) but that was all. I also stopped cold turkey. I don't remember feeling better on meds, I felt pretty much the same except I cared less about what I was eating I think, but yeah I didn't get any relief. I do think meds can be effective in some instances tho. Maybe I should have stayed on them longer, who knows but I don't think I'll ever take antidepressants again. I still want to die and nothing can change that. And I don't think meds truly "cure" you, they were not creating for that in my humble opinion.

 

[YourLocalEdgelord]

I've told doctors that I don't like being addicted and having withdrawal symptoms. Their reply is "that's a discontinuation symptom not a withdrawal symptom." The phrase "discontinuation symptom" is even used in the scientific literature. It sucks.

They immediately gaslight you if you question their practices. The worst case I've seen is a small group of patients suffering from a condition called PSSD (post ssri sexual dysfunction). It causes libido and arousal to completely disappear. This group has reported that, surprise, they became suicidal due to this.

What do doctors do? "This is clearly because you're depressed. Meds can't cause this!"

hyperhidrosis overdrive, short of breath, fatigued and dead inside

That's just straight up cruel, what the fuck. I hope you recovered.

the normies fail to realize that when you get rid of the poor folks, you're very much next in line to become the new impoverished class.

they never learn.

Well said!!!

stopped cold turkey

Me too. Aside from some gross side effects, I was mostly fine. We seem to be the minority with that, though.

 

[N@te]

the people commenting here are not a representative sample. People who were successfully treated by antidepressants are less likely to spend their time browsing a suicide forum compared to people who were unsuccessfully treated

 

[StoneCactus]

I've had multiple doctors tell me that about 10% of people who try antidepressants find they make them worse, and a lot of them are bipolar. I was put on antidepressants as a child and teen and they made me agitated, violent, and just basically a terrible person. I got off of them after moving out of my parents' house and felt a lot better. Many years later I developed bipolar and while bipolar meds have terrible side effects they do what it says on the tin.

 

[thelostautistic]

I've tried 4 different antidepressants I think? And one of them did improve my mood quite a bit. But it made me feel so emotionally numb and I hated that. I'd rather feel everything really intensely than barely anything. I'm choosing not to be medicated for my depression. It's not the wisest idea but I don't like the numbness.