For people that started medication recently, what's it like?

[SweetChariot]

I decided to give therapy a try since i've been in agony every night with my thoughts, idk what they'll give me but most likely some kind of antidepressant? maybe even put me in a ward since i would most likely tell them my ideation? who knows
So yeah i'd like to know what's it like for you guys that are medicated recently and maybe the experience surrounding therapy

 

[Secro]

They never worked for me, says someone with over 10 years of experience with this type of medication.
I meant not only antidepressants, but any kind of medication that is supposed to treat the psyche.

 

[auti]

I'm not newly medicated but I can say a thing or two about my experiences with meds. My very first one was 50mg sertraline (this is considered a starter dose). I experienced no effects until several weeks in. At that point my mood did start to lift but only temporarily. The biggest change is I was psychotic before starting sertraline and after a few weeks I wasn't experienced those symptoms anymore. Eventually my dose got bumped up to 200mg (max dose) and it continued to be effective for the psychosis for a few months before that stopped too. But my mood went back down again quite quickly, like within weeks of a dose change. After that they started giving me random cocktails and I couldn't even keep track of which was which. I developed tremors and fatigue. My worst experience was with venlafaxine which made my suicidal ideation so much worse and made the tremor almost unbearable. Aripiprazole caused me to develop restless legs and bupropion gave me more stomach issues. Everything else made me exhausted. For most I would have temporarily increased mood followed by a dip so they would increase my dose and the same thing would happen until I maxed out and they would just switch my meds. I didn't find any of them to be at all useful in the long run. Some people find a good med for them and are able to stick with it but that wasn't my experience obviously haha

I'm not newly medicated but I can say a thing or two about my experiences with meds. My very first one was 50mg sertraline (this is considered a starter dose). I experienced no effects until several weeks in. At that point my mood did start to lift but only temporarily. The biggest change is I was psychotic before starting sertraline and after a few weeks I wasn't experienced those symptoms anymore. Eventually my dose got bumped up to 200mg (max dose) and it continued to be effective for the psychosis for a few months before that stopped too. But my mood went back down again quite quickly, like within weeks of a dose change. After that they started giving me random cocktails and I couldn't even keep track of which was which. I developed tremors and fatigue. My worst experience was with venlafaxine which made my suicidal ideation so much worse and made the tremor almost unbearable. Aripiprazole caused me to develop restless legs and bupropion gave me more stomach issues. Everything else made me exhausted. For most I would have temporarily increased mood followed by a dip so they would increase my dose and the same thing would happen until I maxed out and they would just switch my meds. I didn't find any of them to be at all useful in the long run. Some people find a good med for them and are able to stick with it but that wasn't my experience obviously haha

Oh, also! Lamotrigine caused me to develop emotional numbness and I hated that!

 

[dirkw83]

I was put on 5mg olanzapine (anti psychotic) but mostly for sleeping. It fucked my sleeping up real good after a year and now I can't sleep without it anymore, dunno how to get out of this mess. Don't take this shit unless you have no choice.

 

[meowpuppy]

why not just, not tell them about ideation until you're ready to go to the psych ward? it doesn't sound like you are, from your post..

 

[SweetChariot]

I'm not newly medicated but I can say a thing or two about my experiences with meds. My very first one was 50mg sertraline (this is considered a starter dose). I experienced no effects until several weeks in. At that point my mood did start to lift but only temporarily. The biggest change is I was psychotic before starting sertraline and after a few weeks I wasn't experienced those symptoms anymore. Eventually my dose got bumped up to 200mg (max dose) and it continued to be effective for the psychosis for a few months before that stopped too. But my mood went back down again quite quickly, like within weeks of a dose change. After that they started giving me random cocktails and I couldn't even keep track of which was which. I developed tremors and fatigue. My worst experience was with venlafaxine which made my suicidal ideation so much worse and made the tremor almost unbearable. Aripiprazole caused me to develop restless legs and bupropion gave me more stomach issues. Everything else made me exhausted. For most I would have temporarily increased mood followed by a dip so they would increase my dose and the same thing would happen until I maxed out and they would just switch my meds. I didn't find any of them to be at all useful in the long run. Some people find a good med for them and are able to stick with it but that wasn't my experience obviously haha

Oh, also! Lamotrigine caused me to develop emotional numbness and I hated that!

Thank you for sharing your experience, can i ask why do you hate the emotional numbness effect? i've read it as a side effect and honestly at this point it sounds like something i can look forward to based on my condition but i get that from the description it's not exactly a fun thing

 

[Secro]

Thank you for sharing your experience, can i ask why do you hate the emotional numbness effect? i've read it as a side effect and honestly at this point it sounds like something i can look forward to based on my condition but i get that from the description it's not exactly a fun thing

I am emotionally numb and can only tell you that it is not a beautiful thing; emotions are what make life worth living, living like a robot is not living.

 

[auti]

Thank you for sharing your experience, can i ask why do you hate the emotional numbness effect? i've read it as a side effect and honestly at this point it sounds like something i can look forward to based on my condition but i get that from the description it's not exactly a fun thing

Me personally, I experienced emotional numbing naturally for a big chunk of my preteen/teen years and so reverting back to it was extremely triggering. I was still kind of expecting the emotions but not to the their full effect, which just feels wrong. I would end up feeling like I needed to cry and never being able to. It made me feel less than human.

 

[sadbh—itstimetogo🤎]

Sometimes drugs don't work at all; sometimes they work with short term side effects. It's really just a matter of trial and error.

Some drugs for me are legitimately life changing. Others, I can tell are making a subtle difference.

At this point, it's not improving my suicidal thoughts, but it doesn't make it worse. I'm a bit numb in certain ways, like I can't cry how I used to. In general, I find stimulants, sleep meds, and anxiety meds to be helpful.