Discussion Have you ever benefited from antidepressants?

[heartbroken12]

I haven't benefited from them, but they have definitely caused me severe trauma. Luckily the effects are reversible over a long enough time period and I'm about 95% recovered from them now.

It can happen, numbing pain and pleasure in a way that is uncomfortable at best and possibly very disturbing. For me it wasn't the same as depression, it felt very unnatural, like I wasn't feeling "correctly." Anything that makes the brain function worse is not a good drug imo, more like a chemical lobotomy. But of course individual experience will vary.

That's exactly my experience. For some people the trade off might be worth it (to function at work etc) but I literally feel nothing, other than the uneasy feeling that comes from that. I started back on fluoxetine almost 2 weeks ago. Everything hurts less, but I'm a robot and I don't care about anything.

 

[LiminalFantasies]

In 2017, I was prescribed citalopram by my first psychiatrist. At first, it was for treating schoolwork related anxiety and helped me reduce the anxious feelings, until 3 years later. I have a tendency to taking them on and off, but been on citalopram for so long that I developed a tolerance to it. Once that happens, it does nothing to me.

In Janurary 2021 with my 2nd psychiatrist (which is more competent and also by just a few minutes away from my home), prescribed me Zoloft (Sertaline) along with the stimulant Ritalin (Methylphenidate). Ritalin worked much better in managing heavy workload anxiety than citalopram. He prescribed Sertaline not because I have depression, but rather to control intrusive thoughts (in my case, thoughts of suicide that arose without warning and when dealing with stressful situations). I felt helped me to reduce the frecuency of such thoughts, but not completly.

A couple of months ago, I've been having easy bruising of unknown origin. Later, a few weeks ago on the bathroom, I exprienced heavy "external rectal bleeding" (I do not know other words to describe it, TBH) from pushing too hard and created a fissure there. It was bright red once I saw it, which left me emotionless wondering why I bleed so hard from it... I told that to my psychiatrist along with easy bruising, and he changed it to Fluvoxamine (Luvox, and yet another SSRI). He told me that SSRIs acts like a anticoagulant, which makes someone to easily break tiny capillaries in the body (hence my easy bruising and bleeding) and to become more watery as well.

I've been feeling that I'm staring to develop a tolerance to Sertaline after 2 years (also was taking them on and off between short periods of time, which makes me that I'm not quite following the instructions, perhaps from forgetting them when I felt good enough to go through the day and when stress-free from any heavy tasks).

I can't say much about fluvoxamine since after 3 days I've having vertigo and I erroneously assumed it was the medication. Then went to my main psyhician and then discovered a red dot in my left ear canal as the source of the vertigo, and remember that I've cleaned my ears with a Q-tip cotton swab to remove the earwax and injured it while doing that.

 

[une vie grotesque]

i've tried so many different antidepressants in my life. i feel like some made me worst, while other made me apathetic at best. of course, i always took them with a mood stabilizer so i don't go into mania. all in all, i think they've helped me to a point. i wish i could feel genuine happiness tho.

atm i take 3x 10g escitalopram a day (sold in the states as lexapro), 2x 100mg lamotrigine a day (sold as lamictal) and 3x 50mg quetiapine at night so i can sleep without hallucinations (sold as seroquel) and i feel they keep me at bay. lately i've been kinda down tho, so i might try to change the meds.

 

[novem]

my only anti-depressant is vodka and it works while i am drunk so far

fukc it is not working any more—caused me to faint several times when standing on my feet and a terrible nausea without vomiting, can't do this anymore...

 

[Whistea]

Only short-term. I was prescribed Mirtazapine, a sedative antidepressant. I slept like a brick, had very vivid 4K blockbuster movie dreams and was generally really stoic and calm. At first it really helped, but then the effect wore off and I had to increase the dose. Felt fine again for a while until the effect wore off and I had to increase the dose yet again. That happened, three times I believe? At that point I was swallowing two pills daily, so I decided to stop it, cause I did not see a potential for improvement. And guess what, you can't just stop taking Mirtazapine. Side-effects straight from hell. Of course my doctor or the medication letter didn't mention this even once. But eventually I managed to get off it, by very slowly lowering the dose.

 

[Room237]

tried too many, but the only one that worked for me was vortioxetine, but it caused me terrible nausea so i had to quit

 

[NeverEnding]

I

Only short-term. I was prescribed Mirtazapine, a sedative antidepressant. I slept like a brick, had very vivid 4K blockbuster movie dreams and was generally really stoic and calm. At first it really helped, but then the effect wore off and I had to increase the dose. Felt fine again for a while until the effect wore off and I had to increase the dose yet again. That happened, three times I believe? At that point I was swallowing two pills daily, so I decided to stop it, cause I did not see a potential for improvement. And guess what, you can't just stop taking Mirtazapine. Side-effects straight from hell. Of course my doctor or the medication letter didn't mention this even once. But eventually I managed to get off it, by very slowly lowering the dose.

came off Mirtazapine towards the end of last year and had a number of issues that I'm sure were to do with withdrawing. What were your effects? BTW, I'm back on Mirt again as I'm in a downward spiral but having a meds review next week.

 

[Whistea]

I came off Mirtazapine towards the end of last year and had a number of issues that I'm sure were to do with withdrawing. What were your effects? BTW, I'm back on Mirt again as I'm in a downward spiral but having a meds review next week.

You mean the withdrawal effects when I tried to stop cold turkey, right? They were: inability to sleep, extreme anxiety, racing heartbeat, shaking, severe suicidal urges, and the worst of all by far, something that I can only describe as an electric shock in my brain.
The less severe side effects, inability to sleep, anxiety and shaking also happened when I was just a few hours late with taking my dosage, that's when I knew shit was going south. I'm glad I managed to get off it to be honest. Even though I miss the strong sedative effect and the dreams at times, it isn't worth it. Long-term it just fucks me up more.
That being said, as you are probably aware, the effects and side effects of antidepressants can be extremely different from person to person. It saves some, kills others and everything inbetween. The only way to find out how it effects you is to try it, but I personally will never take them again and I would advise anyone to be extremely careful. This shit directly messes with your brain after all and the funny thing is, even doctors don't know how it works 100%.

 

[NeverEnding]

You mean the withdrawal effects when I tried to stop cold turkey, right? They were: inability to sleep, extreme anxiety, racing heartbeat, shaking, severe suicidal urges, and the worst of all by far, something that I can only describe as an electric shock in my brain.
The less severe side effects, inability to sleep, anxiety and shaking also happened when I was just a few hours late with taking my dosage, that's when I knew shit was going south. I'm glad I managed to get off it to be honest. Even though I miss the strong sedative effect and the dreams at times, it isn't worth it. Long-term it just fucks me up more.
That being said, as you are probably aware, the effects and side effects of antidepressants can be extremely different from person to person. It saves some, kills others and everything inbetween. The only way to find out how it effects you is to try it, but I personally will never take them again and I would advise anyone to be extremely careful. This shit directly messes with your brain after all and the funny thing is, even doctors don't know how it works 100%.

Yes, I didn't go cold turkey, I halved my dose each month for 3 months. But, I had things like clenching my fists in my sleep so much so that my palms hurt the whole of the following day. Electric shock feelings in my fingers and itching of the fingers. Insomnia.

 

[stermc]

Yes, but it took me more than 10 years to find the right ones, especially because I would give up on meds really quickly. The one I take nowadays is venlafaxin and together with all the other meds I take, it helps me.

 

[eashanm]

Mirtazapine to help solve my insomnia issues

Did it help your insomnia? I'm also having sleep issues and wondering which med to take

 

[Shadowlord900]

Did it help your insomnia? I'm also having sleep issues and wondering which med to take

I'm still having insomnia issues despite taking them. But I can't tell if they're actually helping me sleep longer or doing nothing at all. But I've only taken them for about a week so I'm gonna give it another week before deciding whether to drop them or not.

 

[redbathingduck]

The past few years I've been on mirtazapine, escitalopram. sertraline, quitiapine, nortrilen (+ lithium) and now I am on tranylcypromine, a MAOI. For most of these the side effects weren't anything that bad honestly and I had no problem stopping either, but they didn't help with my depression in the slightest. The tranylcypromine that I'm on right now is known for working well against treatment-resistent depression so I'm hoping it'll finally do something. I am already on the pretty maximum dosage of 60/mg a day. Some other people say that they have seen some differences in me but pretty irregularly and not consistent. I still feel like shit and depressed all the time but my anxiety seems to have lessened a bit making things like doing groceries either which is nice I guess. I've had some moments where I would feel kind of ok for a few hours? But they didn't really last and honestly it's almost annoying how fast it can change. As for side effects I get dizzy when standing up sometimes, dry mouth which I was already used to due to lithium anyway and sexual dysfunction which I couldn't care less about as a trans woman tbh. I do need to follow a diet and I'm not allowed to eat certain foods but it's not super hard to follow, for me at least

Though they haven't worked for me I don't wanna talk down on antidepressants entirely cause I do know people where they worked really well and helped them immensely. It's sadly different for everyone and there's not a consistent best option. Generally from what I hear from my psychiatrist is that just taking an antidepressant won't do much and they're most effective when you follow therapy alongside as well (have been doing that this entire time too but ALAS) But yeah most of the time they're more so meant as an aid and sadly not a miracle cure or anything cause like people said it doesn't get rid of the root cause of someone's problems or anything like that, but I do think they can really help people

 

[Ki_Nam]

Didn't work for me 10 years ago. Might go see a therapist soon to get more. Who knows what could happen. If there's a medication that could help, I'm willing to try.

 

[no.factory.farms]

I got hives from Lexapro and Prozac, and my psychiatrist told me that I shouldn't try any more serotonergic drugs because my system doesn't seem to tolerate them. So that means no Cymbalta, Effexor, Zoloft, any other SSRI/SNRI, and likely no tricyclics either.

I tried Wellbutrin and it made me incredibly anxious but not less depressed. It made me hot and twitchy too.

Honestly, I think prescription stimulants (Vyvanse, Adderall, Ritalin, Focalin, Concerta) are better antidepressants than all of the above. Adderall and Vyvanse helped me feel better, but unfortunately I got a rash from both of them. Focalin helped and didn't seem to give me an allergic reaction but made me significantly more socially anxious so I stopped it. I'm considering trying a lower dose of Focalin soon. But if you want to try meds, I would recommend saying you have ADHD and trying a stimulant. ADHD symptoms are the part of depression in my opinion - you can't seem to focus on anything or get anything done.

Stimulants are not great for everyone though. For some they are quite bad and cause a lot of anxiety and/or dependency/addiction.

Good luck and keep us updated if you feel like it!

 

[DerOesi]

I had OCD and took antidepressats for it and now i suffer from horrible potentially irreversile side effects (sexual dysfunction, emotional numbness, cognitive dysfunction). Antidepressants are actually the thing ehy i am suicidal now. I think they can help some people but some people can get their lives destroyed by them as well unfortunately

 

[Yakamoz]

Never used them, heard they are reducing the libido, which is awful. Reminds of the film called The Lobster

 

[guayabas]

I've heard that antidepressants make you numb/emotionless. Is that true? I mean what could be more numb than being depressed itself?

didn't/don't make me numb at all. been on them for 10 yrs now. I hope you're able to ease your depression somehow <3

 

[shinohara]

tried several SSRI's that never affected me at all. The only time I ever got any noteable side effects was when I was weaning off one (effexor I think?). Just made me sadder than usual, which was annoying and confusing but bearable. I have tried some non-traditional medication for depression (and ADHD), but none of them worked either.
I have talked to my doctor about trying again, but they seem hesitant and just suggest therapy again

Honestly, I think prescription stimulants (Vyvanse, Adderall, Ritalin, Focalin, Concerta) are better antidepressants than all of the above. Adderall and Vyvanse helped me feel better, but unfortunately I got a rash from both of them. Focalin helped and didn't seem to give me an allergic reaction but made me significantly more socially anxious so I stopped it. I'm considering trying a lower dose of Focalin soon. But if you want to try meds, I would recommend saying you have ADHD and trying a stimulant. ADHD symptoms are the part of depression in my opinion - you can't seem to focus on anything or get anything done.

I take a stimulant (for ADHD) and somewhat agree. I imagine the mood I'm in while taking it is what normal people feel all the time.
I think the resistance against anyone other than people with ADHD using them can be a bit overzealous at times