How to deal with the tedium of medication?

[☆AwaitingEntropy☆]

I've been trying medication (antidepressants) for about a year, and so far have tried 6 different meds or combos, and while some have helped a little, none have had that 'aha!' moment of clarity and relief people claim they have. And not one has eased my urge to ctb.

How do you build the patience to keep trying new ones?

I am so exhausted, and I know a year and a handful of different prescriptions is nothing compared to what many people have endured until they found "the right combo." (And this isn't even counting the fact that I need to search for a good therapist.) But I'm already bored of it, and impatient. How do people do it? I don't know if I waited too long to seek help and have already given up, or if I should hold out a bit longer.

It's all so tiring, but the waiting makes it moreso.

 

[timf]

Boredom can come from having enough time to focus on something excessively. If it is possible, you may wish to add some activities to your schedule so that the focus on waiting can be diminished.

You might also wish to expand your search inquiry such as contacting a psychiatric nurse at a local hospital to ask what medications she has observed as being effective or whom she might recommend for therapy.

 

[wljourney]

All you can do is take it one day, one week at a time. It's been 15 years for me and some were better than others.

The need to CTB ebbed and flowed throughout the first 10 years and has been fairly steady over the last 5.

It's a very long and grinding process and I would say the hardest part was the hope when you start a new drug and then the massive let down when they won't work.

Having a therapist throughout this can help with that. Or a social worker who will be in your corner and advocate for you.

Wishing you that you find something that works.

 

[WhiteDespair]

for me it was a combo of sertraline and dexmethylphenidate which worked.

sometimes it's the combo.

 

[onlyanimalsaregood]

for me it was a combo of sertraline and dexmethylphenidate which worked.

sometimes it's the combo.

I'm also taking sertraline and it helps a lot.

 

[☆AwaitingEntropy☆]

Thanks for the advice, all.

So far, out of the ones I've tried, Sertraline has been the best at managing my anxiety and intrusive thoughts, but unfortunately it hasn't touched my depression at all, even at max dosage. My psychiatrist just switched me to escitalopram, to see if that does anything. I'm super nervous the switch will bring my anxiety and intrusive thoughts back, but fingers crossed.

 

[onlyanimalsaregood]

Thanks for the advice, all.

So far, out of the ones I've tried, Sertraline has been the best at managing my anxiety and intrusive thoughts, but unfortunately it hasn't touched my depression at all, even at max dosage. My psychiatrist just switched me to escitalopram, to see if that does anything. I'm super nervous the switch will bring my anxiety and intrusive thoughts back, but fingers crossed.

I'm sorry to hear that. In my case, sertraline really helps my depression. I truly hope that those new medication works better for you :)

 

[Spiritual survivor]

I'll tell u a secret. None of the meds they prescribe to u are going to fix anything in the longrun. Maybe some pple get some benefit for a time but your brain will develop tolerance to any drug they try on u. The main ways u can get better are maybe diet, exercise, being helped with solving problems in your life. Sometimes these medications can cause problems that u never anticipate and can actually harm u worse.

 

[Weebster]

By accepting that they're the equivalent of Smarties

 

[Hell-On-Earth]

I don't understand why Sertraline didn't work on me. My mood swings were worse, my anxiety was untouched and I became incredibly suicidal because of it. I've been really put off by SSRI's because of it. I was up to 150mg at one point and it really didn't help at all.

 

[neitherherenorthere]

TBH sometimes you just need to take a break from trying new medications. You're absolutely right in saying that it's an exhausting process, both the trying different meds and waiting to see if any of those meds work.

If you're taking something that sort of helps, even if it doesn't help as much as you need it to, you might be at a good place to just stop experimenting for a while. Give it a few months, or even a year. Give yourself some time to recover from the merry-go-round, then give it another shot when you're ready. However long feels right.

I won't lie, it's a difficult process, but try not to let your impatience get the better of you (easier said than done, I know). You'll get there eventually.

 

[everydayiloveyou]

by giving it the ole college try. When I first started meds, it was doing NOTHING for me. I wanted to stop so bad after like 4 weeks, but my psych would ask me to please do a full 3-month trial and see how I feel.

Once the 3 months passed, I felt more comfortable saying that this dose definitely didn't work. It also helped my psych, since she could see I was taking it properly and consistently, and exactly how I was reacting to it. To get through that long, I tried to think of it like a science experiment -- if I follow the rules I could be able to make a real, proper scientific conclusion that this wasn't working out, and that I gave it my best effort.

luckily my next dose increase was the sweet spot and changed everything for me. If you don't see your psych often, maybe see if theres an alternative so you can have someone follow youe progress more closely. Also, keep a mood journal. I've tracked my sleep, energy levels, depression/anxiety levels for years. It helped a lot to have a reference of my depressed baseline vs. my medicated baseline. I would also write notes if I had problems with side effects such as oversleeping or nausea.

best of luck, hopefully you find your therapeutic dose soon. Or, that you can find some kind of relief. Traditional psychiatric meds dont work for everyone but hopefully something else does it for you

 

[neitherherenorthere]

I tried to think of it like a science experiment -- if I follow the rules I could be able to make a real, proper scientific conclusion that this wasn't working out, and that I gave it my best effort.

I like this idea, though at least for me it would be hard to keep up that mindset for more than the first couple of medication trials. The fact that you managed to find a medication/dose that worked for you on your second try is extremely lucky.