Discussion What is your experience with psychiatric medications?

[Pessimist]

^

 

[ketaminelover]

Better than nothing I guess.

 

[homunculi]

i've taken prozac, zoloft, lexapro, wellbutrin, buspar, lamictal, and pristiq. was super anti-med for a long time because they were forced on me as a teenager but now that i'm older i am turning around on them. finding what works is really frustrating and has caused me to quit meds before without tapering off. zoloft was by far the worst one for me, it caused insomnia and hypomania. the withdrawal symptoms were so bad that i kept going back to it. i also was taking more than my prescribed dose at one point because i was 19 and stupid.

i cant remember which one but either prozac or lexapro gave me heart palpitations and a constant headache so i was taken off of it after a week.

wellbutrin, lamictal, and pristiq was a pretty good combo for me. i "probably" have bipolar type 2 (among other issues). i say "probably" because 3 different psychiatrists could only come to the conclusion that bp2 couldn't be ruled out based on my history but are still unsure if that's one of my many things i have goin' on.

 

[dust-in-the-wind]

Ive been on over 25 psych meds. Only 2 ever helped me but they seemed to lose effect after so many years. Most did nothing at all, some made me even worse.
Everyone is so different in how they respond.

 

[LostHighway]

SSRIs saved my life. It took trying a few to find the perfect one. It was like night and day. Before them I was SO depressed, apathetic and had looping negative thoughts I couldn't break out of. I felt no joy. Afterwards, I felt like ME. I was on them for nearly 30 years, even though I felt I didn't need them the last 15 years. I stayed on them because I didn't feel like dealing with the withdrawal. Withdrawing from SSRIs is notoriously difficult. But after a lot of research I found a way of doing it incredibly slowly. I mean so slow it's ridiculous. But it was an easy withdrawal. I would encourage anyone to go on them so is suffering. They may not help. But they sure as heck saved me.
BUT!!!!! If you are under 25 then it might be safer to take Wellbutrin. It's not an SSRI, but it's safer for young folks. I think some young people get worsening suicidal thoughts on SSRIs.

 

[fadedghost]

it's been horrible. they are all awful, the side effects are hell, it feels like a lot of them work much like shaking up a snowglobe but the snowglobe is your brain, your brain order and organization was created from effort and experience and these medications randomly increase certain chemicals in the hopes that altering the patterns and organization in your brain will somehow lead to happiness. i would especially stay away from them if you are intelligent if you can manage it as some of them decrease brain volume over time. if you can't get out of bed, however, and can't manage to go exercise or do anything, perhaps it makes sense to take them?

that being said, you probably shouldn't get data about this from people on a suicide forum, as we're a very specific subset of people who are more likely to not have had good experiences with medication. (people who recovered and had a great life aren't often on here?)

i am also really biased and my bias may make my view unscientific. ie, you should probably ignore my opinions on this

 

[EmptyBottle]

SSRIs saved my life. It took trying a few to find the perfect one. It was like night and day. Before them I was SO depressed, apathetic and had looping negative thoughts I couldn't break out of. I felt no joy. Afterwards, I felt like ME. I was on them for nearly 30 years, even though I felt I didn't need them the last 15 years. I stayed on them because I didn't feel like dealing with the withdrawal. Withdrawing from SSRIs is notoriously difficult. But after a lot of research I found a way of doing it incredibly slowly. I mean so slow it's ridiculous. But it was an easy withdrawal. I would encourage anyone to go on them so is suffering. They may not help. But they sure as heck saved me.
BUT!!!!! If you are under 25 then it might be safer to take Wellbutrin. It's not an SSRI, but it's safer for young folks. I think some young people get worsening suicidal thoughts on SSRIs.

mm, slow withdrawal also lines up with info i found online, even if it takes months or year(s), it reduces the risk of brain zaps and other withdrawal symptoms.

 

[wishingdeath]

Been on a fair few.
SSRI / SNRI didn't help or made it worse
Same with some anti psychotics
Lamictal is the only one I ever found beneficial
What I will say though is do your research before choosing effexor, its side effects are a nightmare.

 

[graveflower]

Didn't care for the SSRIs. Bupropion helps a bit. Low dose Abilify has been my saving grace. I didn't realize how much I'd been living my life on a different baseline until I started it. Has quieted down the salience/ideas of reference and overall fearfulness in my life. Crazy to be able to just go to Walmart and walk by other people without thinking they're out to get me, talking about me, plotting against me, etc. I don't care for some of the side effects but its helped me not feel so much of the psychosomatic gut pain. Will always experience the world a bit differently but the DPDR finally has a leash around it. Grateful for that. But that's just my individual experience. Might not apply to everyone else.

 

[hlchoo]

I am on duloxedine (SNRI)...the side effects that border me most is insomnia... :(

 

[korchoi]

I am taking Zoloft, Paxil, and Xanax, and my anxiety symptoms are being alleviated. Psychiatric medications should be used when necessary.

 

[_AllCatsAreGrey_]

I've been on a few. I have mixed feelings about them. I've taken several different ones - I can't remember them all. When I started them I was in a bad place and felt like I had to try something if I was gonna stick around. They helped for sometime. After a while I got worse. Then I was referred for Spravato (ketamine treatment). I found it the most helpful. After several months of Spravato I've now gotten off all of the other meds. I'm feeling much better after getting off of them. I had really bad brain zaps for a couple weeks, but I minimized it to get off of them. I was tired of prolonging it. At this point I'm going to avoid getting back on them. I hated how they made me feel.

 

[Salkak]

I am on lamitrogine, fluxotine, olanzapine and clonazepam. It does help me. But it suppresses all the emotions. I can't feel anything joy. This july my father passed away and I haven't cried at all. I feel nothing. But the plus side is I also don't feel anxiety. I just wish I could feel some happiness. That's all