finally on anti depressants

[anibioman]

my psychiatrist is finally prescribing anti depressants i forget what the type is called. apparently it will take 4-8 weeks for the full effects to set in. apparently it needs to build up to fully work. ill be on 50mg and there shouldnt be any major side effects.

apparently this should help with my ADD and depression which is good since i have problems with both. i think the depression made the ADD worse since it was easily controlled without medication before my depression started.

so i hope this will help me.

[Joeyboo~ :3]

-claps-

o:

[Thrall]

you didn't mention the type, so i can't be more specific (would be interesting if you found the name of your AD).
however, im guessing it's SSRI, the one kind that works on your serotonin. they always get prescribed as a first solution. It's normal, if you don't feel any change/feel even worse during 4 weeks. and after that you most definitely will feel much better.

[Felix]

Congratulations, and be patient with it.

I'm trying to do the same thing, but my doctor told me to go find a psychiatrist who takes my insurance, and that's been a little frustrating.

I hope you feel better.

[anibioman]

im on Pristiq (Desvenlafaxine) it is a serotonin norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs) ive been reading more about it.

[Sharky]

Good luck. I never had any luck with anti depressants. The first one I tried was Lexapro after about 2 weeks I felt great and had tons of energy, then I went back to how I normally feel. I tried a bunch over the years. The last one was Cymbalta. I got less frequent headaches, but when I did they were horrible. If I was a few hours late taking a pill I would feel like crap and get a migraine. Every time I stood up I would feel like my brain was getting electrocuted. Getting off it sucked.

[Thrall]

i was on venlafaxine (SNRI as well) for 2 years. (and now i'm 1.5y off any meds).
worked great, i think it literally saved my life.
still i had some side effects for first month: nausea, anxiety, loss of appetite.
and when i was getting off them (or forgot to take a pill) i got really weird blinking feeling in my head.

feel free to ask any questions if you experience any strange feelings. and i wish those meds help you as they helped me

edit: i forgot to mention the best part - the dreams. its the positive side effect, that the dreams on snri might become so frequent, interesting and awesome, that sleeping becomes a really attractive activity.

[anibioman]

thanks Thrall, for the info. ive been felling optimistic so thats always good, raised my overall moods.

[insideontheoutside]

Yeah good luck with that. When they stop working, or fail to fix all your problems, I'd recommend detoxing from them (usually a nice long step-down procedure to get off anti depressants once you're on them - even when they aren't working) and look for alternatives to the drugs. They're out there, but people just want that easy fix and think that the drugs are going to be that magic bullet that changes everything.

And by all means if you start to feel more suicidal or more depressed (that's one of the super fun side effects of lots of anti-depressants, including Pristiq) tell your doctor immediately.

[Thrall]

 insideontheoutside, anti - AD propaganda? really? i don't think it's time and place to do so.
do you have any medical education?

you are right about feeling more suicidal as a common side effect. i had it myself, but it was basically because i started having energy to do things, as opposed to just lying in bed with a laptop on my stomach and eating for like half a year.

depression is really like diabetes - your body fails to produce or is resistant to some certain essential hormones (in depression case - neurotransmitters). would you say to a person with a high blood sugar "insulin won't fix your problems"? it definitely will fix one big problem. but of course there are no pills to improve social relationships, solve problems at work and so on. but having right balance of neurotransmitters in your brains really helps.

on the other hand, i just thought that you might be american - i have heard a lot of bad things about united states' health care system, including doctors just prescribing meds and not even trying any other kind of therapy.

[anibioman]

i had it myself, but it was basically because i started having energy to do things, as opposed to just lying in bed with a laptop on my stomach and eating for like half a year.

^sounds what ive been doing.

ive heard of doctors prescribing ADD meds and anti depressants really easily. my doctor was really good we talked a lot before anything. also ive tried talk therapy for almost a year before getting on anti depressants.

[Felix]

I don't think I've ever met anyone who expected antidepressants to be a magic bullet. It's just another tool, and not a very predictable one at that.

Depression is heavy, though. It's worthwhile to try anything that is safe and might help.

Though I agree that the fewer drugs you can take and still function well, the better.

[insideontheoutside]

insideontheoutside, anti - AD propaganda? really? i don't think it's time and place to do so.
do you have any medical education?

I think it's the exact time and place to do so. It's funny that people think talk like that is "propaganda". My "education" is in pharmaceutical marketing (which I'll let you in on a little secret ... that IS propaganda ... so much so that I refused to work with any more of them because I still have some moral, ethical fiber left in my body) and also personal experience. I was on them - and so have at least two dozen people I personally know, one of whom is no longer with us because she committed suicide earlier this year after going on a new anti-depressant (after being on 3 different ones in the course of 3 years).

When it comes to anti-depressants, I have yet to see 100% proof from any source that anti-depressants do anything (except cause side effects). When placebos in studies have similar effects, why wouldn't you question the effectiveness? Oh right, they don't exactly put those on public display do they? Those studies ... or who's in their control groups ... or how many actual adverse reactions were experienced ... etc.

Of course simply knowing about the inner workings of the pharmaceutical industry and all the personal experience I have on the topic isn't enough for someone who believes in the medication and what their doctor says (never mind that the drug companies have their pushers ...ooops I mean sales force ... offering "gifts" to doctors for filling more prescriptions ... that's all part of the marketing though.)

What anti-depressants may (note the use of the word "may" - that's important in the legal department - because you can't actually claim or verify that it will help with anything - only that it "may" treat something) be, is enough of a crutch for someone to get back on their feet - but I'll tell you right now that statistically, people will not get off the meds, and when they stop working or they find themselves unable to cope with regular life again, it starts a very vicious cycle - one that the pharmaceutical industry makes a considerable amount of money on (even with all the lawsuits and the marketing budgets). Even if you do go on an anti-depressant (or anti-anxiety med for that matter) you should be trying alternatives and additional coping mechanisms so that you do not rely on a pill.

Believe what you want. I've said what I wanted to say on it - and the only reason why I do speak up about it is I have a genuine concern for people - unlike the pharmaceutical industry - who have gone through depression or anxiety like I have. I'm saying there are alternatives out there. I've used them. And unlike the drugs, the alternatives did help make me a lot healthier. I no longer experience depression or anxiety like I had. I overcame anxiety and depression that was so bad I would not leave my house for 3 months straight. Depression isn't just a chemical imbalance in the brain, nor is anxiety or panic disorder. Feelings of depression and anxiety are a normal experience of life - it's when those experiences become on-going and every day occurrences that they actually become symptoms of a larger problem. The drugs do not, "right a chemical imbalance" - that's the marketing, folks. Some can mask the symptom of depression (Xanax can, for instance, for a little while) but I'm telling you, it's not something you should be thankful to get on. Do not use it as a fix all. Explore the alternatives.

[Felix]

Oh come on insideontheoutside, everybody knows pharmaceutical reps are bad news and just shilling, and nobody really thinks the pharmaceutical companies are out for anything but profit.

Not dogging you or addressing anything else you said, just throwing in that I don't think laymen or medical people have any illusions about those guys.

[insideontheoutside]

Oh come on insideontheoutside, everybody knows pharmaceutical reps are bad news and just shilling, and nobody really thinks the pharmaceutical companies are out for anything but profit.

Not dogging you or addressing anything else you said, just throwing in that I don't think laymen or medical people have any illusions about those guys.

Dog me, personally, however you want, but you're brushing off the fact that money is driving the industry - it's not powered by researchers with a genuine concern to help people get healthy. These are products. Products that don't work as advertised yet have been marketed that they do and have side effects up to and including death (if you consider death a "side effect").

[Felix]

I'm not brushing off the money at all. There are several drugs that I've refused to take or backed out of last minute because they have horrible track records that smack of corruption and danger (chantix most recently). I know money is a problem. There is a decent movement among medical students to stop accepting bribes from the companies, but there's no corresponding movement among actual researchers because it's publish or perish and you have to make a living.

I stand up for drugs for depression because it's a dire situation, and I stand up for any straw even barely worth grasping at. We can use these drugs responsibly if we're careful. Not saying they should be a frontline response to regular sadness or new depression. If they don't work, they're still not that much different or more harmful than a lot of things depressed people try.