Advice on Anti-Depressants

[Not-here-anymore]

I'm on anti-depressants atm, and combined with counselling, they've worked wonders. However, what everyone else said about different pills for different people is true.
Side-effects of most of them include headaches for the first few days, and rampant diarrhoea for the same time period. You have been warned. But still ,worth it in order to start feeling vaguely human again.

But I just am not strong enough to keep dealing with it. Y'know?

My frame of mind when I started taking them exactly. I was against them at first, and then I no longer had the mental strength to ignore the advice to start taking them. You'll feel like utter crap the first couple of days/the first week, but once they kick in, it's fucking magical. You forget what normal life is like after a long enough depression, and I assure you, it's a thing of beauty. I've been on them for 2 1/2 months, and absolutely everyone I know has noticed that I seem more capable of interacting with the world since.

 

[Buzz Killington_v1legacy]

A few things:

- They're not "happy pills". Ideally, they stabilize your mood so that you still feel all the same things, but things like depression no longer paralyze you. Things like getting off the couch and doing a load of laundry will seem possible instead of overwhelming.

- There are many different medications, all with different mechanisms and side effects. Finding the right medication (or mix) for a person is still more of an art than a science. It's better than it used to be, but still largely trial and error.

- The side effects can include feeling sedated, agitation, nausea, headaches, insomnia, and so on. They'll usually pass within the first two weeks as the medication builds up to a therapeutic blood level, so stick with it.

- Antidepressants aren't addictive. Anyone taking them to get high is a moron. It can, however, be dangerous to go off them cold turkey. Any responsible doctor will taper off your dosage to zero gradually while getting you off of one.

 

[Josh Kurber]

I must admit, I was rather dumbstruck to hear my name lol.

Also, I tried talking about it and venting to people, and it used to help, but it's gotten to the point where if I vent, it reminds me of the main reason I'm depressed, and it keeps my mind on it. I refused drugs for so long, hoping to find other things to help me, but it's just gotten worse, and that's the only reason I finally gave in to get meds.

I admit, I only used your name because I was too lazy to go quote and edit another post.

When you talk about venting, do you mean professionally? Just being clear.

Yeah, like talking to a psychiatrist or talking to friends. Doesn't really help me as it used to. Just sorta brings me down even more.

 

[Ham_authority95]

Soooo... this Wednesday I have an appointment to get some "happy pills" after three years of pretty bad depression.

I was wondering if anyone knew of a good anti-depressant with not many horrible side-effects. Though, I wouldn't mind some with weight loss side effects, hahahah.

Is your depression caused by a chemical imbalance in your brain? Or is it situation and caused by stuff like not having enough friends, not having a motivation in life, or by stress?

Unless it's the former, I wouldn't recommend anti-depression pills in any case. They get you dependent on them and every time you try to get off them, you end up more depressed than before.

Many causes of depression can be changed by stepping up and changing things in your life, and finding the right people to give you emotional support you in the mean time.

 

[Josh Kurber]

Soooo... this Wednesday I have an appointment to get some "happy pills" after three years of pretty bad depression.

I was wondering if anyone knew of a good anti-depressant with not many horrible side-effects. Though, I wouldn't mind some with weight loss side effects, hahahah.

Is your depression caused by a chemical imbalance in your brain? Or is it situation and caused by stuff like not having enough friends, not having a motivation in life, or by being unhealthy?

Unless it's the former, I wouldn't recommend anti-depression pills in any case. They get you dependent on them and every time you try to get off them, you end up more depressed than before.

Many causes of depression can be changed by stepping up and changing things in your life, and finding the right people to give you emotional support you in the mean time.

Both, actually. I get depressed by the tiniest of things that don't even make much sense. And there are the main things I am usually depressed about that stay on my mind for months, or years.

I had a depression screening, and it was mild to severe. So my psychiatrist wants me to take the pills the doctor gives me, then come back exactly two weeks after to check up on anything.

 

[Ham_authority95]

Soooo... this Wednesday I have an appointment to get some "happy pills" after three years of pretty bad depression.

I was wondering if anyone knew of a good anti-depressant with not many horrible side-effects. Though, I wouldn't mind some with weight loss side effects, hahahah.

Is your depression caused by a chemical imbalance in your brain? Or is it situation and caused by stuff like not having enough friends, not having a motivation in life, or by being unhealthy?

Unless it's the former, I wouldn't recommend anti-depression pills in any case. They get you dependent on them and every time you try to get off them, you end up more depressed than before.

Many causes of depression can be changed by stepping up and changing things in your life, and finding the right people to give you emotional support you in the mean time.

Both, actually. I get depressed by the tiniest of things that don't even make much sense. And there are the main things I am usually depressed about that stay on my mind for months, or years.

I had a depression screening, and it was mild to severe. So my psychiatrist wants me to take the pills the doctor gives me, then come back exactly two weeks after to check up on anything.

This changes everything, then. Since a professional has prescribed them, I would go ahead and take them.

 

[guardian001]

Most of them actually are addictive, but you're basically safe as long as you listen to the dosing instructions that your doctor/pharmacist give you.

Look up what "addiction" actually is before you hand out medical advice to someone on the subject.

I'm well aware of what addiction is, as well as that it's technically different from having withdrawals. But if they're going to be hurting for it when they stop, I'm going to tell them about it, and, for lack of a better word, it's going to feel like an addiction, even if it doesn't medically hit the criteria for it.

 

[Continuity]

Soooo... this Wednesday I have an appointment to get some "happy pills" after three years of pretty bad depression.

I was wondering if anyone knew of a good anti-depressant with not many horrible side-effects. Though, I wouldn't mind some with weight loss side effects, hahahah.

First, if you can manage without them then don't go on them - they are not "happy pills", they certainly won't make you feel happy at any rate, at best they will stop you feeling much of anything. Second, the side effects are significant, even for the selective ones with low side effect profiles. Third, if you do start taking SSRI's i'd recommend (from personal experiance) that you give prozac (fluxatine) a miss, its old and fairly unsophisticated and comes with a fairly large raft of side effects. Personally I found citalopram worked well for me at 60mg (and to a certain degree at 40mg), but unless you want to make your depression 10 times worse make sure you start at a small dose an work up, maybe start at 5mg, then 10, the 20 - don't just start taking 20mg straight away and certainly don't start higher than that.

Lastly look at the dosage range of whatever you're prescribed, if the target dose is 100mg and you're being prescribed 15mg then basically that is just a placebo (unless you're building up to the target as noted above).

 

[Bloodstain]

Personally I feel those happy pills don't really solve anything and cause way more hell than they'll ever solve.

You obviously don't quite know why one uses anti-depressants. They aren't meant to solve anything. They are meant to make solutions possible to begin with.

OT: Your doctor should prescribe you the right ones.

 

[redhd]

First off, to all those people who say that depression doesn't exist or that, if it does, should "just deal with it", are all a bunch of ignorant dumbasses. Depression is a legitimate disease. It just pisses me off so much that people say to just deal with it! They clearly have never had any confrontations with depression. I've been clinically diagnosed with depression for 5 years. For some people, it doesn't just "go away". My father suffers from depression and has been for entire life. He tried different pills for many years and to no avail. He is currently off the medication and yet still has the effects.

Anti-depressants aren't a cure. No one ever said there was a cure for depression. Anti-depressants only help to cope. Some do this by increasing the serotonin levels in your brain. This is my reason for taking anti-depressants. My body, since birth, hasn't made enough serotonin levels. It isn't a matter of dealing with anything. If this was so, people with diabetes should just deal with their uncontrollable insulin levels?

Depression isn't a choice. I didn't choose to be unhappy. It just happened. I take medication (Zoloft). The only side-effects I've noticed is trouble sleeping and vivid dreams. The dreams are sometimes quite entertaining. And the medication is not addictive. I only take the medication daily to help me cope. I've stopped taking my medication multiple times. The only effects I went through during the withdrawal was some vertigo.

So, bottom line, if you can't cope with the depression, get medication. Worse situation is that the script given to you by your doctor doesn't work. If that happens, he'll give you another one to try. Also, anti-depressants are supposed to be also taken with psychological counseling. Counseling is pretty much just talking to a person about your problems. They usually never say much, but when they do, they generally just give basic, i.e. interpretive, advice.

Secondly, don't listen to Tankichi, TestECull, or Yosharian. They've never had the problem you are currently having.

OT: I'm not a doctor. I'm just experiencing the same things you are. Talk to your doctor. Unless he's an ass who also doesn't believe depression exists. I've met people like that. And finally, it is never required on a job application what medications you are currently taking. It is VERY illegal to not only ask this question during job interviews or applications, but to base a hire on ANY medical problems. The only exception is the military.

 

[Buzz Killington_v1legacy]

whens the last time you heard of a Wild Roaming Animal dieing in mass?

bats [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colony_collapse_disorder], to name two off the top of my head.

 

[Buzz Killington_v1legacy]

But whens the last time you heard of a group of sheep dieing because of a Flu Virus?

Around 1835 [http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=dqUZS4k8XOwC&pg=PA330&lpg=PA330&dq=%22epidemic+catarrh%22+%22new+south+wales%22&source=bl&ots=6O4gWcBZiA&sig=nZDQq62WF6mY1LIuiNZqnnjZoXM&hl=en&ei=TPTFTOOnNc344AblkoC6Aw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=8&ved=0CDMQ6AEwBw#v=onepage&q=%22epidemic%20catarrh%22%20%22new%20south%20wales%22&f=false], or at least that's the first Google result I got:

Bennett, George. and Gibson, Andrew. and Sherwin, William. Reports on the epidemic catarrh or influenza prevailing among the sheep in the colony of New South Wales in the year 1835 [electronic resource] / by George Bennett, Andrew Gibson, William Sherwin [s.n.], Sydney : 1835

To be fair, there's apparently no modern consensus as to whether the disease was influenza, but it was definitely something respiratory and caused the deaths of over seven thousand sheep. If you insist on the flu, though, there's always the American equine influenza outbreak [http://www.horsetalk.co.nz/features/equineflu-131.shtml] of 1872.

 

[WolfThomas]

whens the last time you heard of a Wild Roaming Animal dieing in mass? Yes our Flu Scares and others are just over blown by the news but still. Whens the last time you heard of a mass amount of Eagles Dieing because of a parasite being wide spread through them. Sorry your analogy was poorly conceived lol. Bonus Fact. Sharks are immune to All STDs. With the Tuberculosis and Malaria ones though i understand medication but Antibiotics are my biggest problem. You know how many girls don't know that taking Antibiotics and Birth Control Cancels out the birth Control? Sorry just woke up mind is scattered.

I meant the animals part just as figurative language, but just off the top of my head in Australia are Koalas are dying in large number of chalmydia and Tasmanian Devils have this weird transmittable cancer thing killing them in big numbers. Even then diseases do not have to be fatal, to be very undesirable, animals in developing nations are rife with tapeworms and other parasites something which I wouldn't want to have. Yes there are animals immune to diseases but for Humans to get to that stage would require tremendous loss of life.

The treatment for Malaria and Tuberculosis is antibiotics (with other medications as well), you seem to have this notion that antibiotics are just for the flu, they're not, they're life saving in fighting bacterial infections. Before the develope of pencillin you were pretty screwed in an injury got infected, amputation was usually the only option (still a last resort now).

About the girls and birth control, that's largely an issue with poor education around the pill, rather than antibiotics. A girl going on the pill should have all the contraindications explained to her and it's up to her to make sure it's fine. Antibiotics should not be blamed for ignorance.

 

[Buzz Killington_v1legacy]

you seem to have this notion that antibiotics are just for the flu, they're not, they're life saving in fighting bacterial infections.

Not to mention the fact that antibiotics won't do jack against the flu, since the flu is a viral infection. (Antibiotics generally work by interfering with the structure or reproduction of a bacterial cell, and viruses function completely differently.)

 

[WolfThomas]

you seem to have this notion that antibiotics are just for the flu, they're not, they're life saving in fighting bacterial infections.

Not to mention the fact that antibiotics won't do jack against the flu, since the flu is a viral infection. (Antibiotics generally work by interfering with the structure or reproduction of a bacterial cell, and viruses function completely differently.)

Yeah quite right, however influenza can cause secondary bacterial pneumonia which is the major killer, not the actual flu. But yes the majority of the population should not have antibiotics and it's not good as it causes resistant strains to emerge.