Antidepressants

What does Jow Forums think of antidepressants? If a doctor is advising you to take them, should you take them or not?

Ideally I'd like to hear from people who have actually taken them? Whether they thought that antidepressants helped?

I've been taking one recently, mirtazapine a.k.a. Remeron. And yes it probably does make me less negative and slightly "happier", but I don't really want it. It's notorious for making you drowsy, and I can't get up in the mornings. Also it gives me these really vivid dreams. It's weird. It just feels like I'm not myself.

What do other people think?

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I've been on Effexor for about 3 years and I recently took the decision to taper off them. I think that antidepressants just aren't worth the side-effects + they're very powerful drugs that take months to taper off of.

>It just feels like I'm not myself.
This. Mine make me feel like I'm sort of drunk all the time or too tired. But I don't have the energy to kill myself so I guess that works

Venlafaxine, okay. In my country we usually use the chemical names, although I understand the brand names are usually used in America.

Do you have a job? I.e. you're still functioning in life? In which case antidepressants probably aren't necessary. Obviously we've all got to make these decisions ourselves at the end of the day though, whether we think we will hack it without them.

>Mine make me feel like I'm sort of drunk all the time or too tired
Same. What are you on if you don't mind me asking? Because mine, mirtazapine, is notorious for causing drowsiness. But others don't as much, I've heard. I have taken Prozac in the past, and yes that made me foggy headed, but it didn't give me drowsiness and lethargy in the same way as mirtazapine. If anything I was hyperactive on Prozac.

Antidepressant prescriptions in the UK have risen dramatically over the last decade, it basically doubled in the ten years between 2008 and 2018. And yet the suicide rate has stayed the same over that time period.

Maybe this means antidepressants are useless?

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There's lots of different kinds. if you have side effects you should let your doctor know and you can try a different one.

i've been on them since early this year and they help me. i dont feel any side effects either

I think they have been permanently fucking up little kids for 20 years now.
My 4 year old is hyper hurry, pump him full of speed until hes a zombie!

Not really. The majority of depressed people do not commit suicide anyways and just live with depression. If antidepressants help that majority then they are certainly not useless.

That's true although I'm in a quandary at the moment. I mentioned to my doc maybe two weeks ago that I wasn't a fan of my current one. I asked if I could switch. She said she'd refer it to some specialist because of my mental health history. And I was meant to hear back from that specialist with a couple of days. Guess I'll have to chase up that shit on Monday.

But they don't help at all. At best all an anti-depressant does is give someone just enough energy to go to work. They still feel largely unfulfilled or lost, they just do things that are expected of them rather than staying in bed all day. It's treating symptoms, but not the cause it's a total scam.

They don't usually prescribe them to children at all. Look at pic related, which is for England. The green line shows 0% of 7-12 year olds are prescribed them, and only 2% of 13-17 year olds. Then there's a massive jump for 18-24 year olds (adults), where it's just over 10% taking them. And it rises with age.

Source: newscientist.com/article/mg23931980-100-nobody-can-agree-about-antidepressants-heres-what-you-need-to-know/

>My 4 year old is hyper hurry, pump him full of speed
That sounds like you're talking about ADHD drugs like Ritalin. That's completely different to antidepressants.

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Hm, you might be right.

If someone is still functioning (they're able to go to work, they're just depressed as fuck and they hate their job) then in that case, antidepressants are probably stupid. The person should try and change their life somehow. Look for new jobs, or try and do something at work that's more interesting, whatever. Find the source of the issue and fix it.

But if someone is in a real shit position, like they've been unemployed for years, and they're thinking of suicide a lot - in that instance, would you say antidepressants are still a scam? They might help a person fix their life, potentially, when otherwise they might kill themselves.

Although I want to clarify that if the person in work wants to take antidepressant, then sure, it's up to them, and if they want to do it, go ahead. I just think that it's not the best first option. The best first option would be to identify what's making you unhappy in life and try and fix it.

Shameless attempted bump, want to see what people think.

I tried Sertraline, got serotonin syndrome and had to stop. Then switched to hydroxizine (not an AD) and it did the trick just fine. Idk why they prescibe SSRIs when some people just need something to calm down and sleep better

Interesting. Maybe I should try and get some of that since I have difficulty sleeping sometimes.

Serotonin syndrome, isn't that real serious? I thought people only got that if they overdosed or took multiple antidepressants at once?

Don't take any that are in the class of SSRI's, the most common type of antidepressants. They are literally not proven to be significantly more effective than placebo. I can't speak for others, but do your research. Personally I believe most if not all antidepressants are a scam/meme. There isn't really a known cure for depression which is why there are such an insane amount of antidepressant variants floating around and most depressed people get swapped to a bunch of different medications before eventually "finding one that works". Except it might just be that their life circumstances changed so much by the time they got to the "one that work" that their depression went away on its own. If you aren't currently living a healthy lifestyle, I would recommend trying that first before trying antidepressants. Only try them as a last resort if you are "doing everything right" in life but still depressed.

>Suicide rate hasn't increased in-line with population growth
>Somehow the medication is useless
Don't ever do stats.

I was on SSRI's (Citalopram, 50mg) when I was in my teens. Childhood trauma, abuse, homelessness manifested itself as depression.
>Did the drugs help
Antidepressants aren't a cure. Therapy is the cure. The general theory is that antidepressants put you in a state where you're happy enough to not focus on rumination and accept advice. The therapy is what allows you to fix yourself
>Did they help
Yes. Most definitely. Although the effectiveness is dependant on how honest you were during diagnosis, how long you've taken your treatment, how consistent you've been taking it, and although suffers prefer to blame their doctor rather than your own ability to take a pill in the morning.

>SSRI's & MAO's
Chances are, if you're really depressed, you'll be chucked on MAO's, great. They work by shutting down your body before you have an episode (hence people feeling drowsy) in order to stop you from doing it. SSRI's (since I'm not a medical professional, please don't use this as a substitute for treatment consultation), help to fix the serotonin production. You won't get the tiredness, but you'll get other effects too.
>You stop taking them
I think the biggest issue is that users tend to cycle on and off without telling their GP to assess them. They claim they feel better (which they are, since the drug is in their system) but symptoms crop back up during times of panic. I've gone off my SSRI's, nearly killed myself, only recovered since I went back to therapy.

N.b if anyone, suggests to not take medication, kindly tell them to fuck off. Antidepressants are supposed to be used in conjunction with therapy, and aren't a feasible long term solution to depression.

I’ve been on low dosage Prozac for about 3 months now and it’s helped my anxiety a lot. There are some side effects, but it’s worth it for me. Doesn’t make me “happier” per se, just more stable and composed

The best drug is deep breathing when the feelings hit, eating well, and exercising. Good music too

>If a doctor is advising you to take them

if the "doctor" is not a psychiatrist, then don't take them.

you also should consult multiple psychiatrists before accepting their diagnosis, antidepressants are serious business.

Anti depressants like prozac work a lot better than meme advice like "just face your fears". It makes me able to be happy and cheery and fit into the office culture more. You can't do that without antidepressants unless your personality is that way. I'm happy and calm now.

I never feel panic on Prozac. I feel happy and calm. I'm able to smile and charm people all the time when I dress to impress. I'm able to focus more. It's a miracle drug. Best drug to cope with an office environment without anxiety.

It is if left untreated yeah, the pharmacist gave me the wrong instructions and I couldn't read the label because I didn't speak the language in the country I lived in. I had a mild case of it so it didn't take too long to go away. To be honest, I'm kinda glad I had it because hydroxizine doesn't have as many nasty side effects and you can just stop taking it whenever you want, and uninterrupted sleep made my life so much better.

THE SUICIDE RATE IS PER 100,000 PEOPLE YOU FUCKING IDIOT

DON'T EVER DO STATS BECAUSE YOU ARE CLEARLY TOO FUCKING STUPID TO READ A SIMPLE FUCKING GRAPH

antidepressants just made me more depressed/suicidal, wished i had never taken them in the first place. now i realize its only a matter a time before i kill myself