Antidepressants/mind meds

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Antidepressants/mind meds

Fellow men:

To anyone currently on or thinking about getting on antidepressants or some other mind medication I strongly recommend you read the book "Prozac Backlash". The doctor who wrote this book truly opened my eyes about both the benefits and risks invoved in taking such medications. As a result of what I read I have decided to deal with my diagnosed depression without the use of these medications. Good luck men. Sincerely

rafael :)
 
Prozac seems to be good in a short burst, a month or two, just to get the brain chemicals balanced again.
Long term - I have no experience.
Lloydy
 
I definitely think it's good to inform yourself before starting any meds, especially antidepressants. That said, I know I could not function without them, which is unfortunate for me since I just balk at the idea that I may have to take pills for the rest of my life.

I took myself off my meds slowly, thinking that once I was fine that I'd stay that way without them, but I didn't. However, my main concerns were/are social anxiety, panic attacks, and obsessive-compulsive behavior, and the depression was secondary, so my case isn't typical, I don't think.

But it's good to bring up the fact that just popping a pill won't make you better. It's tempting to think that, and it seems like we're told that all we need is the right med or the right combination of meds and everything will be hunky-dory, but that's not the way it works.
 
i just recently quit taking zoloft after about 2 years. i couldn't deal with it anymore - feeling apathetic and chemically wired all the time. i felt i could just skate through the rest of my life without a care in the world - but without any kind of sense of ambition or real happiness. i think it was very wise for me to have taken them when i did (given some unpleasant circumstances), but i feel a lot better without them.

the only thing i can really bring to light on this is how terrible it was for me to stop taking them. i was sick for days - vomiting, dizzy, shaky. i couldn't eat or sleep. it was one of the worst things i have ever gone through. i read up on it and there was an article (i think) from the nation institutes on mental health (where i also learned how to safely come off them)that compared symptoms of anti - depressant withdrawal (particularly sri's)to that of heroin withdrawal.

i just think it's important to be ready to deal with the downsides to meds - i think there are quite a few more than are ever really talked about.
 
Based on personal experience over several years both on and off antidepressants (Paxil, Zoloft, Prozac, Effexor, and Wellbutrin) I have come to accept the fact that these meds will probably be part of my life forever. I look at it like having diabetes. I don't like having to take medication, but I like it a hell of a lot more than the results I get without. Several times I have stopped taking meds after being successfully treated over a lengthy period, thinking I could do without them. Unfortunately, the depression came creeping every time over a period of months and I could not connect the resumed depression to any event or circumstance. My brain is just low on the necessary neurotransmitters that help maintain a sense of well being and ability to cope with life's ups and down. These drugs are helpful tools and I am grateful for them.
However, I do think depression should also be treated from a psychological perspective as well, with counseling/psychotherapy. Some people are able to eventually get off the meds and have no recurrence of symptoms, but not everybody. One thing I really like about taking the meds is that I have the security and feeling of freedom to fully explore some really scary things about myself and my past that I otherwise would not be able to do. The meds are like a safety net over the deep dark well of depression I used to experience. Now I know I won't fall in and be unable to get back out, which was terrifying. Currently I'm taking a combination of Effexor and Wellbutrin, which has been the best yet. Recently I switched to the Effexor from Prozac because it seemed like I was slipping a little. Sometimes drugs "wear out" I was told.
When getting off antidepressants, I found it best to taper myself off under my doctor's supervision. Never just stop taking them suddenly. The reaction d503 had with withdrawal sounds very severe and unusual.

Roy
 
Just a note regarding anti-depressant withdrawl--I know within hours if I've forgotten to take my pills. It feels like I'm having all these little inner seizures, for lack of a better way to describe it. If, for whatever reason, I have to go a day or two without them, I get physically ill, also. I've never thrown up, but I do get very dizzy and disoriented, and I feel like my eyes are jumping around in their sockets and I can't seen anything quite straight. Not so helpful when trying to avoid a panic attack, let me tell you. You really do have to wean yourself off them if you and/or your doctor decide they're wrong for you. It's weird knowing that I'm physically (and quite possibly psychologically) addicted, but life without it is far worse. It's like all these things cover up who I am, panic and social anxiety and my little compulsive tics, and when I'm on my meds all that is gone and I can just be myself.
 
i think like anything else, medications have different effects on different people. i just hated being on them and i hated coming off of them even more. i researched it a lot before i stopped and learned how to gradually stop (which took about six weeks), but what i found was that what i experienced was not unusual or severe at all. according to what i had read, a lot of other people experienced the same or similar.

please understand - i am not trying to sway anyone one way or the other. i think if you feel that they are really helping you then it's great. i just don't think it was right for me....
that's all.
 
Through all my meds in the trash..this morning...a few hours latter I felt so bad I had to dig them out again! Good thing I did because I had to see my therapist latter and he had just put a guy inside for going nuts after he stopped his meds. So be carefull if you have been on meds for a while!

Eddie
 
I probably need some medication as well. I am getting hi's and low's. About how im feeling. I might have this bi polar disorder i seen on tv a while back. IT has the same symptons. But i dont want to go telling my parents im depressed. To them im just fine.
 
Anti-depressant medications are powerful drugs. Many of them are based on a chemical problem in the brain that prevents synapses, or connections with the neurotransmitters.

Either that theory is correct or it is phony. If it is phony then a lot of us have had a terrific placebo effect from the anti-depressants.

If it is correct and real, then for us to play around with the medicaios is goofy at least. If you do not trust your psychiatrist, then at least ask the pharmacist to explain the possible side effects and drug interactions with the other medication or over the counter stuff you take.

I have high blood pressure that is not very well controled. I told my pharmacist I was going to try to take St. John's Wort to see if it helped. It did. But a few weeks later the pharmacist called and said that they had just received a bulletin that SJW can reduce the effectiveness of the blood pressure meducations I was taking by 25%. I obviously have come to rely at least as much on my pharmacist as on my physician.

Be careful guys, fooling around with meds. Get a new physician, if you do not trust the competency of the one you have. Save some money and ask for the records from your previous MD for your new one or the new one will want to run a whole battery of expensive tests for a "borderline" with you.
 
Originally posted by Roy:
Based on personal experience over several years both on and off antidepressants (Paxil, Zoloft, Prozac, Effexor, and Wellbutrin) I have come to accept the fact that these meds will probably be part of my life forever. I look at it like having diabetes. I don't like having to take medication, but I like it a hell of a lot more than the results I get without. Several times I have stopped taking meds after being successfully treated over a lengthy period, thinking I could do without them. Unfortunately, the depression came creeping every time over a period of months and I could not connect the resumed depression to any event or circumstance. My brain is just low on the necessary neurotransmitters that help maintain a sense of well being and ability to cope with life's ups and down. These drugs are helpful tools and I am grateful for them.
However, I do think depression should also be treated from a psychological perspective as well, with counseling/psychotherapy. Some people are able to eventually get off the meds and have no recurrence of symptoms, but not everybody. One thing I really like about taking the meds is that I have the security and feeling of freedom to fully explore some really scary things about myself and my past that I otherwise would not be able to do. The meds are like a safety net over the deep dark well of depression I used to experience. Now I know I won't fall in and be unable to get back out, which was terrifying. Currently I'm taking a combination of Effexor and Wellbutrin, which has been the best yet. Recently I switched to the Effexor from Prozac because it seemed like I was slipping a little. Sometimes drugs "wear out" I was told.
When getting off antidepressants, I found it best to taper myself off under my doctor's supervision. Never just stop taking them suddenly. The reaction d503 had with withdrawal sounds very severe and unusual.

Roy
Click to expand...
 
I agree that you need to do your own research on medications that you are taking or are getting prescribed. Not all medications are for each individual and they react different with each person.

Personally over the years I have been on anti depressants and they helped me greatly. When I went on them I was so depressed and suicidal that I couldn't keep going. They helped me get things under control. To keep things going, I also did a lot of hard work in therapy as well.

Don't discount medications, but do be aware of what they are, what the side effects are and monitor them closely. And by all means, make sure that you treat the "whole body" and not just one part of it.

Don
 
I've been trying to control panic attacks since I went
off prozac, klonopin, buspar and wellbutrin 4 years ago.
It seemed to work (with the help of an AA group) for a
few years. But now the panic attacks are back.

I recently took a small dose of prosac & klonopin and it
helped. The panic is related directly to the rape by
a black football player when I was 18. It happened
2-3 times before I finally got off campus. But the
damage was done to my "male" identity. Perhaps
the hardest thing to bear is the shame of the S&M
fantasies that compensated around the experience.

Now I feel that maybe I need a survivor's group like
my AA group to guide me through a spiritual solution
for panic like the spiritual solution to drinking and
dependence on the mind meds.

So I'm looking in L.A. Any ideas?
 
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