Do anti-depressants work? To those on them . ..
- Thread starter episodic
- Start date
pills dont make you happy. they prevent you from being sad. that said, medication is only useful if you have therapy so that you can learn to live without the medication
seriously, yes they can, I took them for 6 months after me and a serious gf broke up, went off them cold turkey, ended up in hospital for a few days, and now im anti-depressant free 
Yes anti depressants can work. Sometimes it takes a while to find the right one for you. I don't currently take them, but just quit about a month or so ago. You might find that it doesn't make you happy, but it can make you not as depressed as you might normally be. I found that while taking them I didn't experience really high highs or really low lows. So it kind of stabalized my moods. I mean I could be happy or I could have been sad. One thing that I think was a side effect was my thinking wasn't as sharp as I am now that I am off of them. I still take meds, but just not anti-depressants. I think meds can be great.
they are supposed to fix a chemical imbalence but they just make you high, not that thats a bad thing
ok I spent years and years on meds...
I had a lot of sh!t to work out and the docs decided to medicate me instead of sending me to see a shrink. I started out on loframine in the UK and when I got back to the USA the docs never heard of them so gave me 40mg of Paxil. Said I was BiPolar. Said I was OCD. Said I had Depression. Said I was a lot of stuff... 3yrs on Paxil, I went flat on them and they tried me on loads of other stuff... wellbutrin, effexor, prozac, zoloft, Elavil, Lexapro, Norpramine... they even mentioned Lithium!!! I ended up in the ER with convulsions, sever nose bleeds and vomiting blood. Put me back on Paxil. I DO have a chemical imbalance, runs in the family, but ... well....
Bottom line.. if you have sh!t to work out... do it w/out meds. If you have a real chemical imbalance and need meds, take them. The bad parts are this....
the same meds do not work for everyone. So, you will have to try a few to see which one works for you. It can take weeks to see if it works or not during which time you might have sucky side effects. You will have to wean off one med to start taking another one... and it all starts again until you find the one that works for you... and dont let anyone tell you that they are not addictive, cause they ARE... but if it is a choice of taking a pill or slashing your wrists, take a pill.
In the end, I decided I did not want to go thru the hassle of having pills run my life... (OMG did i take it today? Did I miss a dose? Keep some in the car in case I want to go away over night. Keep some in my handbag, some in the bathroom, some on the night stand, some in the car.. just to be sure I always have them... )... so in the end... I spent the worst 8 months of my ilfe weaning myself off them and have been without them for about 2.5years.
I still have my insanity moments, but I have learned to read the signs, see them coming and brace myself accordingly.
Again, if it is a choice between a pill or jumping off a building... take a pill. But dont let any doc just hand them over. They should be the last resort, not the first. I believe that docs are real quick to write that perscription.
I had a lot of sh!t to work out and the docs decided to medicate me instead of sending me to see a shrink. I started out on loframine in the UK and when I got back to the USA the docs never heard of them so gave me 40mg of Paxil. Said I was BiPolar. Said I was OCD. Said I had Depression. Said I was a lot of stuff... 3yrs on Paxil, I went flat on them and they tried me on loads of other stuff... wellbutrin, effexor, prozac, zoloft, Elavil, Lexapro, Norpramine... they even mentioned Lithium!!! I ended up in the ER with convulsions, sever nose bleeds and vomiting blood. Put me back on Paxil. I DO have a chemical imbalance, runs in the family, but ... well....
Bottom line.. if you have sh!t to work out... do it w/out meds. If you have a real chemical imbalance and need meds, take them. The bad parts are this....
the same meds do not work for everyone. So, you will have to try a few to see which one works for you. It can take weeks to see if it works or not during which time you might have sucky side effects. You will have to wean off one med to start taking another one... and it all starts again until you find the one that works for you... and dont let anyone tell you that they are not addictive, cause they ARE... but if it is a choice of taking a pill or slashing your wrists, take a pill.
In the end, I decided I did not want to go thru the hassle of having pills run my life... (OMG did i take it today? Did I miss a dose? Keep some in the car in case I want to go away over night. Keep some in my handbag, some in the bathroom, some on the night stand, some in the car.. just to be sure I always have them... )... so in the end... I spent the worst 8 months of my ilfe weaning myself off them and have been without them for about 2.5years.
I still have my insanity moments, but I have learned to read the signs, see them coming and brace myself accordingly.
Again, if it is a choice between a pill or jumping off a building... take a pill. But dont let any doc just hand them over. They should be the last resort, not the first. I believe that docs are real quick to write that perscription.
they can really help to even out the highs and lows. i was on prozac for almost a year, and eventually they did work. if you do take them remember it will be a few weeks before you will even see a remote change. i dont know how it is with the other antidepressants, but with prozac that is definitely the case.
GeekDrew
Diamond Member
- Jun 7, 2000
- 9,099
- 19
- 81
I was on Zoloft for a couple of years.... it helped me relax a lot. A few people have mentioned to me that I was much more motivated, caring, enthusiastic, etc., back then, than I am now. I agree... wish that I was that person again. I stopped taking Zoloft in May 2003 (because I lost my insurance)... and was OK for a while... but I've really needed *something* to help me for the last year or so, and I've had nothing (trying to go along with the whole "I don't need any fvcking meds" thought, to see how that works... hoping that I can make it without meds... thus far, I haven't been successful).
They help. Without them I am angrier, less patient and generally just more of a pain to live with. But that's just me. Some people have real live issues to work out, and meds will just mask them; other people have genetic or psychomedical problems that will not respond to therapy. Some lucky folks get both.
They're just a mask for depression. In some cases I suppose they help if your problem is chemical. If you're depressed because your life sucked then all they are going to do is cover everything up. You might as well drink in that case.
Nope, wont make you happy by itself. May help you get out of bed for the day and avoid huge swings in emotion but wont make you suddenly smile as if all your problems are now gone.
GhettoPeanut
Senior member
- Feb 9, 2005
- 696
- 0
- 0
Then they write you a script for viagra, or cielas. But with all that extra wood, you have to worry about knocking up your lady friend, so she is going to need a birth control script.
Friggin drug dealers. They hook you on one drug to fix a problem, but that drug causes another problem so you have to buy another drug to fix that and so on.
Actually it is genius.
Anti-depressants are highly effective treatments for depression, of all levels of severity. There is indisputible scientific evidence that they are better than placebo and they are generally very safe and non-addictive. As an alternative, psychotherapy from a psychologist is about as effective as anti-depressants.
What do anti-depressants do, and what do they not do?
They are *not* happy pills - they don't make you high, or happy or giggly.
They do *not* numb your emotions - You will still have periods of felling happy, sad, angry, etc. However, the periods of feeling low should be less severe and shorter lived.
They are a proven treatment which can help restore your health back to normal - they are *not* just a band-aid to mask symptoms.
They may take 6-8 weeks to begin working, and you may not always get on with the one that is tried first. Sometimes it takes 2 or 3 different meds to get a good effect.
Some meds have a withdrawral effect if you stop taking them suddenly (this is different from an addiction, in that you don't have a craving for the medication, you just get strange symptoms if you don't have it).
What you should do
Make the most of the extra energy that you can get with the meds.
Ideally, seek some form of counselling, or see a psychologist - your doctor should be able to make an appropriate referral. The psychologist will be able to teach you proven techniques to combat depression, that you will be able to keep with you for life - so you may not need the medication again.
A less good alternative (and often more expensive) is to seek help from life-skills teachers or groups. However, many of the techniques they use are the same as psychologists, just less strictly applied - so they are effective. You should bear in mind, if you go this route, that these classes are not run by medically knowledgeable persons - so expect their knowledge of medications to be zero. (In my experience, it's often worse than zero).
What do anti-depressants do, and what do they not do?
They are *not* happy pills - they don't make you high, or happy or giggly.
They do *not* numb your emotions - You will still have periods of felling happy, sad, angry, etc. However, the periods of feeling low should be less severe and shorter lived.
They are a proven treatment which can help restore your health back to normal - they are *not* just a band-aid to mask symptoms.
They may take 6-8 weeks to begin working, and you may not always get on with the one that is tried first. Sometimes it takes 2 or 3 different meds to get a good effect.
Some meds have a withdrawral effect if you stop taking them suddenly (this is different from an addiction, in that you don't have a craving for the medication, you just get strange symptoms if you don't have it).
What you should do
Make the most of the extra energy that you can get with the meds.
Ideally, seek some form of counselling, or see a psychologist - your doctor should be able to make an appropriate referral. The psychologist will be able to teach you proven techniques to combat depression, that you will be able to keep with you for life - so you may not need the medication again.
A less good alternative (and often more expensive) is to seek help from life-skills teachers or groups. However, many of the techniques they use are the same as psychologists, just less strictly applied - so they are effective. You should bear in mind, if you go this route, that these classes are not run by medically knowledgeable persons - so expect their knowledge of medications to be zero. (In my experience, it's often worse than zero).
It is true than some anti-depressants have side-effects on sexual performance. Inability to reach orgasm, and impotence do occur - but are fortunately not common.
If you are affected and this symptom is not acceptable, they you should change to a different anti-depressant.
The use of medication like viagra or cialis to treat the side-effect of another drug is not appropriate.
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