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Experience with Antidepressants?
I was surprised at how few discussions there were in the forum about antidepressants and stress, anxiety, depression etc. Today I blogged about my experience, which I don't talk about a lot. I'd love to get a conversation going about other's experiences with this kind of stuff. You can check it out here: http://emilyslastword.blogspot.com/2010/05/zoloft-my-lovehate-affai...
I have been on Zoloft for 8 years (for anxiety and panic disorder) and have gone down significantly and will be trying to go off it completely soon. I feel like I'm at a point where I have learned how to deal with anxiety and I think I can manage it on my own now. Has anyone had success going off of antidepressants? How has your life changed as a result? Are you glad you went on the meds or do you regret it? I have mixed feeling about this.
I have been on Zoloft for 8 years (for anxiety and panic disorder) and have gone down significantly and will be trying to go off it completely soon. I feel like I'm at a point where I have learned how to deal with anxiety and I think I can manage it on my own now. Has anyone had success going off of antidepressants? How has your life changed as a result? Are you glad you went on the meds or do you regret it? I have mixed feeling about this.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Sara Nipples on -
When I was in high school, I had severe rage problems. When something made me angry, the only thing I wanted to do was scream as loud as my voice would let me and throw things against walls. Nobody could talk me down. Whatever had made me angry was the end of my world, and there was nothing I could do to stop it. I lashed out at people who loved me, telling them I hated them and that they were ruining my life. My hands would hurt from balling them into fists because I needed to squeeze, throw, hurt something. It was miserable.
I was put on Cymbalta which definitely helped calm me down. But antidepressants aren't cheap, and there was a point where I couldn't afford them anymore. I started coming off of them and have since learned to work through my anger without letting it take over. I still have those moments where I want to throw something or scream, but it's nothing like it was before. Some people cannot live happily without antidepressants. I am just so thankful that I'm one of the few whose depression/anxiety isn't so bad that I have to stay on them for the rest of my life.
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Permalink Reply by El Diablo Blanco on -
I have, at one time or another, taken Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil, and Welbutrin. I tend to get myself on medication when I have nervous breakdowns, but I pretty much hate meds. I've never found one that fixed me enough to function properly. I mean, I can be hopped up on all the antidepressants/anti-anxiety pills that I want, and still not be able to leave the house in the morning. I don't know. I've always found that the pills just eat away at my personality, limit the spectrum of my emotions, completely dull my imagination, and make it impossible to keep a boner for more than 10 minutes. So. I take them for a few months and then I stop. Couple years later, I have another freakout that's bad enough to scare me into seeing a doctor, take pills for a few months and then stop.
I think the world is wrong. I think people are concerned with the wrong things. Money, status, beauty, acceptance from peers, fancy objects. People are always looking for unhealthy kinds of love. Bombs are always exploding, new diseases are always being found, economies are always crashing. Our world has a LOT of problems. So, I think the most reasonable reaction to all of this IS to be depressed and/or anxiety-ridden. And I don't think taking a pill or seeing a shrink is ever going to act as anything more than a band-aid.
Some people have more severe problems, mentally or emotionally, and I don't judge them for whatever course of treatment they take. But for me, I don't think I will ever transcend my burdens through anything other than learning: how to be patient and compassionate for myself and others, how to find internal peace in these externally turbulent times, how to laugh at the things that are difficult to laugh at, and how to love completely. So. I'm working on it, in my own ways.
But yes. Personally speaking, a band-aid does help from time to time.
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Permalink Reply by Oats on -
You're absolutely right in that just taking a pill and/or seeing a shrink is not going to fix anyone's problems completely. They have to step up and figure things out in their head; how to cope, how to deal with things with or without medication.
Medication is often necessary to transition people from a state in which they feel they are helpless to a state where they feel like they can take control, and many times once this is reached, the medication and therapy can be discontinued.
While it may be natural to be a little depressed with the world, it becomes pathological when someone can no longer get out of bed, or cannot focus on anything because they are consumed by their own death or worrying about the death of others.
Most pharmaceutical medications, contrary to popular belief, are not designed for extreme long-term usage. They are not meant to cause dependency, but rather are designed to put the patient back on their 2 feet and living life again...without the medication. Therapy, in many cases, can be as effective or more than medication because it psychologically changes the way you think about things, which is more permanent than a 12-hour drug.
Sometimes a band-aid helps, sometimes a complete bandage is necessary, but other times a band-aid may be nice, but you could easily go without it.
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Permalink Reply by El Diablo Blanco on
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"Medication is often necessary to transition people from a state in which they feel they are helpless to a state where they feel like they can take control, and many times once this is reached, the medication and therapy can be discontinued."
AND
"Sometimes a band-aid helps, sometimes a complete bandage is necessary, but other times a band-aid may be nice, but you could easily go without it."
Exactly. I agree with both of these 100%. Too bad I couldn't say it that well myself.
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Permalink Reply by Susie Q on -
I've been on and off anti-depressants for years. I'd do a course or two of them, then my GP decided I was suddenly cured, take me off them and a few months later another GP in the same clinic has to put me back on.. I've been doing a cycle between cipralex, zoloft and wellbutrin to mention a few of the known ones. Then there are the ones that were pretty insignificant. Nothing helped and nothing seemed to make a difference really. Probably because I was on and off them.
I'm currently taking diazepam for anxiety and it makes a difference. I've got it for OCD-induced anxiety and take it when I need the peak taken off. But it makes me happy (and let's not talk about the time when I took a too large of a dose for a particular situation.. I had the giggles for hours!). Because my anxiety is under control and I'm seeing a psychologist for my actual depression, I feel like I can cope without anti-depressants at the moment. So I'm sort of in-between. I love the help diazepam is giving me and I couldn't really cope without it at the moment (if ever), whereas I've sort of coped without anti-depressants. In my case it was just a case of getting to the root of the problem to sort it out and finding coping mechanisms for everything else that worked best.
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