Antidepressent side effects and withdrawl!

General Forums Prince Rupert Forum
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Haven’t been on this site in years probably, found this thread while looking for something else, I’m totally bumping it to thrown in my two cents.

Those that complain about the side effects and withdrawls of antidepressants, I have no sympathy for (most of) you. This is a total simplification, but lets think about what antidepressants are actually doing: THEY’RE FUCKING WITH THE CHEMISTY OF YOUR BRAIN!!! If you blindly take what your doctor gives you without having an idea of what it does and doesn’t do, that’s your fault. Effexor is a great example. From the very beginning Effexor has been know to be the worst antidepressant to come off of. If you didn’t do a two second google search to find that out, I have zero sympathy for you. That’s unfortunate because for a lot of people Effexor is actually very good at what it does.

Just recently I was on Effexor and it failed miserably. For me, anything blocking seratonin uptake ends badly, but I knew that going in, but it was the first time I tried an SNRI. I was on Zoloft/sertraline before and it was awful. Caused anxiety, caused depression, made me sleep all day, sexual side effects, etc. etc. But again, I knew going in that things like that could happen. Same with Effexor. Effexor was nowhere near as bad as an SSRI, but I didn’t just blindly let a doctor FUCK WITH THE CHEMISTY OF MY BRAIN!

I had to go onto Effexor because the antidepressents I was on that worked EXTREMELY good started to cause paradoxial effects after I almost died in a car crash. No big deal, let everything reverse itself and go back to what works.

For a bit of background on why I need them, it’s not because I needed something to help me get through a tough time. I was born with some major problems. My entire life I’ve been unable to sleep. My whole life I’ve had some minor social anxiety problems. My whole life I had an absolute inability to feel. Just imagine what it would be like to go through 24.5 years of life with an absolute inability to feel. Most people would’ve killed themselves I’m sure. I’ve freqently lost interest in things. I’ve constantly known in my head that lots of shit I’ve done was absolutely stupid, and yet did it anyways. Finally, I’ve always suffered from a lack of energy and motivation.

I tried the natural way first. 5-HTP and L-tryptophan failed. I told my doctor we had to try these first, as the side effects of an SSRI worried me. Obviously the SSRI was just as bad as I expected. After that, I was smart. Everything is always going to have side effects, just because of the way they work. If you look up what happens when you block seratonin reuptake, for some people it causes anxiety, hypersomnia, sexual side effect, etc.

All this research led me to two atypical antidepressants: Remeron/mirtazapine and Wellbutrin/Zyban/bupropion. Remeron doesn’t block reuptake at all, it’s main work on seratonin is blocking all activity at two seratonin sites known to cause insomnia, anxiety, etc. This same activity is also known to cause weight gain, as this activity causes the munchies. Because Remeron is also one of the most potent anti-histamines out there, it also caused me to be overly tired at times. That’s where Wellbutrin comes in. This works on norepinepherine and dopamine, or things that (in a simlified explanation) effect energy and motivation. Both of these drugs are known not to have sexual side effects, and for me, really, there is no side effects. The side effects of both counteract each other.

These two together have been a godsend. Now I get shit done, now I actually have emotions, now I sleep like a normal person, and now I don’t do self-destructive things. The drugs themselves didn’t change me at all, but I myself definitely changed as a result of the drugs.

Now, at their worst, Effexor and Zoloft were just as bad as some people make them out to be. But I knew that going in. The biggest problem is, there’s only one person who knows what’s going on in our heads: ourselves. Things did get to the point that most people would’ve considered suicide. I never did, because I knew what to expect. Even if I did, is that truly a problem with the drug, or of somebody who was born really, truly screwed in the head? It’s all too easy to just blame the drugs, when really the problem is just with the person themselves. We’re all different, and fucking with the chemisty of your brain is going to effect everyone differently.

The other problem is how so many people are just looking for a quick fix. These drugs aren’t quick fixes, it takes weeks for the full effect to show. It only took a few weeks for Wellbutrin, but eight weeks for the Remeron to show it’s full theraputic benefit. When I had to stop the Remeron, it was gone in less than two weeks. People must have patience, and they need to know what to expect. If people did, there’d be nothing left to bitch about.

BTW, I am now back on Remeron and Wellbutrin and everything is going well again

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And for those with Effexor withdrawls/brain zaps, once again google is your friend. It doesn’t work for everybody, but for the very very large majority of people they can switch to Prozac and get off antidepressants very easily. Prozac has an extremely long half life, which makes getting off it very easily. Effexor for most people is brutal because its half life is less than 24 hours. That’s why a lot of people on it, if they miss a dose by even 1 hour they start to get the brain zaps, 'cause that’s 5 hours of withdrawl right there.

And one last thing… you can google it yourself… If you’re getting brain while using an antidepressant, that’s an extremely good thing. That happened to me with Remeron, and while it was extremely annoying, something good always became of it.

63

Have I missed something? Did someone ask a question regarding anti-depressants?  Interesting post but I think we are aware there are side effects to every prescription med., that is a given but sorry to hear of your unfortunate circumstances.  :confused:  BTW, I was presecribed Zoloft years ago after my husband passed away and thought I was having a heart attack, the hearburn was THAT bad so I just took myself off it and had no withdrawl issues.

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Rustybob,

The bottom line is that this existence called life has many ups and downs. Wise people learn to hold on, even when things get a little scary, and ride it out. Artistic minds can be a little wacky - so what. Accept yourself and channel that wackiness, adversity, bad childhood, internal angst, etc. into something creative. Antidepressants are no where near as necessary as the amount of prescriptions written up would have us believe. Somebody is making A LOT of money though.

When someone has an absolute “inability to feelâ€

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+1 funny:) 

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[quote=“Butterfly Fear”]
Rustybob,

The bottom line is that this existence called life has many ups and downs. Wise people learn to hold on, even when things get a little scary, and ride it out. Artistic minds can be a little wacky - so what. Accept yourself and channel that wackiness, adversity, bad childhood, internal angst, etc. into something creative. Antidepressants are no where near as necessary as the amount of prescriptions written up would have us believe. Somebody is making A LOT of money though.

When someone has an absolute “inability to feelâ€[/quote]

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I agree with most of your post Bubbasteve unless you happen to be, for one example, schizophrenic, which is a chemical imbalance and therefore must be treated with prescription meds. I am epileptic and must also be treated with prescribed meds. or I would be doing the funky chicken all over town  :smiley: I was also diagnosed with Lupus but have to control that through sheer willpower as the meds. for that will lower my seizure threshold but that is basically mind over matter and how high my pain tolerance is on a given day. I do agree with you regarding happiness but I don’t really agree that someone “wants” to be depressed, that can also be caused by an imbalance in the brain but I do think to a certain degree can be treated without the aid of meds.

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Of course Codybear! There isn’t much in this world that is absolute. Drugs can kill and damage people, but they also save countless lives. Schizophrenia, a true clinical depression, bipolar disorders, true anxiety disorders, diabetes, epilepsy, congential heart diseases etc. all require or benefit from meds. But a lot of the so-called depression and anxiety that people deal with - much of it not even properly diagnosed by a psychiatrist - is nothing more than normal mood variations or a reaction to situational stressors. If you have an emotional reaction to something, maybe you are SUPPOSED to feel and deal with that emotion and not dull it with drugs.

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They put me on Effexor for a short time this year. Not that it did anything. I was leary of it, but I was going through a rough time emotionally. I ended up stopping them, they weren’t doing any good, and I just dealt with my emotions myself, and that was the best way to go for me.

My doctor has always tried to get me on anti depressants. I don’t understand why. Well actually I do, but I find it wrong. Humans are meant to deal with their emotions not have drugs thrown at them.  We are meant to FEEL… And if you are taking some sort of pill, to numb the low’s you never get to feel the high points either… It’s all just level and boring.

70

Weed. Quit rotting your minds with man-made chemicals.  :astonished:

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Word up.  It’s the oldest, coolest and most bad-ass antidepressant of all time.  One love.

72

Quit rotting your mind and poison your lungs instead. Some people think marijuana kills brain cells. If this is true then you get to rot your mind AND poison your body all at the same time. Awesome.

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yaaa for weed  :imp:

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Some people do indeed think that.  My advice is to read some of the available research and judge for yourself. 

With regard to the poisoning of lungs, I believe you have mistaken marijuana for cigarettes.  There are no recorded cancers resulting from cannabis-only smoking.  Cigarettes on the other hand…

Here’s something that should be of interest, though unpopular, to most Rupertites: 

Alcohol DOES kill brain cells.  Lots of them, depending how much you drink.  This is a scientifically proven fact.

Also, alcohol is commonly known to be a factor in a lot of violent behaviour, both public and domestic, whereas with weed, you might get violent…if you’re talking about playing Call of Duty…lol.

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Seriously though, antidepressants as well as weed have helped me in the past, but they can also be misused, for example I was on an antidepressant for a couple of years, which was great for the depression I was feeling at the time, but when it came time to ease off them, i found it very difficult to get to sleep at night.

I really sympathize with anyone going through depression, its a very tough and formidable problem to deal with, especially with the current emphasis on prescription drugs, which I believe just bury the causes of depression under a false sense of well being.  I think most people are depressed because of very real pressures in their lives, not because of some chemical imbalance…though each case is different…

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I was given Zoloft years ago to help me deal with depression but once I was on it and then decided to look into side affects and it said that it my mess up your physical or sexual being , that was it I stopped right now, not wanting to be affected with my physical being. I am always very careful now and choose not to get depressed just because. :unamused:

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Now I am a nervous reck having reached 2000, I must find something to relax me… lol

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[quote=“Mr.Kurtz”]
With regard to the poisoning of lungs, I believe you have mistaken marijuana for cigarettes.  There are no recorded cancers resulting from cannabis-only smoking.  Cigarettes on the other hand…[/quote]

Numerous studies have shown marijuana smoke to contain carcinogens and to be an irritant to the lungs. In fact, marijuana smoke contains 50–70 percent more carcinogenic hydrocarbons than does tobacco smoke. Marijuana users usually inhale more deeply and hold their breath longer than tobacco smokers do, which further increase the lungs’ exposure to carcinogenic smoke. Marijuana smokers show dysregulated growth of epithelial cells in their lung tissue, which could lead to cancer.

79

Now you’re just spouting all the myths.

While it is true that cannabis smokers show some changes associated with pre-cancerous growth, the fact is that these changes have never been show to actually become cancer.

Also a recent study at McGill University has suggested that adults that use marijuana daily face no brain damage or neuro-chemical changes. Researchers at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre gave daily doses of an extremely potent and highly concentrated synthetic cannabinoid agonist. Cannabis is a weak semi-agonist, meaning the study used something dramatically more powerful than natural cannabis. Despite this, adult rats in the study showed no ill effects, even after 20 days of daily exposure to this extremely potent chemical.

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Humans aren’t rats and 20 days isn’t 20 years. The research is inconclusive. Besides that, people that abuse substances rarely tell the whole truth about how much they are actually using. I’m not talking about the occasional joint. Saying that marijuana has no ill effects on health whatsoever is just as mythical as saying ANY cannabis inhalation will have you languishing in hospice care hooked up to oxygen, gasping for air, waiting to die, which incidentally isn’t a pleasant way to go. Why must everyone insist on absolutes around here?