[quote]Razorslim wrote:
It basically allows your brain to function as if it were normal.
[/quote]
The problem that I have with this statement is that it’s completely assumptive, unscientific, and arbitrary. I’m actually more prone to believe exactly the opposite- that the drugs induce an abnormal mental state by disrupting a normal chemical process. There’s nothing normal about blocking the absorbtion of serotonin in your brain. It’s supposed to get absorbed.
Beside that, SSRI drugs are well known to cause dependency. They more you take them, the more you lose the ability to function without them. To me that’s completely unacceptable.
Fish Oil, from my own observations of those using Fish Oil for this purpose it has to be in fairly large quantities-6 grams or so per day.
Tryptophan which helps release serotonin in the brain. 500mg for every 75lbs or so of body weight. Take it just before bed with a carbohydrate food and it will also help you sleep better. Is it a coincidence that most people suffering from depression also have a sleep problem?
Cardio Workout of 30 minutes 5 times per week. Get your BPM up to an average of 75% to 80% of your max. But they say even a half hour walk per day will help.
Focus on other peoples problems instead of your own. Sometimes depression can be caused by too much internal focus. That’s why studies show that helping others, or having positive social contacts do wonders.
Please make sure that before you stop taking any of your medications that you consult with your doctor first. It’s always best (from my own personal observations) to gradually reduce your meds while adding the natural “cures” above.
Good luck to all who suffer from depression. Just know that there can be an end in site.
[quote]Ironliftr3 wrote:
The anti-depressant YOU took didn’t work for YOU.
[/quote]
I’m not even sure that’s necessarily the feel I’m getting from this thread. People are saying they would rather have their anxiety/depression than feel numb. Anxiety/depression are extreme emotional states and I can understand how being brought back into the “normal” range could be mistaken as “numbness.” Unless you’re manic, there isn’t much (besides some really cool drugs) that will take you to the other end of that spectrum. (side note: I’ve read before where psychadelic experiences (shrooms, lsd) were the most powerful experiences in a person’s life; rating higher than marriage, birth of a child). To me this sounds like a case of the prison inmate who misses his cell because it’s what he is used to and considers home.
Secondly, the neutering of the brain sounds more like a decluttering of the brain so to speak. Anxiety in particular leaves the individual in a constant state of arousal (fight or flight) and is very draining. Without these constant feelings, which bring along an overactive mind so to speak, there is a state of calm which since you’re not used to it (most people don’t go get help until the anxiety/depression has been experienced for a prolonged amount of time, thus being used to it). I think that calm mind is being mistaken as a bad thing.
These are my feelings and your mileage may vary. Just something to think about.
I take an anti-depressent and struggle with these same issues. But for me taking it is a no-brainer and one I gladly accept. I may feel better being off them insofar as I am used to it and I know myself off them, but it is not a way to live. Heck I could sit in my room for weeks at a time and not even know I haven’t left.
I would be spiraling so deeply into depression that I wouldn’t even know to stand up and bathe before a new day has rolled through. No cause, no reason, no explanation. On the pills, I may feel numb, I may not experience things fully, I may this or that… but I function as a human being in society and that is much more important for me.
I have been suffering with depression for going on 17 years. I have accomplished more since I have been on the pills in terms of personal growth, forward momentum in my work success and overall desire to succeed.
Pills may not be for everyone, a certain pill may just be the wrong one. The effects are never a cure. But for some of us, sometimes, the life they do provide us is an acceptable choice over the life we lived prior (if you could call it living life.)
curiosity, does anyone get random moments during the day where they get dizzy and their heart races, have trouble breathing and their head hurts. this happens to me like 4-5 times a week. It’s wierd
[quote]Ironliftr3 wrote:
Keep in mind that there are dozens of differant anti-depressants, and they all act differently in different people. There is no exact science as to which one is RIGHT for you. It’s trial and error, as is the correct dosage for an individual.
Saying “all anti-depressants suck” or “neuter your brain” is a misleading, and potentially harmful, statement to make for someone who may need them.
The anti-depressant YOU took didn’t work for YOU.
That’s not to say that the same drug wouldn’t make someone who’s chronically depressed or anxiety ridden finally be able to enjoy their life.
On the other hand, I’ll agree, these drugs are often prescribed to people who don’t actually NEED them.[/quote]
This post is right on. The brain is extraordinarily complex and “depression” is a very broad and vague condition. The working mechanisms for the different classes of antidepressants can vary from being the same thing done differently to almost opposite means of action. It’s not surprising then that many individual drugs have certain conditions listed as both indications and side effects. It’s not that the individual user experiences both, rather its that a certain percentage have the symptom relieved, for example anxiety, while a certain percentage have it exacerbated, eg panic attacks.
The success rate over placebo for many of the most common antidepressants is quite low, yet the success rate for the category as a whole is considerably higher. If you need an antidepressant, keep changing things up (giving each its proper chance) until you find one that works. You wouldn’t storm out of the optometrists office because the first lenses he tries on you make you see worse, would you?
Jameson is my antidepressant. Works wonders until you’re pissing on some poor girl’s car and she comes out of the bar while you’re in midstream. Ah well.
i know for a fact (seen it in a few friends), that these anti-depressants are terrible for you. They would get so low in the depression, and then take the medication and it would bring them up, but not to much. Without it they would be so depressed and have suicidal thoughts but not the drive to get up and do it. With it, they had the same thoughts AND the drive to do it.
[quote]romanaz wrote:
i know for a fact (seen it in a few friends), that these anti-depressants are terrible for you. They would get so low in the depression, and then take the medication and it would bring them up, but not to much. Without it they would be so depressed and have suicidal thoughts but not the drive to get up and do it. With it, they had the same thoughts AND the drive to do it.
and they say its helping.
bullshit![/quote]
My mom finally got the motivation and overdosed a couple of months back, killing herself after over 20 years of severe depression. She had tried every med under the sun, therapies,etc. but every moment of happiness was fleeting and soon gone.
I don’t want to discourage anyone. She had the worst case of depression one of her psychiatrists had ever seen. Anti-depressants do seem to be effective for many(at deterring suicide, at least). One thing she did not do was adopt a healthy lifestyle. She was obese, a heavy smoker, had a terrible diet, and over the last year of her life took no vitamins and ate ice cream and bread all day. Diet and exercise possibly could have helped her.
Cymbalta saved my life. I’m bipolar and was damn near the point of slitting my own throat. I think a lot of people end up on anti-depressants who don’t really need them. For those of us who do need them, they are priceless.
To all those who posted in favour of the medicines- what exactly do you go through when on medicines and when off them?
In my case-
*depression wise: it was sheers emptiness. I didn’t want to do anything- not even suicide. Its not that I was sad when I was depressed- its more like I ceased to exist. I asked myself stuff like ‘why bother doing anything at all’, ‘whats the point?’ etc…the best word to describe me is emptiness. Of course, this was not 24/7. When it hit me I stayed in the phase for hours and sometimes days. When not depressed I used to feel passion for stuff that I like.
When I’m on meds this emptiness disappears. I really dont feel any passion or extra motivation…but at least I’m doing my everyday ordinary stuff. Negative side effects include the brain neutering. I dont feel much passion for what I’m doing. I do stuff just cause ‘its the right thing to do.’
I sure could use more passion or should I say ‘testosterone’ in my life right now.
[quote]Azrael wrote:
To all those who posted in favour of the medicines- what exactly do you go through when on medicines and when off them?
In my case-
*depression wise: it was sheers emptiness. I didn’t want to do anything- not even suicide. Its not that I was sad when I was depressed- its more like I ceased to exist. I asked myself stuff like ‘why bother doing anything at all’, ‘whats the point?’ etc…the best word to describe me is emptiness. Of course, this was not 24/7. When it hit me I stayed in the phase for hours and sometimes days. When not depressed I used to feel passion for stuff that I like.
When I’m on meds this emptiness disappears. I really dont feel any passion or extra motivation…but at least I’m doing my everyday ordinary stuff. Negative side effects include the brain neutering. I dont feel much passion for what I’m doing. I do stuff just cause ‘its the right thing to do.’
I sure could use more passion or should I say ‘testosterone’ in my life right now.
So what are your experiences on and off meds?[/quote]
Lack of regaurd for just about everything. Not being social at all, keeping everything to myself. being perpetually angry a everything. I’m purpetually reliving better times in my mind. Nearly every thought has I want to die" after it. And I don’t even no how to describe the numb feelings, it’s a totally different numbness on/off meds.
[quote]belligerent wrote:
So I took anti-depressant drugs for a few months a while back. I’ve always been intuitively weary of taking any kind of mood-altering drug, but I gave it a try in the spirit of not being too stubborn. And did I feel less depressed? Absolutely. But I also became completely complacent. It fucking neutered my brain. It made me insensitive to things that were rightfully bothering me because they were legitimate frustrations.
It just made me less prone to react to things and better able to tolerate shitty conditions. That is straight up emasculization! And I just recently read about the well-established scientific fact that SSRI drugs drastically reduce the duration of REM sleep- don’t tell me that’s good for your physical development! And they’re giving that horrible shit to little kids! It’s fucking sickening to me.[/quote]
If it’s sleep you’re interested in, try Zoloft. I couldn’t stop sleeping (14 hours a day). After a month or two I stopped taking it because nothing was getting done. How could you be unhappy if you’re always asleep?
[quote]Howdie_Doodie wrote:
belligerent wrote:
So I took anti-depressant drugs for a few months a while back. I’ve always been intuitively weary of taking any kind of mood-altering drug, but I gave it a try in the spirit of not being too stubborn. And did I feel less depressed? Absolutely. But I also became completely complacent. It fucking neutered my brain. It made me insensitive to things that were rightfully bothering me because they were legitimate frustrations.
It just made me less prone to react to things and better able to tolerate shitty conditions. That is straight up emasculization! And I just recently read about the well-established scientific fact that SSRI drugs drastically reduce the duration of REM sleep- don’t tell me that’s good for your physical development! And they’re giving that horrible shit to little kids! It’s fucking sickening to me.
If it’s sleep you’re interested in, try Zoloft. I couldn’t stop sleeping (14 hours a day). After a month or two I stopped taking it because nothing was getting done. How could you be unhappy if you’re always asleep?
[/quote]
Gimme that z, o-l-o-f-t
Gimme a grip, make me love me
Suckin’ ‘em down, I’m happy man
Can feel it inside, makin’ me smile
…realize that the sky’s not made of gold
don’t disguise the nature of your soul
Gimme that z, o-l-o-f-t
No longer pissed and you don’t bother me
I’m makin’ it through, I’m givin’ my all
When base are loaded, I’m whacking the ball
…don’t suck the mind, don’t drain the source
the path of life’s not so easy to course, buddy
Ween _ Zoloft
When you Identify with Mental Afflictions, you Suffer! -
Let’s Discuss that.
The major problem with anti-depressants is their crudeness. The brain’s neurochemistry is so finely-tuned and regulated that when people take the drugs, it’s like a flood of extra serotonin (or other neurotransmitters, based on the drug) that lingers around, waiting to be taken up and used. So, the quantity of extra serotonin is an issue, but the location of extra serotonin is a problem, too.
Depressed people may only have deficiencies in one or a few areas of the brain, meanwhile the drugs they take affect serotonin levels everywhere. The brain can, and does, adapt to this by producing less serotonin or by picking up less serotonin, but we’re messing with something we know very little about. We know very little about what exactly goes on during anti-depressant use, and we know even less about long-term ramifications.
That said, the depressed patient is likely to care very little about the above information and will take anything to help him/her through. While this is completely understandable, the goal of future drugs and research is to be more specific.