[quote]MikeyKBiatch wrote:
[quote]cstratton2 wrote:
[quote]EmilyQ wrote:
[quote]cstratton2 wrote:
[quote]EmilyQ wrote:
Medication along with counseling is shown to be more effective than either alone. Not all men have difficulty with side effects on mild antidepressants, and many find sex better with medication because of improvements in mood and energy levels. Maybe medication is for you and maybe it’s not, but it’s not something to be feared. Wishing to be dead before morning, on the other hand, IS something to fear.
I get really irritated with knee-jerk reactions. Talk to a doctor (general practice, psychiatric, whatever). See what they think. If you decide to take something and have side-effects, stop taking it and try something else. But it’s silly to jump at shadows, and even sillier to contort yourself looking for “natural” remedies. It’s all the same, chemicals derived from various places. Difference is, some of it has been tested for efficacy and safety and some of it has not.[/quote]
Have you ever personally been on any high doses of medication? You don’t realize how much the side effects can effect someone until you experience it yourself… There are also sometimes permanent problems even after the medication is completely out of the system… SSRI Post sexual dysfunction is a problem for many as an example… There are changes in mood patterns, behaviors, and blocked chemicals of the brain when you introduce a substance that is above normal regulation levels of the body there is going to be an adverse effect one way or the other… Plus getting off medication is a nightmare in and of itself… I suggested other forms of therapy to the OP because I have had dealt with the adverse side effects of medication many times myself especially coming of them… I’ll mention this again for anyone looking into getting medication for mood imbalances… Try you’re best with cognitive behavioral therapy first… I recommended Dr. David Burns “Feel Good” because it is literally prescribed to patients before alot of doctors even consider using medication… Its cheap and definitely worth at least giving a chance… As well as the Power of Now… It is about bringing yourself into the present moment and stops the incessent chatter of the mind, just like OP said about the gym to stop thinking… Well when you are present there is no stream of thought running… It is also important to apply Unconditional acceptance and to allow yourself to feel whatever it is fully and be present with it… Running away from those scary feelings and medicating does not answer the right path to recovery.
As human beings we chase pleasure and avoid pain, we try to make those negative dark emotions go away and we fight them… That does not work… You need paradox so that is why you must allow yourself to feel those emotions fully and without fear and not judge them… Just see it as an overlying emotion and it is what it is for that moment.
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My assumption would be that the OP would start on a low dose of mild anti-depressant, if he took that route. In a risk/benefit analysis I rank constant suicidal ideation slightly higher than the very remote risk of sexual dysfunction after discontinuing a medication.
“High doses of medication” is not what I recommended, and in fact did not suggest that medication is the solution for OP. I merely state that in my opinion, medication is not the devil and it’s silly to Chicken Little about it to someone who is expressing major depressive symptoms, which include thoughts of - and longing for - death. Does anyone ask what the OP is doing at the gym 12 times a week? I suspect there is danger in hitting the gym more than once a day as well. Perhaps we should all be saying “beware the life-threatening inguinal hernia!”
Chushin, yes, ADs should be titrated both on and off, though I again note that we don’t know that OP would have more than a very low dose, which for many people does not require titration. But doctors handle that all the time and we’re not in here prescribing, so I don’t see a need to give the “black box warnings.” Just saying let’s not rule out a possible effective avenue of treatment.[/quote]
I understand Emily did not mean to offend, You are correct in that it is important to address these issues but I only mean that medication even a low dose is not needed… thoughts of suicide are pretty common in anxiety and depression cases but that does not mean someone is carrying out the steps to do it, medication does also have side effects of suicidal behavior and thoughts as well though… In fact thoughts in themselve mean nothing they are just brought on from habit or an exhausted mental state… He can handle and recover if he faces it head on with unconditional acceptance and allow himself to be as the moment is… nothing needed but awareness of what is, by gaining awareness he can literally rewire the brain and break the negative vicious cycle.
Meds are just a band aid of symptoms but it does not make the mental state vanish it just covers things up and leaves you foggy.
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Yeah just love yourself and be in the moment, that’s all you need to stop wanting to hang yourself so much.
Those PET scans showing antidepressents curing depression really just show ppl becoming fuzzy.
I understand feeling frustrated when gps immediately hand out antidepressents for the most minimal of depression cases, but saying meds just make you fuzzy is so ignorant its almost criminal.[/quote]
I am far from ignorant my friend… I was put on three different medications to treat myself before I speak from expirence… I was on Ativan, celexa, and a nuerontin anti convulsants… I had crippling anxiety; emotion numbing De personalization, and feelings of depression as well… Those “scans” are not proof of anything nobody truly understands how the brain works and medication only works in about 40% of patients… The placebo effect alone can cause on to feel better… Yeah I am well aware of how severe symptoms are, I’ve had plenty myself… But medication does not cure a person, it I discussed in many different books such as Dr Harry Barry of Ireland, Dr David Burns, Some others I have read before… There is a section in “when panic attacks” that disusses the issue with medication… The chapter is called placebo nation… He is a specialist in mood disorders from Pennsylvania and has been treating patients since the seventys, Dr Victor Frankl also discusses medication issues in his book, as well as plenty others… The issue is you have pharmaceutical companies making billions of these drugs so it’s no wonder it’s still so widely prescribed… I have seen plenty of those dark days myself so it’s not like I’m speaking out of ignorance… But I fully recovered and it wasn’t that meds that did it, it was an internal shift of consciences, will power, and perserverance. The two most powerful tools I used were unconditional acceptance and surrender.